Conservation easements

[Howboutthemdawgs]

In my quest to find some land closer to home I came across one that intrigues me. Looks really promising and priced very fair, well I know why, it’s in a conservation easement. The agent, who is also the forester for the property, made it sound like a non factor in terms of managing the property for wildlife and timber. It has 5 acres carved out for a house. Anyone have good or bad experiences or thoughts with these?
Personally I don’t plan on developing the property so that part doesn’t affect me. It’s not in an area where I see that even being a reality in my lifetime.

 

[Bill]

You would really need to get a full copy of the agreement and go through it carefully. Some might not be far from your goals others could be the opposite. It just depends on who it is with (a land trust or government body) and what their rights and goals are.

 

[Turkish]

I have no first hand experience. Mainly you just need to know all the details of what’s allowed and what isn’t. That’s the long and short of it.

If you’ll only use it for hunting and the price reflects the reduction in value by the easement, it isn’t a terrible way to maximize acres per dollar. In an area where future development may actually occur, it really caps the top end that the land could one day be worth. But you didn’t ask about the investment side of it, so I digress.

What I hate to see is when people enroll in a CE so that they can continue to afford land whose primary value is development potential.

 

[SD51555]

You're also signing on to maintain their property and their interests when you do that. That might mean controlling brush and weeds, as well as no plowing, spraying, tree planting, or potentially no tree cutting. Personally I detest the whole concept. But to be honest, read the agreement and see how many rights they stripped from the property before you do anything, and gauge the cost of the maintenance required.

 

[bwoods11]

I’m pretty familiar with easements. Can you find out what kind of easement it is?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I’m pretty familiar with easements. Can you find out what kind of easement it is?

Definitely. He’s supposed to be emailing me a copy. Apparently it’s in something called the Georgia Land Trust but I don’t see that exact name when I search. I don’t know, it has me nervous but it’s a substantial amount of land in a good area so I at least need to entertain.

 

[Tree Spud]

Definitely. He’s supposed to be emailing me a copy. Apparently it’s in something called the Georgia Land Trust but I don’t see that exact name when I search. I don’t know, it has me nervous but it’s a substantial amount of land in a good area so I at least need to entertain.

You should be nervous. Dealing with a Gov't contract is never to your favor. With any conservation easement (contract), you are granting the right to the Gov't to restrict your rights on your property. In turn, they are proving you some "value" (direct $$ pymt, tax reduction, etc.) to validate the contract. That "value" that is conveyed, is not always transferrable to future land owners.

Once you get a copy of the easement, study it well and have your attorney review. Ask them what I am losing control of, what do I have control of, and who pays for what can be done on the easement? Don't believe what ever you are told verbally by the seller or gov't as to rights as if it is not in the contract, you are screwed.

I know a lot of people who have been sucked into the "easement benefit" and have bought very large parcels at reduced prices, only to learn they have no ability to do any habitat work, food plots, leasing ag rights, timber stand work, or planting of even fruit trees. Some even restrict your rights to put a crossing across a creek or seasonal water area so that you can access you land.

I suspect if they "carved out 5 acres for a house", there are some pretty restrictive rights.

 

[Turkish]

Definitely. He’s supposed to be emailing me a copy. Apparently it’s in something called the Georgia Land Trust but I don’t see that exact name when I search. I don’t know, it has me nervous but it’s a substantial amount of land in a good area so I at least need to entertain.

Which one on this map is it?

Current Efforts — Georgia Alabama Land Trust

www.galandtrust.org

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

You should be nervous. Dealing with a Gov't contract is never to your favor. With any conservation easement (contract), you are granting the right to the Gov't to restrict your rights on your property. In turn, they are proving you some "value" (direct $$ pymt, tax reduction, etc.) to validate the contract. That "value" that is conveyed, is not always transferrable to future land owners.

Once you get a copy of the easement, study it well and have your attorney review. Ask them what I am losing control of, what do I have control of, and who pays for what can be done on the easement? Don't believe what ever you are told verbally by the seller or gov't as to rights as if it is not in the contract, you are screwed.

I know a lot of people who have been sucked into the "easement benefit" and have bought very large parcels at reduced prices, only to learn they have no ability to do any habitat work, food plots, leasing ag rights, timber stand work, or planting of even fruit trees. Some even restrict your rights to put a crossing across a creek or seasonal water area so that you can access you land.

I suspect if they "carved out 5 acres for a house", there are some pretty restrictive rights.

Yikes. May cut my losses before I even invest anymore time. I know why people do them as I have a good friend who just completed one bits very lucrative for the individual who puts it together. But as far as the right fit for me as a landowner, I think I’ll pass. I like working on the land more than the hunting almost.

 

[Tree Spud]

The agent, who is also the forester for the property, made it sound like a non factor in terms of managing the property for wildlife and timber.

That statement alone is already making my skin crawl ...

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Which one on this map is it?

Current Efforts — Georgia Alabama Land Trust

www.galandtrust.org

Damn your good!

 

[Tree Spud]

Yikes. May cut my losses before I even invest anymore time. I know why people do them as I have a good friend who just completed one bits very lucrative for the individual who puts it together. But as far as the right fit for me as a landowner, I think I’ll pass. I like working on the land more than the hunting almost.

Being alert is good; however, you don't have to say no right away. Get a copy of the easement and review it. As you are buying vacant land, it is good to get educated about things to look for. Most vacant land parcels may have some type of easement (resource, utility, access, etc.) on them. Some of us may have some experience on things you read that may help.

