The Native American Land Conservancy (NALC) is a US nonprofit organization that purchases and owns land collectively, as a land trust, governed by local Native American leaders who have a historical, cultural, and spiritual connection to their ancestral lands and are seen as the legal/practical “owners” and stewards of their lands. Most of the Native leaders on the NALC board are members of local federally-recognized tribes who have reservations that are held in trust by the federal government for the Tribal Nations. Most NALC members are members of local tribes and live on their reservations. Some live in other adjacent areas outside the reservation lands.

The NALC protects the vital ecosystems of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest and Southern California regions through its Old Woman Mountains Preserve and other protected sites. It also works with Native lands connected to the Colorado Plateau to the East and the Chaparral and Coastal Scrub to the West. The NALC combines Traditional Environmental Knowledge of the local Tribes with the Western scientific paradigm to protect and restore fragile desert ecosystems, Native communities, Native plants, endangered animals, and critical water resources. The NALC strongly advocates for the protection of water in the Mojave Desert and has successfully protected many endangered and sacred springs.

NALC lands are protected as cultural-ecological sites, so no one lives there except maybe a part-time caretaker. The NALC directly “owns” and manages 2,600 acres of tribal territory, including many sacred places. They also work on thousands of other acres through partnership, co-management, and their reservation lands.