ABOUT US
Great Rivers Land Trust (GRLT) is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of natural resources in the St. Louis Metropolitan Region. Our organization protects over 3,000 acres of open space and wildlife habitat through ownership or conservation easements. GRLT is involved in a variety of community initiatives including wetland enhancement, reforestation projects, riparian buffers, park design/development and historic site protection. One of the land trust’s central goals is protecting the Mississippi River and the land of its watershed.

OUR HISTORY
America’s great rivers, the Mississippi, the Illinois and the Missouri, meet in a broad floodplain bordered by majestic 150 foot limestone bluffs – geology that dates back more than 250 million years. The Meeting of the Great Rivers National Scenic Byway, locally known as the Great River Road, traverses for 15 miles between the Mississippi River and the bluffs from Alton, Illinois to Grafton, Illinois. The route is lush with forest and prairie attracting rare species such as the Bald eagle, American white pelican and a variety of other migratory birds. This section of the river runs east to west with the tree lines of Missouri providing a magnificent landscape for sunrise and sunset. Residents and tourists revere the splendor by car, motorcycle, bicycle or boat. GRLT was formed in 1992 to protect the lands along this beautiful stretch of the Mississippi and is operated by a 13-member board of directors and numerous staff members.

OUR MISSION
The mission of Great Rivers Land Trust is to promote the preservation and improvement of natural resources principally in, but not limited to, the watershed of the Mississippi River for the benefit of the general public. These resources shall include: land and water resources, the plant and animal life thereon, and the area’s unique scenic, natural, and historic sites.