Permanent Land Protection

To help you protect your land for future generations, the Potomac Watershed Partnership, through the Potomac Conservancy, provides assistance to landowners who want to take advantage of the benefits of permanent land conservation. The Conservancy helps landowners donate land and conservation easements, as well as facilitate purchase of easements through special government programs such as the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).

Conservation easements are the most common tools used by landowners to permanently protect their land. A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a conservation organization, such as the Potomac Conservancy, that places guidelines on a property’s uses to protect its natural, scenic, or historic values. The easement applies to all future landowners, protecting your land for good.

With the help of the Potomac Conservancy, for example, western Maryland farmer Richard Fagan was able to restore and permanently protect 28 acres of streamside forest along Evitts Creek, which contributes to the drinking water supply for the town of Cumberland, Maryland.

The Conservancy, a regional land trust dedicated to the protection of the Potomac River and its surrounding watershed, is a broker of CREP easements in the state of Maryland. The Conservancy’s effort’s helped Fagan to receive about $1,500 per acre from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for the conservation easement. The easement will permanently prevent the forest from being developed and will still allow the Fagans and future landowners to sell, lease, and bequeath the property as they wish.

In another example, to facilitate permanent protection of riparian lands along the Monocacy, the Carrollton Manor Land Trust, in conjunction with the Potomac Watershed Partnership, hosted a workshop on the benefits of conservation easements and other means to protect riparian land. With nearly 40 landowners in attendance, the trust brought in several speakers to answer landowners’ questions and address concerns.

Landowner Watt Bradshaw spreads grass seed over newly installed matting along a section of Smith Creek which runs through his property.