PSCC is a statewide association for conservation groups with support of conservation land trust work at its core. We accomplish our mission by promoting voluntary conservation and strengthening conservation land trusts and other conservation organizations, agencies and companies statewide through the following:

Networking and training

PSCC provides knowledge and educational tools to conservation land trusts and other conservation groups in order to help them strengthen their operations, to meet their conservation goals, and to sustain their efforts to conserve and steward land for future generations. We provide networking opportunities through an annual three-day conference and regional conservation gatherings.  We offer an online resource hub for members, online trainings called Conservation Connectors, and for conservation land trust members, bimonthly calls with our executive director.

Funding

Through our newly formed natural areas grant program under the Prairie State Conservation Fund, we fund conservation in three areas: land acquisition, land stewardship, and organizational capacity building.

Advocacy

PSCC seeks nonpartisan, long-term solutions for land conservation. We advocate for relationship building with lawmakers and government agencies so they better understand land conservation in their districts and across the state. To ensure that the laws and policies of state and local government reflect the land conservation values of constituents, strengthen the conservation land trust community throughout the state, and ultimately support permanent land conservation in Illinois, we encourage legislator visits to natural areas, advocate for conservation related legislation at Conservation Lobby Day and through Action Alerts, and generally help inform and educate policymakers about our Coalition and its members.

Outreach and Community

We promote the value of land conservation and the organizations doing the work on the ground. Through outreach and communications, we work with local conservation land trusts to spread the word and raise awareness of the importance of conservation and land preservation. We help tell and share the stories about land conservation and all the communities that are both supported by that work and who are engaged in that work themselves.

Representation

PSCC represents its Coalition members and land conservation at the local, regional, and state level through various meetings and conferences, and at the national level through the Land Trust Alliance through its annual Rally Conference and monthly calls with other state associations as well as through special meetings on current trends in land conservation in the nation.