Conserving Your Land: What to Expect

This section is written for landowners interested in making a donation of a conservation easement. The process for the sale of a conservation easement (also called “sale of development rights”) is similar, but the agency or agencies providing funds may have specific requirements in addition to those described below. If you intend to sell a conservation easement, UVLT staff can provide information about the criteria, policies, and funding schedules of the groups most likely to support your project..

Donating a Conservation Easement

A conservation easement is a legal document that will impose restrictions on your land permanently. You should anticipate and provide for time to discuss your plans with family members and legal and financial advisors and to carefully review the deeds and maps.

Similarly, a conservation easement involves a permanent commitment from the land trust that will be monitoring and enforcing the terms. The proposed easement must be assessed against UVLT’s project criteria and conservation policies prior to a formal vote of acceptance by the Board of Trustees.

Initial Review
If you believe a conservation easement may be the right choice for you, UVLT staff will arrange a meeting to discuss your goals for your property. This initial meeting will help you and UVLT staff determine whether a donated conservation easement is the best conservation strategy for your property.

To prepare for an initial discussion, you should gather deeds, surveys, or other maps you may have. UVLT staff will review these with you and ask you to describe your goals and how you anticipate a conservation easement will help you accomplish them. Our staff will also discuss possible tax and financial aspects of an easement donation, the steps necessary to complete a gift, the costs you may anticipate, and a likely timetable for a project. UVLT’s Lands Committee will review your proposed project for conformance with land trust standards and policies.

Resource Assessment & Easement Terms
Each conservation easement requires detailed information about the specific property to be protected. Prior to drafting your conservation easement, UVLT will complete a project worksheet summarizing the natural resources present on your property and the public benefits resulting from their conservation. UVLT will visit your property to verify the boundaries, map any areas of special concern (including areas to be excluded from the easement), and assess opportunities for special protections such as riparian buffers or trails for public access. Based on field visits, deeds, and surveys, UVLT will prepare a draft conservation easement and conservation map for your property.

If your property has not been surveyed and if either the boundaries are vague or poorly described, or the property is subject to a boundary line dispute, or you are excluding a portion of the property from the easement, UVLT may require a map from a licensed surveyor to prevent enforcement problems later. (See Conservation Project Costs.)

Landowner Review
UVLT uses easement provisions that have been accepted nationwide by conservation professionals and attorneys experienced in land protection techniques. Our staff will discuss the structure and content of the draft document with you and answer your questions. Keep in mind that UVLT staff do not represent you – you should carefully review the draft conservation easement and discuss it with your own advisors.

When you are comfortable with your conservation project’s configuration, our staff will submit it to the Board of Trustees for their vote of acceptance.

Appraisal, Mortgage Subordination
If you plan to claim a tax deduction for your charitable gift of an easement, you must commission an appraisal. UVLT staff can provide information about Internal Revenue Service appraisal requirements and share a list of appraisers experienced at valuing conservation easements in the Upper Valley. Some landowners wish to know the value of the gift prior to finalizing the easement. In other cases the appraisal is completed after the documents are recorded.

If you have used your property as collateral for a loan, you will need to obtain an agreement from the mortgage holder so that the easement is not extinguished in the event of a foreclosure. This is called a “mortgage subordination.” Your lending agency may wish to review the easement documents or the appraisal prior to subordinating its interests.

Baseline Documentation
The Internal Revenue Service requires that a land trust receiving a donated conservation easement maintain “documentation sufficient to establish the condition of the property at the time of the gift.” UVLT assembles maps and photographs into a baseline documentation report that you countersign at the time of closing. In addition to meeting IRS requirements, the baseline documentation report provides information useful in the ongoing stewardship of the conservation easement.

Sign, Record, Celebrate
When the final easement draft has been reviewed, the baseline documentation report is compiled, and you have obtained any necessary appraisals or mortgage subordinations, you are ready for a closing. You may come to UVLT’s office to sign the documents, or make your own arrangements with a notary public. In addition to the easement deed and the baseline documentation report, you will need to sign a transfer tax return for the department of revenue in your state. Later, if you claim an income tax deduction, you must complete IRS Form 8283.

UVLT will see that your conservation easement deed is recorded and will provide the recording information to you. Unless you direct us otherwise, we will also notify your local conservation commission and your neighbors of your conservation easement gift. The story of your project will be included in UVLT’s newsletter and may be the subject of a press release.

Stewardship
The recording of the conservation easement formalizes the beginning of UVLT’s permanent relationship with your land. UVLT will visit your property periodically to verify and document compliance with the terms of the easement. As time passes, we will also be glad to answer any questions you may have about easement terms or provisions.