The first census of land trusts in five years found 10 million new acres of land conserved nationwide since 2005, including 333,334 acres in Massachusetts.

The Wareham Land Trust, a 10-year-old program, has been an active player. Since its founding, it has preserved more than 550 acres of open space in Wareham from development through donation, outright purchase or conservation restriction.

"Massachusetts residents value their land, and we are conserving it at the community level," Wareham Land Trust President John Browning said in a statement. "By preserving open space here in Wareham, we are investing in our future; protecting our water supply, our coastal waters, our fields and our forests; and ensuring that our children and grandchildren will have outdoor places to play for generations."

A total of 47 million acres—an area over twice the size of all the national parks in the contiguous United States—are now protected by land trusts. An enhanced tax deduction for conservation easement donations as helped land trusts work with farmers and landowners to sustain more than one million acres each year. This incentive is slated to expire at the end of 2011, meaning fewer landowners will receive tax benefits from the donation of development rights on their land. The Wareham Land Trust thanks Representative Barney Frank for being among the 262 House cosponsors H.R. 1964 bills to make the conservation tax incentive permanent.

The Land Trust Alliance, which the Wareham Land Trust is a part of, is a national conservation organization that works to save the places people love and enhances the quality of conservation, so the most important lands are protected. The Land Trust Alliance also ensures the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. New members to the Wareham Land Trust are welcome. For more information, please visit. www.warehamland.org or call the Wareham Land Trust office at 508-295-0211.