Just remember, real estate agents cannot offer legal advice on a contract such as an easement. And if they are the sellers agent, they are not representing you, they are representing the sellers interests in the process.

 

[Turkish]

Yikes. May cut my losses before I even invest anymore time. I know why people do them as I have a good friend who just completed one bits very lucrative for the individual who puts it together. But as far as the right fit for me as a landowner, I think I’ll pass. I like working on the land more than the hunting almost.

Just be an informed buyer, and do NOT trust a dang agent for stuff like that — even a buyer’s agent. You need to read for yourself all the details of the easement. And maybe a lawyer that understands a landowner’s point of view of these things.

Maybe ask the land bank(s) in your area if they can provide comps for similarly encumbered properties.

At least in MS, I’d venture to say that a majority of these conservation easements are on managed hunting properties. These outfits are used to working with hunters.

 

[buckdeer1]

Talk to a good land lawyer.There are land trust and there are a bunch of different types of conservation easements.We a have a land organization in
Kansas called the Sunflower land trust and they are made up of a group that try to get land be threatening the neighbors and using the land for what ever they want.The bad part is there is really no over site of these organizations.This is different than a conservation easement which if drawn up as they were meant to be used simply lowers the property taxes because the property value is reduced because it can never be developed other than in your case that 5 acres.The ones I have seen no one else is ever involved in the maintenance but I have heard of them inspecting it once a year to make sure no building in the restricted area but I don't know who does the inspecting.In my area unless you thought your land might be taken by imminent domain I don't see a reason to do it as with ag the taxes are low anyway.From what I heard this is one of the few laws that hasn't been broken for imminent dommain

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

One of our family properties is in a conservation easement. It was enrolled when the "green acres" program was expiring. We did it because it was going to be taxed as recreational instead of agricultural. We entered it in the program in a corporation called bear creek timber. It keeps the taxes very low and we can use it as we had been in the recent past. It used to be pastured and grazed with beef cattle. It no longer can be. We stopped grazing cattle down there because it was a lot of work to keep the fence up with new trees constantly going down. It can not be farmed or developed. we never plan on selling it and it never would have been farmed, turned into a campground, golf course, subdivision, or anything like that.

We planted it in NWSG and wild flowers. I now mow strategic trails where I want the deer to travel through the tall grasses. These mowed paths double as fire breaks because we burn it off on a 3 year rotation. I have a 1 acre food plot that happens to be on the neighbors property. It is a small triangle that extends into what we use to pasture because of the lay of the land. No issue with plotting it because technically it isnt our land or enrolled in the program. The other spot I plant is in the program. I never asked to do it and they never said anything about it. The inspect the property once a year. Our portion that is entered in the program is just the land that lies within the flood plain. It amounts to about half of the property. The wooded portions of the property are under the bear creek timber corp. but not in the program so we can log or do tsi or anything we want.

I actually think that grazing cattle COULD be an option used as prairie management. There are areas of state land that the DNR is using cattle to graze to reduce reed canary grass and other areas where goats are grazed to maintain dry bluff prairie. We may even look into that option in the future. I think it would work well to graze down the cool season grasses up til about July when the cattle could be taken off so the warm season grasses could grow up without the competition of the cool season stuff.

Every situation is different so I wouldn't write it off just yet. It works for us. Technically we arent even supposed to ride ATV's on it but it has never been an issue. Someone is down there on an ATV nearly every day outside of the deer season.

 

[goatman]

What tree spud said. I been involved in CREP (tree program permanent easement) and ingress and egress and easements are a pain in the butt. Constant trips to the lawyer. Someone always telling what you can do and not do. Everyone with google is a lawyer not to mention NRCS thinking they have police powers.

 

[bwoods11]

In most cases the person is paid for the easement, is the only one to benefit from the easement. If it drastically reduced in price, maybe it is worth it? But otherwise they are a pain as many have mentioned. I have one farm in a RIM easement in MN, and it allows for tree plantings and food plots. Very good pheasant farm with deer, but we received a nice paycheck for the easement. The value of the land went down of course!

 

[Bszweda]

I am curious how much money land owners get for these easements? If an acre is valued at 2k how much would the easement bring per acre?

 

[bwoods11]

I am curious how much money land owners get for these easements? If an acre is valued at 2k how much would the easement bring per acre?

Good question. I've seen them from $500/acre on scrub land in MN... to $5300/acre on farmland in wet areas in Iowa.

 

[H20fwler]

I’ve got ground in the WRP and it has worked out really good for me.
On mine I cannot farm it or graze it or build on it. I also have to coordinate with them on logging, needs to be for opening the canopy up or similar. It is inspected once a year, they call me and we walk it together.
I can cut firewood, have plots of up to two acres, have portable shooting houses, cut shooting lanes, ride four wheelers, do habitat work as long as I plant native species.
I’m good with all of that, everything they wanted for the property was the same as what I wanted anyway. They helped me with a bunch of stuff and I have access to state biologist for any help I need. They also helped with two ponds and a large chunk of money.
I don’t have any regrets on it at all, it helped me buy more property than I could afford at the time.
Everything is in the contract and is spelled out for both parties clearly, all that is worked out ahead of time between you.
It differs some from state to state and even properties and how local politics are swinging at the time so just be absolutely clear on all of it.