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Project Manager - Minnesota Land Protection
Trust for Public LandWashington, United StatesRemotefull_timeVerifiedPosted 11 Aug 2026
💰 $95,000/yr($85,000/yr – $95,000/yr)
About the role
Who We Are:
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is the leader of a movement to connect everyone in America to the outdoors. A national nonprofit with over 30-years of impact in Minnesota and the Northwoods, TPL partners with communities, public partners, and tribal nations to protect public lands and create high-quality outdoor spaces where they are needed most. We work to improve public health, create social cohesion, strengthen historic and cultural connection to place, and increase climate resilience. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,500 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, generated over $112 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 10 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.
With over thirty offices across the country, Trust for Public Land’s vision is an America where every community can connect with nature near and far. The Minnesota and the Northwoods team is looking for a dynamic Project Manager to join our team in permanently protecting land that will be owned, managed, and enjoyed by communities for generations to come--delivering cleaner air and water, healthier communities, connected landscapes, and a more resilient future.
Position Summary:
The Minnesota/Northwoods Project Manager will deliver TPL’s mission of protecting land for people by utilizing nonprofit land acquisition techniques and sound business practices. The protected lands include public parks, wildlife management areas, working forests, water resource lands, and trails.
The Project Manager will primarily work on Trust for Public Land’s Minnesota Rivers Program, protecting natural areas along Minnesota’s vital waterways and watersheds in the following geographies: the Twin Cities Metro, St. Croix Watershed, Mississippi Headwaters, Cannon River Watershed, and Minnesota’s Southeast Blufflands. Additionally, the project manager may work across the Northwoods of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, as well as on other land protection opportunities as needed.
The Project Manager will be responsible for managing all phases of real estate acquisition work and advancing complex conservation transactions from project identification through permanent public protection. They will oversee all project management activities, working with TPL’s staff and partners, including project identification and evaluation, landowner outreach and negotiations, due diligence, budgeting, fundraising, grant administration, consultant management, transaction coordination, and project closeout.
Critical aspects of the position involve maintaining close coordination with public agencies, tribal partners, community organizations, nonprofit peers, professional contractors, and internal staff to ensure all legal, financial, and regulatory guidelines are followed, that projects are completed on or under budget, and that community needs are met. The ability to work independently with a high level of organization and initiative is essential.
This position will be based in TPL’s Minnesota office out of the Twin Cities with the potential for hybrid work across greater Minnesota. This position requires travel across the state, including work in the field and occasional evening and weekend work.
Essential Functions:
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is the leader of a movement to connect everyone in America to the outdoors. A national nonprofit with over 30-years of impact in Minnesota and the Northwoods, TPL partners with communities, public partners, and tribal nations to protect public lands and create high-quality outdoor spaces where they are needed most. We work to improve public health, create social cohesion, strengthen historic and cultural connection to place, and increase climate resilience. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,500 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, generated over $112 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 10 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.
With over thirty offices across the country, Trust for Public Land’s vision is an America where every community can connect with nature near and far. The Minnesota and the Northwoods team is looking for a dynamic Project Manager to join our team in permanently protecting land that will be owned, managed, and enjoyed by communities for generations to come--delivering cleaner air and water, healthier communities, connected landscapes, and a more resilient future.
Position Summary:
The Minnesota/Northwoods Project Manager will deliver TPL’s mission of protecting land for people by utilizing nonprofit land acquisition techniques and sound business practices. The protected lands include public parks, wildlife management areas, working forests, water resource lands, and trails.
The Project Manager will primarily work on Trust for Public Land’s Minnesota Rivers Program, protecting natural areas along Minnesota’s vital waterways and watersheds in the following geographies: the Twin Cities Metro, St. Croix Watershed, Mississippi Headwaters, Cannon River Watershed, and Minnesota’s Southeast Blufflands. Additionally, the project manager may work across the Northwoods of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, as well as on other land protection opportunities as needed.
The Project Manager will be responsible for managing all phases of real estate acquisition work and advancing complex conservation transactions from project identification through permanent public protection. They will oversee all project management activities, working with TPL’s staff and partners, including project identification and evaluation, landowner outreach and negotiations, due diligence, budgeting, fundraising, grant administration, consultant management, transaction coordination, and project closeout.
Critical aspects of the position involve maintaining close coordination with public agencies, tribal partners, community organizations, nonprofit peers, professional contractors, and internal staff to ensure all legal, financial, and regulatory guidelines are followed, that projects are completed on or under budget, and that community needs are met. The ability to work independently with a high level of organization and initiative is essential.
This position will be based in TPL’s Minnesota office out of the Twin Cities with the potential for hybrid work across greater Minnesota. This position requires travel across the state, including work in the field and occasional evening and weekend work.
Essential Functions:
- Manages the identification, negotiation, documentation, and closing of real estate transactions with the assistance of legal and finance staff, conveying properties to permanent public stewards including federal, state, county, and city units of government to create new public lands.
- Manages multiple concurrent land protection projects, establishing priorities, tracking milestones, identifying risks, and ensuring projects advance on schedule and within budget.
- Identifies areas in which The Trust for Public Land’s protection strategy is needed for the preservation of open space lands of critical local, regional, or national importance; develops and maintains portfolio of potential projects; responds to inquiries by individuals, groups, etc.
- Develops and advances a project pipeline through engagement with landowners, nonprofit organizations, Tribal Nations, and public agency officials.
- Builds project budgets and secures financing for land acquisitions through existing
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