Land Protection

Easements Help Plan For the Future

Do you have a family estate, and are concerned about estate taxes for your family after you pass? Do you have you property in the floodplain of the Sangamon River? Have you kept areas of your property for wildlife and you want them to remain for wildlife after you have died? Have you ever wanted to preserve your property for wildlife?

Conservation easements can help you reach these goals and still allow productive use of your land.

A conservation easement is a legal document between a landowner and a land trust organization that permanently limits the uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. It allows you to continue to own and use your property, even sell it or pass the property on to your heirs.

When you donate a conservation easement to a land trust you do give up some rights associated with that tract of land. For example, if you establish an easement and you give up development rights for that tract, you can no longer add buildings or roads, but you can continue to farm, hunt and make a living off of that tract as long as it is specified in the easement. The conservation easement is recorded with the deed for that tract so that when the property is ever sold, the restrictions remain in place.

The Friends has brochures available about conservation easements published by the Land Trust Alliance, a non-for-profit organization that assists local land trusts in conserving land and establishing easements. If you are interested in learning about easements for your property, please call any Friends board member for a free copy of the brochure. The Friends will assist with ecological management by providing advice and labor. Board members Brian Reilly, Vern LaGesse, Bill Crook, George Rose, or Mark Rabin are available to answer any of your questions.

Please send us your contact information if you are interested in speaking with Vern LaGesse or receiving further information about conservation easements or other land conservation opportunities.