The Easement Process

The Easement Process: Protect What You Love!

The easement process begins with a landowner’s commitment to protecting land. Working closely with a qualified land trust or other conservation organization, a conservation easement is created. 

A conservation easement is a legally binding agreement that permanently limits certain types of development on land in order to protect the land’s conservation values, such as agricultural productivity, forests, wildlife habitats, streams, and scenic views. 

Landowners continue to own the property and can live on the land, hunt and fish, farm, harvest timber, and otherwise use their land as they always have. They can sell it or pass it to heirs.

Conservation easements offer peace of mind that the land you love will be here for future generations. They can also generate tax benefits.

How It Works

If you own land in the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Watershed (Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan counties):

1. Contact us to discuss your goals for your land.
2. Our staff will work with you to draft protections for your land that balance your goals, flexibility for the future, and protection for the land.
3. Together we will work through “due diligence” to make sure we can accept your conservation easement and to help you be eligible for financial benefits. This step may include a title search, property survey, and/or appraisal.
4. When we sign a conservation easement together, you obligate yourself and future owners of the property to the “rules” you created in your conservation easement.
5. In return, you will have gained permanent peace of mind that your land is safe, and you may be eligible for property tax, federal income tax, and/or estate tax savings.
6. Forever after, the Trust makes sure that the easement terms are followed. We will visit your property each year to ensure the rules you made for your land are upheld. We will take every step necessary to uphold your wishes.

Consider joining the 100+ landowners who have protected their land with us. You too can enjoy the peace of mind of knowing your land is protected forever.