The Division estimates 117,000 per year are converted from traditional wild habitat to human use. Landowners donate conservation easements for a variety of reasons, including maintaining their property in its current condition and ensuring the property remains intact. Conservation easements are all unique and in most cases administered through a specific management plan. For the Division, this involves annual inspections to ensure properties are maintained with the least amount of damage caused to habitat, and to ensure public access for hunting, fishing and watchable wildlife enthusiasts. Workshops cover the many types of conservation easements offered by the Division and other organizations, and the problems associated with high land values.
Conservation easements offer landowners many financial benefits and incentives.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, the difference between the market value of the land prior to the easement encumbrance and the market value after the encumbrance may be tax deductible. This summer, the Division secured a conservation easement along the Arikaree River near Wray that comprises over 2,100 acres of land used by foraging deer and a large riparian zone that provides habitat for songbirds, small game and waterfowl. The landowner who sold the easement to the Division remains owner of the property but is required to follow a Division management plan developed jointly by the landowner, the Division and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. These plans permit landowners with farms to continue their historical farming practices in a manner that protects and enhances the riparian habitat. Across the state, people are using these conservation easements to protect natural, scenic, agricultural and historic lands.