Conservation Tools
The Wallowa Land Trust primarily uses two tools for private land conservation:
Conservation Easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners and the Trust, created to protect certain natural and traditional values of the property in perpetuity. Typically, development rights are transferred from the property owner to the Trust, those rights are permanently extinguished, and the owner continues to own and manage their land in a manner consistent with the easement parameters.
Conservation Easements are a popular tool for voluntary conservation efforts and have been used for decades in many parts of the country. A Conservation Easement, or CE, is simply a legally binding agreement between a qualified nonprofit organization, such as a land trust, and the landowner, who retains ownership of the property but agrees to certain conditions which protect the land’s conservation values in perpetuity. The easement becomes part of the title and is permanently attached to the property and deed.
Download WLT's Conservation Easement brochure.
Is a Conservation Easement right for you? Learn more.
Fee title transactions, in which the Trust purchases or accepts donations of actual property. When the Trust receives property, to the extent possible, traditional land uses are maintained. Where appropriate, the Trust may lease the ground to a farmer or rancher. Property owned by the Trust is permanently protected from future development.
The Trust employs these tools throughout our three Program Areas: Farms & Ranchlands, Habitat & Open Ground, and Indian Sacred Lands.
Read about our current land projects.
Looking to buy or sell property? Our Conservation Buyer Program introduces conservation-minded buyers to priority conservation properties on the market to protect private property for future generations.
