Protect Your Land
Land donation, fee-title acquisition and conservation easements are the main avenues for land protection.
Land Donation
Donating land is one of the finest legacies anyone can leave to their community. This may be the best protection strategy if you cannot or do not wish to own and manage land or pass such land on to heirs. By donating all or a portion of your undeveloped land, it becomes ours to care for.
Fee- Title Acquisition
When unique and/or critical habitat is identified, the Standing Cedars Board of Directors may decide to acquire and hold the land. Lands owned by Standing Cedars are managed in accordance with agreements with our partners to preserve the undeveloped ecosystems for future generations.
Conservation Easements
Conservation easements may be the answer for donors looking to retain ownership of the land for themselves and their heirs, yet to ensure permanent protection of the habitat for future generations.
In establishing a conservation easement, a land trust will work with the donor to determine which resources need to be protected and to develop a long-term plan to provide the protection. The donor assigns certain rights to the land trust and agrees to manage the property according to a conservation plan. The land remains owned and controlled, according to the conservation plan, by the donor. The easement runs with title to the property and remains in effect when the property is sold or transferred to the donor’s heirs. In return, the land trust holds the conservation easement and agrees to protect and defend the property’s resources from activities not consistent with the easement. Once a conservation easement has been accepted, commitments in the conservation easement remain intact forever.
Examples of common conservation easements include:
Agricultural protection: The rights to subdivide and build structures on the property are transferred. The landowner continues to farm and/or graze the property.
Habitat protection: All rights to alter the habitat – including plowing, cropping, draining, cutting trees, grazing, haying, mowing, and burning – are transferred. No habitat alterations are allowed on the property without prior consent of the Trust.
Hunting and access rights may be retained by the landowner or may be donated to the Trust, depending on the resource protection needs and the donor’s wishes.
There is no one-size-fits-all type of conservation easement. A land trust will work with property owners to understand the owner’s wishes and to determine which restrictions are warranted, needed, and appropriate.
If you have questions about land protection, contact us or another land trust in your area for information.
