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Conservation Easements
Conservation Easement Program Protects 100,000 Acres of Agricultural Land in New York State
A state famous for its largest city is making a concerted effort to protect agricultural lands as part of a larger national push.
What Is an Easement?
There are limits to the rights and powers associated with land ownership. Easements are a critical example of how property rights can be balanced with the needs of neighbors, the public, and other interests external to the control of property owners.
Conservation Easements: Crafted With Good Intentions and Now Exploited for Tax Benefits
A tax break designed to protect land has become just another massive tax loophole. It looks like conservation easements are here to stay.
Farmland Preservation a Hot Topic in Idaho's Most Populous County
As the city of Boise and surrounding communities in Ada County, Idaho continue to grow and sprawl outward, agricultural land in the county may become a thing of the past.
Even for Slow-Growth Davis, Providing Land for Tech Companies Proves Too Enticing
Originally intended for permanent farmland and open space, Davis, CA will consider whether 391 acres along its eastern edge should instead be used for a business technology park, reports Mark Anderson.
Can TDRs Save Farms and Open Spaces?
Seattle offers a compelling example of how the transfer of development rights (TDR) can provide a market-based means to kill two smart-growth birds with one stone, writes Claire Thompson.
Land Conservation Increasing in Spite of Recession
Land trust have been able to increase their holds during the last five years. Lower land prices and conservation easements on working ranches and farms have enabled greater conservation efforts.
Preserving Land For Future Generations
An easement often grants a third party, mainly a utility company, limited rights to properties not belonging to them. In North Fork, Colorado, conservation easements do the opposite by preserving the "heaven here on earth," says Kathy Browning.
An Ursine Easement
A forest management company in Northern Idaho has set aside a 647-acre grizzly bear habitat. Part of the deal is that the company will not log while the grizzlies are in the house.
Riverfront Easement Provokes Debate
In Red Wing, Minnesota, the city is seeking to turn 200-acres of marshes and forests into a permanent conservation easement. A citizen group has complained that locking down the land forever is a bad idea.
Conservation Easements on the Rise
This piece from Miller-McCune looks at the conservation easement and explains how the legal device is being used to protect land and prevent sprawl.
Turning Unbuilt Project Sites Into Open Space
DeLuca Homes planned to build condos in Bucks County, PA- until the bottom fell out of the market. Now they're one of many developers cutting deals with governments to create open space.
Reinventing Conservation Easements
In recent decades conservation easements—promises to restrict land development—have become enormously popular, but now they are in trouble.
City of Madera
City of Santa Clarita
Borough of Carlisle
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Colorado Energy Office
Pima County Community College District
City of Piedmont, CA
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
