A conservation buyer is a private individual or a group of individuals who 1) buy property primarily to protect its resource values, or 2) buy property already restricted by a perpetual conservation easement. In the first case, the conservation buyer typically donates an easement to a land trust (or sells it to a government program) after acquiring the property, takes advantage of the tax benefits, and then resells the land on the private market at a reduced value because some or all of the development rights have been removed. The ultimate buyer of the restricted property is someone interested in the non-development use of the property, e.g. a farmer or forester, a sportsman looking for hunting and fishing sites, a couple seeking a rural estate for retirement, an equestrian operation, or a nonprofit organization involved in habitat restoration or environmental education.

Local land trusts are beginning to develop conservation buyer programs to identify and connect conservation buyers with valuable resource properties as they go on the market. Land trusts do not act as brokers in these deals but rather work with local real estate agents who understand the mutual benefits. Sometimes the land trust itself purchases the land, reserves an easement and resells it to someone wishing to own a protected property. Alternatively the land trust may create a new private entity, such as a Limited Liability Company, to acquire the land and convey the easement.

At the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the Maryland Farm Link program puts farmers interested in farming in touch with people selling farm properties, subject to easement or not.

Nationally, the Jackson Hole Land Trust http://jhlandtrust.org/buy_prog/ has the most extensive experience with conservation buyer transactions and the Land Trust Alliance http://www.ltanet.org/ offers technical help to its members. Though relatively new to the technique, a number of land trusts in Maryland have succeeded in bringing buyers and sellers together. They include:

The Land Preservation Trust
Ned Halle
Executive Plaza 1, Suite 502
11350 McCormick Road
Hunt Valley, MD 21031
410-771-9900 x106
E-mail: nedhalle@aol.com

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
Rob Etgen
P.O. Box 169
Queenstown, MD 21658
410-827-9756
E-mail: retgen@eslc.org
http://www.eslc.org/

Calvert Farmland Trust
Susan Hance-Wells
4885 Adelina Road
Prince Frederick, MD 20678
410-414-5070
http://www.calvertag.com

Chris Pupke
Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage
P.O. Box 1745
Easton, MD 21601
cpupke@friend.ly.net
Work: 410 822-5100

Potomac Conservancy
Matthew Logan
8601 Georgia Ave, Suite 612
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-608-1144
http://www.potomac.org/