In order to fund part of the purchase price of the 34 encumbered Peck properties, Mr. Hull will sell conservation easements on an additional 16 properties that he already owns in towns adjacent to the Tupper Hill Wildlife Sanctuary, bringing the total land protected to 8581 acres. Public purchases of conservation easements make economic sense. In contrast to public land acquisition, using easements as a protection tool keeps land in the tax base. Landowners continue to pay taxes on the land, while the property remains protected from development just as it would if state or federal agencies had purchased the land. Since only a portion of the rights is purchased, it's also a lot cheaper than buying the property outright.
Conservation easements hold benefits for the private landowner as well as for the public.
By reducing the value of the land, they reduce the onerous pressure of estate taxes, which often force heirs to an estate to sell off or develop the property just to pay Uncle Sam. They allow the landowner to maintain the rural character of the land and focus on managing the land sustainably for forestry or agriculture as they have done for perhaps decades or generations. Often land that is purchased outright by state or federal agencies is taken out of forest management. The land is no longer used as a resource to produce the forest products that we consume in New England and throughout the world. This has the unintended effect of increasing the resource pressure on the remaining New England forests.