The Nature Conservancy (http://www.tnc.org) is a private, international conservation group that purchases land or conservation easements on land to prevent the land from being developed. The Nature Conservancy works with communities and forms partnerships with landowners, corporations, and governments. They are strictly non-confrontational and rely on science, partnerships and innovation for their work. They have protected eleven million acres of land in the United States and sixty million acres of land around the world.