New York Forest Conservation Easements for Land Trusts Program Project Consultant

The Land Trust Alliance (the Alliance) is seeking a consultant (Contractor) to deliver technical assistance, easement consultation, coaching, and land transaction advice to a cohort of Accredited land trusts in support of the FCELT program.

Since 2021, the Alliance has worked in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to award $1.35 million annually in land capital grants to land trusts through the Forest Conservation Easements for Land Trusts (FCELT) Program to purchase conservation easements on important forest land in New York. The Alliance is now entering into a new five-year contract with DEC to deliver and administer the FCELT program.

Contractor will work independently but in close coordination principally with Alliance New York program staff, but also in coordination with DEC, to build and sustain positive working relationships with a cohort of land trust organizations and state agency officials operating across a diverse, statewide geography and with an array of organizational capacities and ambitions.

The Contractor will deliver five primary services:

1. Contractor will help the Alliance prepare for and deliver the annual FCELT grant round (Fall 2027), including but not limited to creating, refining, editing and preparing related documents for approval, drafting presentations and communications for the land trust community and convening land trust working groups.
2. Contractor will conduct outreach guided by the Alliance to promote the FCELT program with land trusts across New York.
3. Contractor will act as a pre-submission resource to land trusts that are developing forest land acquisition proposals to ensure alignment with FCELT program guidelines, the 2017 Land Trust Standards and Practices (as amended and updated periodically), Land Trust Accreditation requirements and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation priorities.
4. Contractor will be available to applicants to provide limited technical assistance prior to submission to check proposals for eligibility and completeness prior to advancement to the grant review panel. Contractor will support the FCELT grant review panel and assist awardees (expected cohort of 5-8 new projects per year) in creation of grant agreements.
5. Contractor will assist new and past awardees with their conservation easement project development (expected to be 15-20 projects total on a rolling basis and at various stages of development).
6. Contractor will assist with efforts to develop a conservation easement template and other necessary project documentation for the FCELT Program, including drafting the template and other program documents in collaboration with Alliance New York program staff.

Contractor will follow established Alliance grantmaking protocols, including document retention, and use the Alliance’s electronic grants management software (currently Foundant) for grants administration.

**Proposals must be submitted electronically.** Interested consultants submit proposal by email to rlinville@lta.org by **Thursday, November 19, 2026**.

The Alliance has budgeted **$45,000 to $55,000** annually for this work.

All proposals will be evaluated by a team composed of Alliance staff and representatives of the New York Advisory Council and DEC using the following weighted criteria:

• Conservation easement acquisition and real estate transaction expertise: 35%
• Demonstrated, working knowledge of New York land trusts, FCELT, DEC requirements, and Land Trust Standards and Practices: 20%
• Demonstrated experience in assisting and coaching land trusts as they bring publicly funded projects through a full project lifecycle from inception to closing: 15%
• Experience with grants management, providing technical assistance to land trusts or other entities that perform conservation easement transactions, and proposed approach to managing both: 10%
• Completeness/thoroughness of proposal in addressing scope of work requirements and qualifications: 10%
• Proposed budget/cost: 10%

Contractor must have a general liability insurance minimum of **$1,000,000** per occurrence and **$2,000,000** general aggregate at time of contract execution.

The Alliance anticipates entering into an initial contract for services from January 1, 2027, through December 31, 2027. The Alliance may, at its sole discretion, elect to renew the contract on an annual basis through September 30, 2031, subject to satisfactory performance, availability of funding, applicable procurement requirements, any required approvals under the Alliance's agreement with DEC, and mutual agreement on the terms of renewal.