Australia now boasts one of the world’s largest acreage of private land set aside for conservation, and the Guardian recently reported that generous and wealthy citizens are to thank for it.
Leaving land to conservation purposes in wills, and making bequests of estates has made a big part in amassing 24 million acres of privately-conserved land.
Bush Heritage Australia manages some 3 million acres of these, and its CEO Rachel Lowry told the Guardian that these kinds of contributions play an outsized role in their work.
Last year, for example, the organization reported a total of 4,600 bequests of this kind, almost double from 2022. They believe it stems from people truly attempting to, as we’re often taught, leave the world in a better place than when they found in.
“Some of Australia’s most threatened and fragile ecosystems and wildlife sit outside of the national reserve system,” said Lowry “They’re found on private land or pastoral country, and they may have deep cultural and ecological values, but they’re not protected from threats such as land clearing, mining or invasive species.”
Several organizations in the country, such as the North East Tasmania Land Trust, are carrying out similar work, and the governments of the Australian states are taking notice. One of Bush Heritage’s protected areas, the Pilungah Reserve, was granted protections under Queensland state law equivalent to a federal National Park, demonstrating how valuable the work is seen by the public sector.
In the United States, one of the largest protected areas in the country is actually a private-public partnership called American Prairie.
American Prairie has spent over 2 decades buying and leasing land between the Charles M. Russel Nat. Wildlife Refuge and Upper Missouri Breaks Nat. Monument in Montana to create America’s largest assemblage of wild prairie for the purposes of conservation and recreation. It’s also received donations of land on the way to reaching its current size.
GNN has reported on several major milestones of this massive and constantly growing mosaic of grasslands, hills, woods, and wetlands, including a substantial 22,000 acre land purchase that had blocked public access to Missouri Breaks, and the clearance of over 100 miles of derelict fencing across their land.
The organization has accumulated 603,657 acres, which comprises 167,070 deeded acres and 436,587 leased public acres. Their goal is ultimately to protect and some cases rewild 2.3 million acres.
In 2024, American Prairie set a new visitation record for the seventh year in a row with more than 6,600 overnight visitors to its huts and campgrounds, and over 5,000 visitors at its National Discovery Center in Lewistown, Montana.
An American organization that helps connect and advocate for private conservation land in the US reports that 61 million acres—more than all the US national parks—are privately held for the purpose of conservation. This amounts to about 3% of the 60% of American lands that are privately owned.
Called the Land Trust Alliance, it aims to double this number by the end of the decade.