Landcare Center

The Landcare Center is a partnership of organizations working to build the capacity of the landcare movement and industry. Landcare is sustainable land management (including agriculture, forestry, landscaping, and related practices) that seeks to improve the quality of our green infrastructure. Landcare’s emphasis on careful, active, profitable land management provides a powerful tool for communities to sustain and maintain their green infrastructure: 1) landcare helps keep working lands profitable, healthy, and in private ownership and, 2) for lands under easements by land trusts or in public ownership, managing them as working lands using landcare practices helps pay for restoration and maintenance activities while also contributing to the region’s economic vitality. Working landscapes such as forests and farms not only grow commodity and niche market products that fuel regional economies, their scenery promote eco-tourism, and their functioning ecosystems provide numerous services such as carbon storage, water filtration, and wildlife habitat. Working landscapes form the backbone of a region’s green infrastructure, especially where private landownership patterns dominate and it is too expensive to purchase for public ownership or put under easement sufficient land area to provide needed green infrastructure services. Residential, retail, and commercial development can proceed hand in hand with working landscapes and other green infrastructure strategies. Certified sustainable building and green neighborhood strategies help municipalities and consumers ensure their green infrastructure is being conserved and utilized.