Richard Brewer

Photo by Katy Takahashi

Richard Brewer

Richard Brewer is a biological scientist and author. He is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Western Michigan University and lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

His most recent book is Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America, published in October 2003 by the University Press of New England under the Dartmouth College imprint. A paperback edition is now available.

Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America is the first comprehensive overview of this approach to land conservation. [Cover of Conservancy] Although preserving land by private action dates to the 1891 formation of the Trustees of Reservations in Massachusetts, most land trusts are less than thirty years old. Currently, land trusts form what is probably the most important--and certainly the most exciting--element of the entire land conservation effort. This book discusses such national and international land trusts as the Trust for Public Land, American Farmland Trust, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, and The Nature Conservancy and also discusses the more than 1500 local land trusts serving areas ranging from a village to a state. The 348-page book deals with current operations as well as history and looks at the accomplishments of land trusts in relation to the conservation movement as a whole.

The author brings a scholarly perspective to the subject but also speaks from practical experience as a founder, president, and long-time board member of the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy.

Several revisions have been made. Among them, a list of land trusts mentioned in Conservancy: The Land Trust Movement in America is provided here. Several new reviews of Conservancy have been added. A third local conservation letter has been posted, this one dealing with a conservative bias against wild nature, as shown by a Detroit News columnist.

Also, I've added contact information for persons interested in getting in touch for comments or questions concerning land trusts, the land trust movement, or land conservation in general.