What is a Conservation Easement?
A conservation easement protects private lands in perpetuity from land use development that could destroy or degrade a property’s agricultural, wildlife, biological, scenic, or recreational values.
Conservation easements must accomplish at least one of the following purposes: “retaining or protecting natural, scenic, or open-space values of real property, assuring its availability for agricultural, forest, recreational, or open-space use, protecting natural resources, maintaining or enhancing air or water quality, or preserving the historical, architectural, archaeological, or cultural aspects of real property.” (see Idaho Code 55-2101)
A conservation easement establishes a landowner’s vision and memorializes a commitment to the conservation of a property. It’s a legal agreement a landowner makes with a land trust (and sometimes with a state or federal government agency) to achieve shared conservation goals. Agreements are voluntarily negotiated and recorded at the county courthouse. Conservation easements run with the land even if the property is sold. They are monitored (annually) by the land trust to oversee current (and future) landowners’ efforts to steward the land according to the terms of the agreement and if necessary, defend that vision into the future. Learn more.
Many landowners convey a conservation easement to a land trust to protect the land and keep the property whole and intact long after he or she has passed. Others donate their land for a beneficial tax implications. See information on some of the tax implications of a conservation easement here.
Every conservation easement agreement is unique. Not all conservation easements permit public access although some do. It’s a landowner’s decision that can be memorialized in an easement agreement.
Why forever?
The only way to permanently protect private lands is through a conservation easement. If you think about it, many land use decisions on private lands are also made in perpetuity. When a county or city planning and zoning body allow a 50-lot subdivision and the land fills with homes, that land will most likely continue to serve residential/commercial/industrial land use in perpetuity.
There are several reasons why conservation easements are forever.
Current landowners who donate or otherwise convey a conservation easement want assurances that their property will be protected not just through their lifetime, but beyond.
Federal law requires a conservation easement be held in perpetuity to qualify for federal income tax and estate tax benefits.
To protect the investment of funds in conservation. If conservation easement holders to be were granted tax deductions for term easements – regardless of the length of the terms – property owners could receive federal tax deductions each year on lands that were rising in value and then subdivide them and benefit again from the development of the same property after the term of the conservation easement expired.
Benefits
Landowners can be compensated for retiring the development rights on their land.
A conservation easement donation can result in significant tax benefits, if it meets the requirements of federal law. It may lower your federal income tax, because you can claim the value of the easement as a tax-deductible charitable donation. See more info here.
The landowner still owns the property and can continue to produce crops, hay, livestock, timber and other commodities (as outlined in the easement agreement). Working lands can keep working.
The landowner can sell the property or pass it on to family or friends. Conservation easements run with the land, meaning that the original owner and all subsequent owners are bound by the terms of the easement.
The landowner’s private property isn’t taken off the tax roll (the landowner continues to pay property taxes.
The landowner can - but is not required to - grant public access.
Lands with public access easements provide opportunities for people to experience many types of recreational benefits.
For landowners interested in conservation easements, it’s important to note that easement values vary greatly. Generally, the highest easement values result from very restrictive conservation easements on tracts of developable land under intense development pressure.