Conservation Buyer Properties

Rose Pogonia
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Benefits

Conservation easements protect many plant and animal species, like this Rose Pogonia, a member of the orchid family.

Land Protection—Conservation easements are a cost effective tool to protect Michigan’s increasingly threatened land and water resources, preserving wildlife habitat, safeguarding our waters, and capturing scenic vistas for today and tomorrow.

Living Legacy—Conservation easements give landowners peace of mind, knowledge that commitment to protecting their “special places” will be forever respected and will remain an enduring legacy for their family and their community.

Common Good—Conservation easements allow landowners to contribute to local communities and to the state by protecting the land and water resources that provide us with our cherished quality of life.

What is a Conservation Buyer?

What is a Conservation Easement?

A conservation buyer is a person or group interested in protecting an area's significant natural features. The Nature Conservancy purchases the property, places a conservation easement on it, and resells it to the buyer who is committed to safeguarding the ecological integrity of the property. Depending on the structure, tax advantages may be available to the buyer.

Conservation easements are restrictions landowners voluntarily place on their property that legally bind the actions of present and future owners of the property. Property ownership includes certain privileges that allow a landowner to exercise certain rights. Being allowed to cut timber, explore for minerals, dig a ditch or build a house are all examples of a landowner’s rights. A conservation easement restricts the landowner’s ability to exercise some or all of these rights to protect the land’s natural features, flora and fauna or other conservation needs.

A conservation easement may be known as a conservation servitude or conservation restriction, depending on state law. A land trust that accepts and holds conservation easements commits itself to their annual stewardship in perpetuity, to enforcement of their terms, and to building positive landowner and community relationships to support the land trust’s conservation programs and enforcement actions.

Current Michigan Properties

Mattawan Tract: Paw Paw River, Van Buren County
This property will be encumbered by a conservation easement negotiated with the seller before the sale closure. The buyer may purchase all or a portion of this tract, however, a partial purchase will be priced per acre and must be contiguous to the eastern or western property line.

Ways of Giving Conservation Buyer Program