Conservation Myths
In conversations with community members, our staff encounter many misconceptions about conservation easements, using public funding for private land protection, and the role of land trusts. We'd like to set the record straight.
Read on as our team breaks down some of the most common myths about conservation easements, one of the most useful and adaptable tools in our repertoire.
What is a conservation easement anyways?
According to the Land Trust Alliance, our national accrediting body, a conservation easement is “a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. Landowners retain many of their rights, including the right to own and use the land, sell it and pass it on to their heirs.”
In practice, the landowner voluntarily and permanently gives up many or all of their surface and subsurface development rights so the land can be protected in its current state for conservation purposes, and the landowner also agrees to abide by specific land management terms. Giving up these rights permanently reduces the market value of the land, so the landowner is compensated for the fair market value of that loss. They may be paid for the loss, often using public grant funds, or there are options for landowners to claim substantial tax benefits through donation of that land value to a qualified entity. Because the change in the bundle of rights that the landowner holds is permanent, conservation easements survive ownership changes, or “run with the land,” binding all future owners to uphold the same land use and management standards.
Myth #1: If a landowner protects their land using public grant funds, they have to give the public access to their land, right?
Nope! As with any private property, the landowner chooses who to allow to access their land. The conservation easement doesn’t entitle or grant the public additional rights to access, and the landowner still has the right to protect their land from trespassers. The public receives non-use benefits from this investment. Though every conservation easement is unique in the list of benefits it offers, protected lands often curb urban sprawl, ensure that scenic viewsheds will never be built over, provide habitat connectivity for wildlife, sequester carbon that would have been released by construction, protect local food security, and maintain the rural character of communities and the surrounding countryside.
Myth #2: You can’t sell your land once you put a conservation easement on it.
Not true; land under a conservation easement can be bought and sold just like any other private property. Landowners never give up title to their property. They maintain rights to sell, lease, borrow against, and manage their land. The conservation easement is just a permanent way to implement the vision of the landowner. The landowner trades some of their development rights, and in exchange, they realize financial benefits that can help them to achieve their goals, such as investing in habitat restoration, growing an agricultural enterprise, or planning for their family’s future.
Myth #3: Once you have a conservation easement, you can’t do anything on your property without asking permission.
Far from true! The spirit of a conservation easement is to protect important land values, such as productive farmland or critical wildlife habitat, and so most easements share some common features, but easements are not one-size-fits-all. The landowner has input on which rights they would like to retain, with the understanding that they will only be compensated for rights they give up. The easement deed is developed collaboratively with the landowner, and the terms are tailored to the property and the owner’s values. For instance, an agricultural conservation easement should include appropriate terms to ensure that farming and ranching enterprises can adapt to future challenges and remain viable. This could include provisions for anything from fence and irrigation system replacement to changes in grazing practices or building a second house for the next generation of family farmers.
Myth #4: You can’t farm, hunt, fish, or harvest timber on land encumbered by a conservation easement.
Again, no... Much of the private land area protected by easements across the state of California is comprised of working lands: lands actively ranched, farmed, or used for recreational purposes. Provided that these activities are planned for explicitly in the terms of the easement, and continue to be managed responsibly so they don’t have negative spillover impacts on the conservation values the easement was designed to protect, landowners are able to continue agricultural enterprises and personal enjoyment of their property.
Myth #5: It’s all or nothing…the entirety of your land will be covered by the terms of the easement.
False; a conservation easement can cover a portion of a parcel, a portion of several parcels, or all of one or more parcels. In terms of the complexity and expense of establishing the easement, it is often preferable to demarcate a conservation easement along existing parcel boundary lines, but there are certainly cases where a more tailored approach is warranted. An easement can also exclude specific areas inside a larger protected zone, such as leaving out a small building envelope for a future cabin site or solar panel installation on a ranch. These exclusions may lessen the conservation easement’s value, but where needed, this kind of structure can provide additional latitude for the landowner to implement a long-term vision.
Myth #6: The government is going to be involved, and I don’t want them having any rights to my land.
Most easements are held by 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations like NCRLT. While there are cases where government entities hold conservation easements on private land, it isn’t the norm. Where public funding is used to compensate the landowner for the conservation easement, the funding agency may have rights to inspect the land periodically or to intervene in an emergency situation, but these rights are very rarely enacted. Visits are nearly always planned well in advance, and coordinated through the land trust or other organization holding the easement.
Myth #7: I’ve seen the Press Releases; NCRLT is landing huge government grants! Why should I financially support their work?
NCRLT’s initial role in a conservation easement process is to assist the landowner in developing plans and documentation that can then be used to raise grant funds for the conservation easement acquisition. As part of that process, our team writes a lot of grant applications, and we’re proud that we have a high success rate! Those announcements are a huge win for the conservation-minded landowners we partner with. That could mean a multi-generational family farm or ranch will remain financially viable into the future, or that a critical section of a salmon-bearing stream will never be bordered by a residential subdivision. So celebrate those wins!
That said, those announcements are not a sign that NCRLT is rolling in the dough. We’re just a conduit through which acquisition funding flows to the landowners who are giving up their development rights. Depending on the terms of the grant, NCRLT may only receive a fraction of the funding (or none of it) to reimburse the expenses we incur while developing an easement project for a landowner. Donations are a critical part of the ecosystem of support that allows us to keep doing the work we do!
Myth #8: Of course your local land trust wants you to put your land in a conservation easement; that’s how they make all their money! They’ll be taking a cut of anything you get.
Our favorite! This one is a complete misrepresentation of how any accredited land trust operates.
NCRLT or any other land trust has to cover the extensive staff time needed to create a project package documenting conservation values to be protected on a property, coordinate professional services like surveyors and appraisers, raise funding for the easement to be acquired from the landowner, and develop documents for escrow. If we don’t cover our costs, we can’t keep our doors open! Wherever possible, these costs are written into grant applications so that the landowner doesn’t bear all of the up-front expenses of easement development, but even when we do receive public funding to cover our work, there is no profit motive. Our billable rates are the same for a government agency, another non-profit, or a member of the public.
There is also a common misconception that land trusts profit when a landowner receives compensation for an easement. In reality, this is a very critical but misunderstood part of the conservation transaction. A conservation easement can’t be formed without a qualified entity to hold and monitor the easement. And a public agency can’t grant funds that may run into the millions of dollars to a private landowner without accountability to the public. So in addition to facilitating the funding and acquisition of easements, NCRLT accepts the responsibility to hold the easement and monitor the agency’s investment in it forever.
Every year, our staff thoroughly investigate land use on protected properties to ensure that the terms of the easements we hold are being respected. Any agencies that funded protection of the land receive reports and photo-documentation as part of a healthy system of accountability for the taxpayers who ultimately underwrote this conservation work. NCRLT needs to cover the costs of carrying out this yearly monitoring, so when a conservation transaction closes escrow, a permanent endowment fund is typically set up to cover basic staff time and expenses in perpetuity. In most cases, the landowner does fund this endowment out of a fraction of the proceeds from the easement sale, because the land trust is providing a necessary service to the landowner. Ultimately, our cost-recovery is critical to keeping our doors open, our team employed, and the good work of land conservation moving forward across the North State!