What is a conservation easement? How does it work? How does it benefit a private landowner? If the land remains private land, how does it benefit the public?
Randy Newberg, host of Hunt Talk Radio and a life member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, addressed these and many other questions in a recent podcast with representatives of RMEF and the Montana Land Reliance. RMEF is a longtime advocate of conservation easements, or voluntary conservation agreements as it prefers to call them, for more than three decades to conserve and protect the wildlife values of privately held land.
Below are some notable comments from the podcast episode and a link to listen to it.
Randy Newberg – Hunt Talk Radio host:
“The greatest bang for the buck that we get with private land conservation is with conservation easements. Nothing even comes close to that.”
“Wildlife benefits, landowners benefit and we, the public, benefit.”
Jenn Doherty – RMEF managing director of mission operations:
“Conservation easements are a legal tool to protect and conserve property and property rights that private landowners have.”
“You’re protecting open space, wildlife habitat. From RMEF’s standpoint, it’s an essential tool that’s been in our toolbox since 1989.”
“This is a primary tool that can be utilized to protect wildlife habitat across the country and important elk and big game calving grounds and migration grounds, which is in the public’s interest.”
Kendall Van Dyke – Montana Land Reliance managing director:
“Nobody is pushing this on anybody. This is a tool that materializes from an unusual amount of need. Sometimes it’s purely a conservation ethic. In some cases, it’s for tax benefit…or to buy somebody off or buy the neighbor before somebody else comes in.”
“The important takeaway is it’s voluntary and it’s the choice of these families.”
Click here to listen to the podcast.
(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)