Mission
The Southeast Arizona Land Trust (SEALT) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to work cooperatively with private landowners to protect the natural ecosystems and historic ranching traditions of southeast Arizona. 

Our History
The Southeast Arizona Land Trust was established in August 2000 as a result of the merger of the efforts of two other successful land trusts – the San Rafael Valley Land Trust and the Southern Arizona Grassland Trust.  We are governed by a Board of Directors, have two part-time staff, and have an office in Sonoita (See Contact Us).

Over the past seven years, SEALT has worked hard to negotiate and complete numerous voluntary land protection agreements (conservation easements), protecting more than 5,500 acres of ranchland in Santa Cruz, Cochise, and Graham counties.  Though meaningful accomplishments have been made, thousands of significant acres remain vulnerable to the expanding development occurring throughout our region.

Guiding Principles
The Southeast Arizona Land Trust’s conservation efforts are for charitable and educational intentions exclusively.  We believe it is vital to be professional, apolitical, fair, and accountable in all our activities as a non-profit community organization.  We are committed to build and sustain an organization that can provide conservation opportunities and stewardship in perpetuity.

Why Does It Matter
SEALT is dedicated to keeping ranch land in private ownership and agriculture production, on the tax roles, and under family management.  Ranchers are some of the best stewards around. We are a regional organization with a regional perspective.  We believe that natural areas and open space provide important ecological, economic, educational, recreational, and spiritual benefits to the watersheds and communities of our region.  We strive to help families retain their family lands.  These lands are important to the character and soul of our community. Acreage statistics do not come close to telling the story of what a particular place means in our lives.  In the end, it is quality, not quantity that counts.

What Does the Future Look Like?
Few things better define America’s quality of life and character than its working ranches, natural areas and abundant wild life. The growing pace of sprawl and poorly planned development in southeast Arizona is making our communities realize that the land and water decisions we make in the next decade will forever define the quality of life where we live.  Especially here in the West, Americans love their land and yearn to take charge of growth in their hometowns, while at the same time respecting the rights of individual land owners.

The SEALT board envisions a regional landscape of working ranches and natural areas, healthy ecosystems, and vibrant communities free of urban sprawl, where private land owners have ready access to viable, affordable conservation options for their property.  We will know we have been successful when our rural communities are intermixed with planned development and there are wide open spaces left for wildlife, water and the western heritage that is our lifeblood.

Land Trust Alliance
SEALT is a member of The Land Trust Alliance, the national organization of land trusts. All of SEALT’s activities are in accordance with the Standards & Practices of the Alliance. Formed in 1982, the mission of the Alliance is to save the places people love by strengthening land conservation across America. Since its inception, the Alliance has trained thousands of conservation leaders, won new federal tax incentives for conservation on private lands, and developed standards and practices to professionalize and safeguard land trust work. The Alliance also lobbies to get increased public funding for land conservation.