Hundreds of projects. Tens of thousands of acres. A team that knows how to get land protected, and keep it that way.
Our staff and board have worked on hundreds of projects conserving tens of thousands of acres through conservation easements and mitigation work across Virginia and the country.
We work hand-in-hand with state and federal agencies and private conservation groups, so we know how to navigate every channel with efficiency, making sure important conservation projects get protected, and stay protected.
Our team of experts includes ecologists, lawyers, and conservation consultants with deep experience in the ecological restoration space.
Holding conservation easements on important, protected lands: the legal backbone of permanent protection.
Lifelong monitoring and care of wetland, stream, and species mitigation banks.
Managing the dedicated stewardship endowments that fund a property’s care in perpetuity.
Stewardship management plans built to meet every regulatory standard.
Conservation-defense coverage that stands behind every easement we hold.
However your project is structured, and wherever it sits, we make long-term stewardship simple.
We can serve as easement holder, long-term steward, or endowment manager: any one role, or all three. One partner for the whole obligation makes us easy to work with.
We are an approved long-term steward in 13 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts across 11 states, from Virginia to Missouri.
We monitor every easement, every year — in perpetuity. Not for a decade, not while it’s convenient: forever. Every property we hold is backed by a dedicated stewardship endowment, built to fund that promise for good.
The essentials of what a land trust does and how permanent protection actually works.
Broad Water Innovations is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit land trust based in Richmond, Virginia. We hold conservation easements, serve as a long-term steward of wetland, stream, and species mitigation banks, and manage the stewardship endowments that fund each property’s care in perpetuity.
A conservation easement is a legal agreement that permanently limits how a piece of land can be used, protecting its conservation values forever, no matter who owns it in the future. As the easement holder, Broad Water monitors each property every year to make sure those protections hold.
A mitigation bank is a wetland, stream, or habitat area that has been restored or preserved to compensate for unavoidable environmental impacts elsewhere. Regulators require these sites to be permanently protected and cared for, which is where a long-term steward like Broad Water comes in.
Broad Water holds 104 conservation easements covering 12,519 acres on 22 properties across 11 states, and manages a stewardship endowment of $14 million dedicated to their permanent care. See Our Work for the full picture.
Broad Water is a member of the Land Trust Alliance, rated 4 stars by Charity Navigator, and approved as a long-term steward by the Interagency Review Team in Virginia. Every easement we hold is backed by Terrafirma conservation-defense insurance.
From placing the easement to perpetual monitoring, here is exactly how we take on a bank, step by step — whether your site is proposed or nearly sold out.