Land Acquisition Professionals
Overview
Introduction
Land acquisition professionals assist in efforts of nonprofit land trusts to preserve land and water from development, subdivision, overly heavy recreational or agricultural use, or other human disruption by handling the land transaction—buying the land outright, acquiring development rights to it, obtaining easements, getting landowners to donate the land, or similar actions.
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
According to PayScale, full-time land acquisition analysts earned average annual salaries of $64,456 in 2020. The lowest paid 10 percent earned $47,000 or less, while the highest paid 10 percent earned $90,000 or more. Salary.com reported that land acquisition managers earned average annual salaries of $99,414 in December 2019.
Full-time land acquisition professionals usually receive fri...
Work Environment
This job can take a land acquisition specialist literally "out in the field," checking out land or water parcels the land trust is considering acquiring; it also can bring them to the negotiating table, where they will be sitting down with landowners hashing out a deal. Land trusts exist all over the country. Work with a large national organization might involve travel to help out the smaller l...
Outlook
Employment for conservation scientists and foresters is expected to grow about 3 percent (slower than the average for all careers) through 2028, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The outlook for land trust work currently is brighter than that for federal land and water conservation jobs. Land trusts are going strong right now, and the entire land and water conservation segment, of whic...