The foundation of a conservation easement is that the landowner and the land trust holding the easement are partners.
Conservation easements can be a useful tool that keep families on ranches and protect grazing lands.
The foundation of a conservation easement is that the landowner and the land trust holding the easement are partners.
The purpose of an easement is durability, Glenn said. In that sense, the durability of a conservation easement speaks to sustainability, with the potential for profitability.“ Make sure that we have land available to do what the land’ s intended to do; that’ s what an easement is for. Then let’ s empower the landowner to keep their good stewardship practices going. We can further partner with that landowner to stack and layer other programs on top of the easement that can further advance profitability, operational efficiency, and resource stewardship.”
In addition to funding sources already available, either for the conservation easement itself or for conservation practices providing cash flow but needing to remain outside of the easement, future sources are being investigated and developed, Glenn explained.
The original thought behind conservation easements is, by being perpetual, they would keep land values in check, allowing generational succession of the operation. However, the recreational value of agriculture land has inflated land prices over time, making generational transfer more challenging even
for land that has a conservation easement on it.
“ We’ re exploring new ways in which we can use easements as a tool, combined with other tools, to help that affordability piece and at least provide the landowner, neighbors or other agriculture producers an opportunity to participate in that marketplace a little more robustly,” he said.
That is important socially as well. By maintaining those spaces and keeping ranchers on the ground, a conservation easement can help keep rural communities resilient. Glenn said,“ Farm and ranch families are going to keep their kids in the local schools, and they’ re going to support local businesses. That’ s necessary to keep rural communities alive.”
The foundation of a conservation easement is that the landowner and the land trust holding the easement are partners. That arrangement has seen success time and time again in many states. But it doesn’ t end there. The potential to continue growing that partnership is always present.
“ We haven’ t perfected that by any means,” Glenn said.“ We certainly don’ t have the staff to do everything we would like to do. But ultimately, my vision is that landowners who partner with us and continue to run their operations successfully, we can identify new partnerships or identify new programs to help them explore additional opportunities to make their operations more efficient and profitable. And I don’ t mean just economic efficiency, but they’ re getting the highest and best outcomes from the land to achieve what they’ re trying to achieve. Our goal over time is to make sure we’ re a partner with the landowner to help give or help them identify additional resources to get the most they can out of their operation and ensure the land is operating at its best productivity level.” www. NCBA. org NATIONAL CATTLEMEN 11