ICIE produced its annual Gold Room Workshop - Conservation Easements: Why Should You Care in January, 2008. A panel of speakers presented a nuts and bolts overview of conservation easements.

Conservation easements are an option to help balance between protecting woodlands/habitat/open space, and keeping the land productive. Easements are voluntary, legal (usually permanent), typically between a landowner and the easement holder, and address the needs specific to the property in question. Under an easement agreement, land remains privately owned, and the landowner continues to pay taxes on it.

From there, each easement can vary according to its agreed upon purpose, appraisal and recording, and monitoring of use. Under the Idaho Uniform Conservation Easement Act, the purpose of conservation easements is to retain or protect a specific value or attribute of that property. From there, a baseline report will document the value and uses of the property for monitoring purposes over time.

Easements can be attractive to landowners who are looking for options and/or opportunities as an alternative to the prospect of developing their land.

Many landowners simply consider conservation easements the proper and ethical thing to do. Among the other interests of landowners in conservation easements as:

•  the preservation of sensitive and unique areas,

•  the desire to know their lands won't be subdivided,

•  the desire to reduce land fragmentation and sprawl, and

•  financial incentives

Minnesota is an example of a state that has been proactive when it comes to conservation. They pay landowners to keep their lands forested, believing that private forestland conversion:

•  erodes the natural wildlife base

•  creates conflict between wildlife and human populations

•  creates water quality issues

•  diminishes access and recreational opportunities

Sportsmen value unfettered access to private property. They want the land to be conserved in a way that supports game, and they're willing to pay – a way in which easements can be used to provide real value.

From a ranching perspective there are several motivators for pursuing conservation easements:

•  To keep the land intact for families

•  To protect against the primary use of the land potentially being changed to suit the survival of a species, and

•  Because, as a rancher, you love the land.

One of the primary motivations for avoiding conservation easements is an emphasis on perpetuity.

Sources:

The Nature Conservancy, Lou Lunte, presenter

Forest Capital Partners, LLC, Kennon McClintock, Presenting

Becky Johnstone, ICIE President, presenting on behalf of Margaret Soulen Hinson, 3rd generation Idaho Rancher