Land Conservation
Land conservation plays a critical role in maintaining a balance between development and nature, ensuring that future generations will be able to enjoy the scenic beauty, natural resources, and cultural heritage of our region.
Maybe you want to protect the wildlife or tree resources located on your property. Maybe you want to preserve your property’s historic structures. Maybe you want to safeguard the pristine waters of the Beaverkill River and Willowemoc Creek so that future generations will be able to create family memories of fishing with loved ones.
Whatever the reason, we will work hand in hand with you to craft an appropriate conservation outcome consistent with your needs. Below are the various ways in which the land trust can assist you in achieving your conservation goals.
Conservation Easements
A conservation easement is a voluntary, legally binding agreement between you and the land trust that limits certain types of development on and uses of your property to protect its conservation values. These values may include providing habitat for various plant and animal species, many of which may be endemic or threatened; supporting activities such as hiking and birdwatching; or your land’s ability to absorb rainfall thereby reducing runoff and mitigating the risk of floods downstream.
A conservation easement is tailored to the specific attributes of your property along with your conservation goals, allowing you to continue to own, use, and sell your land while ensuring its long-term preservation.
The land trust is responsible for visiting your property annually. This routine check-in is designed to answer any questions you may have and ensure the terms of easement are being maintained.
By entering into a conservation easement, you may also qualify for certain tax benefits. Visit our FAQ page for more information about how it all works.
Donate Your Land
You can also consider donating your land to a land trust for the creation of a nature preserve or public conservation area, or to allow the property to be sold to a conservation buyer subject to a conservation easement.
If your land meets our conservation mission, we would be happy discuss how to achieve your long-term conservation goal.
Like entering into a voluntary conservation easement, the donation of your land may also qualify you for certain tax benefits. Visit our Ways to Give page for more information about donations to BVLT.
Manage Your Land
Whether you are new to the area or have lived here for decades, managing your land for wildlife, water health, sustainable forestry, and scenic views is something we all can do.
We can provide you with information about managing the use of your land for better health and extreme weather resilience. Visit our Landowner Resources page for tips and links for healthy land management.