CONSERVATION EASEMENTS
A conservation easement can help protect your land, wildlife habitat, scenic areas, or historic buildings. It’s an alternative to selling the land for development.
A conservation easement is a legal agreement ensuring your property will be managed according to your wishes. With an easement, you retain ownership of the land, and you may qualify for tax benefits.
What Is It?
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between the person who owns the land and a non-profit conservation organization (often called a land trust) or a government agency.
Why Use One?
Some of the reasons to use an easement include to preserve or promote a conservation ethic on your property; to protect special features of your property such as mature trees, wildlife habitat, or historical significance; to maintain the productivity of your land; or to reduce your tax burden
What Land Qualifies?
If your property is undeveloped, forested in native species, or has a minimum amount of agricultural or intense timber use, it will meet the basic qualifications for a conservation easement.
Tax Benefits
Both federal and state laws provide tax benefits to landowners who protect natural or historic land with qualifying conservation easements. Conservation easements are not suited for every situation. Landowners should consult tax professionals for more specific information.
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Recent Conservation Easements
Read through the stories of 12 landowners and the success that the conservation easements had.
Nash Buckingham’s Beaver Dam was a duck club organized in 1882. It was the property of the Owen family. Nash Buckingham, a renowned and well-loved outdoor writer, frequented Beaver Dam. The conservation easement is approximately 159 acres in the historic Mississippi River Alluvial Floodplain in Tunica County. Tunica County is mostly agricultural, producing cotton, corn,
The Caulk Island property is in the southeast portion of Desha County, Arkansas, on the east side (Mississippi Side) of the Mississippi River and the unprotected (batture) side of the Mississippi River mainline levee system. Lake Whittington forms part of the boundary of the island. This lake, formerly Bolivar Bend, was cut off from the
Coles Creek Land and Timber Company is located approximately 10 miles north of Natchez, Mississippi. This 1,355-acre tract is in a strategic area of the Mississippi Flyway. About 500 acres were reforested to bottomland hardwoods in 2001. Coles Creek’s owners strive to provide diverse habitat types to ensure the needs of all animals, not just
The Dead Tiger Mitigation Bank was organized to compensate for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits for unavoidable negative impacts to wetlands and streams. The bank is located within the buffer zone of the Stennis Space Center. The buffer zone restricts residential and commercial development, which will aid the bank’s long-term success. This mitigation bank
The late Grey Ferris of Vicksburg donated a 2,114-acre conservation easement with bottomland hardwoods and a small portion of pasture. The Mississippi Land Trust and Ferris negotiated the conservation easement terms together. This binding agreement prohibits any development not compatible with a relatively natural preserve. The property’s roads, walking paths, and a small shed can