|
|
|
|
|
Easement Donation Process
Each land trust has a specific process to be followed but all will contain at least the following general steps, which should take two to three months.
- When you have contacted a land trust, staff will visit your property to meet with you to discuss your desires for the land, to photograph it, and document the conservation features, structures and current land use.
- Staff will further research your property for additional conservation features.
- Staff will draft a deed of conservation easement based on the information gathered. It is sent to you for your review.
- The easement is presented to and voted on by the Board of the MET and/or the local land trust, depending upon who is to hold the easement.
- All parties sign the easement. (In the case of MET, the Board of Public Works then ratifies it.)
- The easement is recorded in the local land records office.
- You will periodically be contacted by the holder of the easement for purposes of physically monitoring the conditions of the easement.
If you plan to take advantage of state and Federal tax benefits, you will need to get a private appraiser to conduct an appraisal of the property during this process. Generally, the landowner is responsible for the cost of an appraisal and any legal or financial advice they seek. The services of MET are provided free to the landowner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Maryland Environmental Trust |
| Local Land Trusts |
| Tax Benefits |
| Easement Donation Process |
| Appraisal Guidelines |
| Maryland Historical Trust |
| Professional Landowner Advisor |
|
|
|
|
|
|
What motivates landowners to protect their land? Hear what landowners say about why they donated or sold a permanent conservation easement on their land.
"Our easement means a great deal in terms of our interest in the farm -- we really value the open space and are very much interested in protecting it. It also fits into a larger puzzle: Our 286-acre farm boarders Sugarloaf mountain and when we put it under easement, we invited a bunch of neighbors in to discuss the MET program. As a result two of our neighbors put in their farms in easement and that added something like 1,600 acres to the total picture, all adjoining. The complete picture has meant a lot to us to know that this patchwork of open space will be protected."
Law B. Watkins, Montgomery County, Maryland. MET Easement recorded in 1976.
|
|
|
|
