ways to preserve your land

As a landowner, there are a number of different ways you can work with the Palouse Land Trust to protect your property and establish a lasting conservation legacy. We can accept donations of land or development rights, and depending on available funding sources, may be able to purchase land or development rights.  The most common tool used by the Land Trust for conservation projects is a conservation easement.

A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement that a willing landowner makes to permanently restrict the type and extent of activities that may take place on his or her property in the future, while still retaining the rights of private ownership.  A conservation easement does not necessarily exclude development, but may limit types of development that would impact the conservation values the easement seeks to preserve and protect.  For example, a conservation easement to protect prime agricultural land may allow for a barn to be built but would prohibit subdivision of the property for a housing development.

The landowner continues to own and manage the property; he or she may sell it, live on it, use it, or leave it to heirs, but the agreed-upon restrictions remain with the land forever. The landowner gives the Land Trust the right to monitor and enforce the terms of the easement agreement, all the while keeping the property in the owner's hands and on the tax rolls.  

For more information or to talk about your specific circumstances, please don't hesitate to email or call Executive Director, Lovina Englund.  All inquiries are confidential.  We value a landowner's right to decide what works best for his or her family, so there is never any pressure.