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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:
Farmland generally refers to agricultural land, or land currently used for the purposes of farming. It may also refer to:
The Trustees of Reservations is a non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving natural and historical places in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the oldest land conservation nonprofit organization of its kind in the world and has 100,000 member households as of 2021. In addition to land stewardship, the organization is also active in conservation partnerships, community supported agriculture (CSA), environmental and conservation education, community preservation and development, and green building. The Trustees owns title to 120 properties on 27,000 acres (11,000 ha) in Massachusetts, all of which are open to the public. In addition, it holds 393 conservation restrictions to protect an additional 20,000 acres (8,100 ha). Properties include historic mansions, estates, and gardens; woodland preserves; waterfalls; mountain peaks; wetlands and riverways; coastal bluffs, beaches, and barrier islands; farmland and CSA projects; and archaeological sites.
Farmland development rights in Suffolk County, New York began in 1975 in Suffolk County as the state of New York began a program to purchase development rights for farmland to insure they remained as farms and open space rather than being developed for housing.
Conservation development, also known as conservation design, is a controlled-growth land use development that adopts the principle for allowing limited sustainable development while protecting the area's natural environmental features in perpetuity, including preserving open space landscape and vista, protecting farmland or natural habitats for wildlife, and maintaining the character of rural communities. A conservation development is usually defined as a project that dedicates a minimum of 50 percent of the total development parcel as open space. The management and ownership of the land are often formed by the partnership between private land owners, land-use conservation organizations and local government. It is a growing trend in many parts of the country, particularly in the Western United States. In the Eastern United States, conservation design has been promoted by some state and local governments as a technique to help preserve water quality.
American Farmland Trust (AFT) is a non-profit organization in the United States with a mission to protect farmland, promote environmentally sound farming practices, and keep farmers on the land. AFT is staffed by farmers, policy experts, researchers, and scientists, and governed by a board of directors. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C., and it has regional offices throughout the country. AFT also runs the Farmland Information Center, an online collection of information on farmland and ranchland protection and stewardship established as a public-private partnership with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
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.
The Conservation Campaign is a United States 501(c)(4) non-profit organization affiliated with The Trust for Public Land (TPL). It is a resource for grassroots campaigns in the USA that are concerned with raising funds for land and water conservation.
The Agriculture Retention and Development Act was created as part of New Jersey's efforts to counteract the loss of farmland in the state. The legislation formed the basis needed for the state to purchase the easements of New Jersey farms in order to ensure they remain as farms, and could never be sold for housing or for non-farming commercial development. The effect was to slow farmland loss in the state. The farmland preservation efforts made in New Jersey have effectively kept the farms as private land with a public legacy of permanent farm status. As of July 2022, New Jersey has permanently preserved 2,800 farms covering 247,517 acres.
Utah Open Lands Conservation Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit land trust conservation association in the United States.
Transferable development rights (TDR) is a method by which developers can purchase the development rights of certain parcels within a designated "sending district" and transfer the rights to another "receiving district" to increase the density of their new development. The underlying legal concept of a transfer of development rights programme is the notion that all land has a bundle of property rights. It is used for controlling land use to complement land-use planning and zoning for more effective urban growth management and land conservation.
Slocum's River Reserve is a 47-acre (19 ha) open space preserve co-managed by the land conservation non-profit organizations The Trustees of Reservations and The Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust. The property includes 3,000 feet (910 m) of frontage along the tidal Slocum's River in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 2 miles (3.2 km) of trails, woodland, agricultural fields, and pasture. The reserve is open to the public.
Agricultural zoning is a land management tool that refers to local zoning designations made by local jurisdictions that are intended to protect farmland and farming activities from incompatible land uses. Agricultural zoning can specify many factors, such as the uses allowed, minimum lot size, the number of nonfarm dwellings allowed, or the size of a buffer separating farm and nonfarm properties. Some jurisdictions further subdivide agricultural zones to distinguish industrial farming from uses like rural residence farms and retirement farms on large lots.
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 the wildlife that depends on these lands.
The Agricultural Reserve is a designated land use zone in Montgomery County, Maryland. The 93,000 acres (380 km2) zone was created in 1980 by the Montgomery County Council to preserve farm land and rural space in the northwestern part of the county. The farmland protection program has been characterized as "the most famous, most studied and most emulated" program of its kind in the United States.
Preservation development is a model of real-estate development that addresses farmland preservation. It shares many attributes with conservation development, with the addition of strategies for maintaining and operating productive agriculture and silviculture, often in perpetuity. A preservation development is a planned community that allows limited, carefully designed development on a working farm, while placing the majority of productive land under a system of easements and community governance to ensure a continuity of farming and environmental stewardship.
Scenic Hudson is a non-profit environmental organization in New York that protects land, creates, and enhances parks, and advocates for environmentally responsible policies and development practices.
Agriculture played a major role in the early growth of Connecticut as one of the original 13 colonies that would form the United States of America, particularly in the Connecticut River valley which provides fertile soil, temperate climate and easy access to markets. As the Industrial Revolution helped focus capital on mercantile centers in the 19th century, Connecticut farmers over time ceded their relative economic and political influence.
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.
References
- 1 2 See, for example, Montgomery County, Maryland Agricultural Reserve.
- ↑ Thompson, Sametta M. Sale Preserves Middletown Farm. "Asbury Park Press," 11 September 2008, B4
- ↑ "Transfer of Development Rights; Fact Sheet" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: American Farmland Trust. April 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-01-16.
- ↑ "Agricultural Reserve". Silver Spring, MD: Montgomery County Planning Department. 2018-02-23.
This article incorporates public domain material from Jasper Womach Report for Congress: Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition. Congressional Research Service.{{citation}}: Check|url=value (help)
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