ALFRED — Three Rivers Land Trust, serving Acton, Alfred, Shapleigh, Lebanon and Sanford/Springvale, has achieved accreditation – a mark of distinction in land conservation.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission awarded accreditation, signifying its confidence that Three Rivers Land Trust’s lands will be protected forever.

Almost 15 million acres of farms, forests and natural areas vital to healthy communities – an area about the size of the state of West Virginia – are permanently conserved by accredited land trusts.

“Achieving accreditation is a huge milestone in Three Rivers Land Trust’s achievements. This demonstrates our volunteer board’s commitment to permanent land conservation in our communities,” said Jean Noon, president. “This rigorous accreditation process has helped us determine and implement standards and practices that ensure uniform and fair procedures for our land transactions and record keeping. We move forward with confidence toward building stronger and healthier communities through land conservation.”

Accreditation was a three-year challenge for the board, which worked long hours to create the data needed by the accreditation commission to validate the trust’s policies and procedures and assemble all of the records of the properties the trust manages.

Three Rivers is a member of the Southern Maine Conservation Collaborative, southernmaineconservation.org. The collaborative’s help was critical in pulling the data together.