In 1991, Rotary Charities of Traverse City determined that protecting natural resources was critical to the region's quality of life and created a four-county steering committee designed to establish a local land trust.
Since then, the organization has worked to protect the important and significant landscapes that make Michigan's Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Manistee counties unique.
The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy has assisted more than a dozen units of government in creating or expanding public natural areas and parks.
Since 1991, the organization has helped secure over $67 million from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund on behalf of community-led land conservation efforts across its service region.
GTRLC is also a member of the Land Trust Alliance, a Washington, D.C.–based organization which performs a similar role with the U.S. Congress and appropriate departments of the Federal Government.