In the United States, a conservation easement is a power invested in a qualified land conservation organization called a "land trust", or a governmental entity to constrain, as to a specified land area, the exercise of rights otherwise held by a landowner so as to achieve certain conservation purposes. It is an interest in real property established by agreement between a landowner and land trust or unit of government. The conservation easement "runs with the land", meaning it is applicable to both present and future owners of the land. The grant of conservation easement, as with any real property interest, is part of the chain of title for the property and is normally recorded in local land records.
Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which they are organized and operated:
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.
Taconic State Park is located in Columbia and Dutchess County, New York abutting Massachusetts and Connecticut within the Taconic Mountains. The state park is located off New York State Route 344 south of Interstate 90 and 110 miles (180 km) north of New York City. It features camping, hiking, bicycling, hunting, cross county skiing and other recreational opportunities.
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) is a private nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1932 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. WPC has contributed land to 12 state parks and conserved more than a quarter million acres of natural lands. The Conservancy plants and maintains more than 132 gardens in 20 Western Pennsylvania counties, as well as planting thousands of trees through its community forestry program. WPC has protected or restored more than 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of rivers and streams. In 1963, Edgar Kaufmann Jr. entrusted Frank Lloyd Wright's masterwork Fallingwater to the Conservancy. The house was called the most important building of the 20th century by the American Institute of Architects.
The American Land Conservancy was an American non-profit organization whose goal was to protect the natural environment.
Development-supported agriculture is a nascent movement in real estate development that preserves and invests in agricultural land use. As farmland is lost due to the challenging economics of farming and the pressures of the real estate industry, DSA attempts to reconcile the need for development with the need to preserve agricultural land. The overall goal of DSA is to incubate small-scale organic farms that co-exist with residential land development, providing benefits to farmers, residents, the local community, and the environment.
Utah Open Lands Conservation Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit land trust conservation association in the United States.
The Blue Ridge Land Conservancy (BRLC), formerly known as the Western Virginia Land Trust (WVLT), is a non-profit land trust and conservation organization headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia that seeks to preserve the wilderness and farmlands in the western portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia from excessive commercial development. BRLC's service area contains ten counties: Bedford, Botetourt, Craig, Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke.
Conserving Carolina is a non-profit conservation organization working to preserve water and land resources in Western North Carolina. Conserving Carolina was created in July 2017, from a merger of two previously separate organizations, Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy and Pacolet Area Conservancy. The combined organization maintains a primary office in Hendersonville, NC and a regional office in Columbus, NC.
The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (GTRLC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Traverse City, Michigan. It is an independent organization with its own by-laws, policies, board, staff, and budget. The organization is funded by private donors as well as local, state, and national foundations. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy has a volunteer Board of Directors and a professional year-round, full-time professional staff.
California Rangeland Trust is a conservation nonprofit organization founded in 1998. The Rangeland Trust claims to be the largest land trust in California, having conserved over 371,000 acres (1,500 km2) of rangeland on 90 ranches across 26 counties.
The Conservation Fund is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a dual charter to pursue environmental preservation and economic development. From 2008–2018, it has placed more than 500,000 acres under conservation management through a program whose goal is to purchase and permanently protect working forests. Since its founding in 1985, the organization has protected land and water in all 50 states, including parks, historic battlefields, and wild areas. The Fund works with community and government leaders, businesses, landowners, conservation nonprofits and other partners to integrate economic and environmental objectives.
The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County (LCSLO) is a non-profit land trust organization that has been operating in San Luis Obispo County, California since 1984. The LCSLO is dedicated to the voluntary and collaborative preservation and improvement of lands that hold significant scenic, agricultural, habitat, and cultural values. Their work aims to benefit both the local community and wildlife that depends on these lands.
Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust, or Joshua's Trust, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) land trust operating in northeast Connecticut. Joshua's Trust was incorporated in 1966 to help conserve property of significant natural or historic interest. As of 2011, the Trust protects more than 5,000 acres, maintains 42 miles of trails that are open to the public, holds educational outreach programs, and publishes the Joshua's Tract Walkbook.
The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is a private, non-profit, charitable nature conservation and restoration organization based in Canada. Since its founding in 1962, the organization and its partners have protected 15,000,000 hectares of land and water across Canada, which includes the natural habitat of more than a quarter of the country’s endangered species. With offices in each province, NCC works at a local level with stakeholders and partners to secure parcels of land.
Scenic Hudson is a non-profit environmental organization in New York that was founded in 1963 to oppose a hydro-electric power project in New York.
The Blue Ridge Conservancy is a non-profit land conservation organization based in Boone, North Carolina that works to preserve working farmland and natural areas in western North Carolina. The organization's focus is on land in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Wautauga, Wilkes and Yancey counties.
The Big Sur Land Trust is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Monterey, California, that has played an instrumental role in preserving land in California's Big Sur and Central Coast regions. The trust was the first to conceive of and use the "conservation buyer" method in 1989 by partnering with government and developers to offer tax benefits as an inducement to sell land at below-market rates. Since 1978, with the support of donors, funders and partners, it has conserved over 40,000 acres through conservation easements, acquisition and transfer of land to state, county and city agencies. It has placed conservation easements on 7,000 acres and has retained ownership of over 4,000 acres.
