The Madison-Morgan Conservancy achieved national accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, in late February. The accreditation comes on the 25th anniversary of the founding of the conservancy, which was originally founded as Georgia’s first countywide conservancy to protect Morgan County’s natural resources.
The prestigious accreditation is awarded to land trusts that meet “the highest national standards for excellence and conservation permanence,” according to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission’s own language. Those requirements in detail can be found here, last updated this month. As of February 2026, there were 480 accredited land trusts across 46 U.S. states and territories.
The land trust is currently drafting three easements — legal documents in which landowners voluntarily and permanently designate land for agriculture — to protect 571 acres. Those easements are being donated by landowners who will seek the GA State Tax Credit, which requires they donate their easement to an accredited land trust, a status the conservancy now holds, thanks to newly achieved accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
Already, the conservancy is set to close its first Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) easement on a 100-acre farm in Bostwick, GA in Morgan County.
Watts said the accreditation both recognizes the work that’s been put into protecting lands across Georgia and allows the work to be expanded.
“It is a mark of distinction. It shows that we have the governance, financial stability, and stewardship practices in place to carry out landowners’ decisions to permanently protect their properties, one of the most important legal and financial decisions they will ever make about their land,” said Christine Watts, executive director of the conservancy. “It also means that landowners who are seeking the GA State Tax Credit for conservation easement donations can work with our land trust.
The Madison-Morgan Conservancy is active in seven counties in Georgia — Morgan, Newton, Walton, Oconee, Greene, Putnam, and Jasper; with the accreditation, this means that seven of Georgia’s 30+ land trusts are now accredited.
“As we expand our work into adjacent counties, accreditation helps build immediate trust. Landowners who may not know us personally can look to this national standard and know they are working with an organization that meets the highest professional practices for protecting land permanently,” Watts said.
The land trusts are crucial to protecting farmland, a major part of the economies of the aforementioned counties. It also helps protect wildlife habitats and groundwater resources, and gives the community greater control over the types of developments allowed.
Watts said she’s hopeful this will make it easier to keep rural lands cohesive across larger swaths of land, rather than protecting select, fragmented areas.
“The biggest challenge is land fragmentation. Agriculture works best when farms operate as part of a larger system — shared infrastructure, equipment dealers, processors, and markets. When development begins breaking farmland into smaller pieces, that entire system begins to erode,” Watts said. “Protecting one farm is important, but protecting enough land in a region to keep the agricultural economy viable is the real goal… if too much land is lost, the local agricultural industry can reach a tipping point where it becomes much harder for the remaining farms to survive.”
Watts said she also hopes to continue working with other conservancies to protect lands and share best practices that helped the Madison-Morgan Conservancy achieve its accreditation.
“Accreditation strengthens that network because it sets clear national standards for governance, stewardship, and permanence. We are always happy to share what we learned through the process and to support other organizations pursuing accreditation,” Watts said. “ The stronger the land trust community is, the more land we can collectively protect.”
