Local groups often have established good relationships with local landowners and can provide more presence and management activity than the Service. The Conte Refuge and its partners will use several methods of land protection. They will use fee-title acquisition to purchase all the rights to the land. Another method they will use is the purchase of conservation easements. In this method, the buyer purchases only certain rights, such as the right to build houses on the land.
Conservation easements are less expensive than fee-title acquisitions.
When development rights are sold, the landowner retains the right to use the land for other purposes, such as agriculture or forestry. The landowner continues to pay taxes on the adjusted valuation of the land. Easements are effective in keeping inherited land intact and useful to heirs. The Refuge and its partners will also encourage the use of bargain sales and donations of lands or easements. These transactions may provide landowners with tax advantages.