Easements
What are easements?
A conservation easement is a voluntary, legally binding agreement that limits certain types of uses or prevents development from taking place on a piece of property now and in the future, while protecting the property’s ecological or open-space values. In the case of an agricultural land conservation agreement, most non-agricultural activities are prohibited to protect the productivity of the soils and the land’s water resources. A land conservation agreement on a woods, wetland, meadow or on streamside land prohibits residential and commercial development and usually limits construction to structures necessary for a nature preserve.