It's Still Your Land

Conservation Easements: Myths and Realities

A Conservation Easement Doesn't Take Your Land. It Helps Keep It Yours. Too, they are the most flexible and cost-effective tool in the conservation toolbox.

The Real Benefits

A conservation easement can:

• Keep family land intact for future generations

• Protect farms, forests, streams, wildlife habitat, and scenic landscapes

• Preserve the character of rural communities

• Provide potential federal, state and estate tax benefits

• Allow landowners to leave a permanent conservation legacy

• Protect land without requiring public ownership

The Bottom Line

At the Greenville County Historic & Natural Resources Trust, conservation easements aren't about taking land away from people. They're about giving landowners a voluntary tool to protect what they love about their land, long after they're gone. Too, they provide a way to achieve open space goals while stretching limited tax dollars to conserve land at a fraction of the cost of fee purchases.

Of the 34 projects the Trust has done in its first five years: 1/3 are conservation easements representing 1/2 of our 3,000 acres protected but ONLY 20% of total investment!

Private Land. Private Choice. Lasting Legacy.