Keeping Our Preserved Lands Protected

To fulfill our responsibilities, the Land Trust established a Stewardship Program.

The Stewardship Program ensures the conservation values of protected properties are preserved and stay protecteded through:

• Strong relationships and communication with landowners
• Attentive monitoring of protected properties
• Meticulous documentation of changes to properties using photographs and GIS
• Tracking changes in ownership
• Easement education to new landowners
• Review and approval of requests for permitted activities
• Ongoing maintenance of property records
• Serving as a resource for landowners regarding property management issues
• Correcting violations through voluntary compliance or, if necessary, legal proceedings

Although The Land Trust is a steward of the easement, the landowner continues to be the steward of the land, responsible for the day-to-day management of the property. We're always happy to advise landowners on aspects of property management or refer them to experts in a specific area. Ultimately, the landowner is responsible for the decisions regarding the property and its use within the scope of the easement.

The Stewardship and Legal Defense Fund

To ensure our ability to fulfill our stewardship obligations 10, 50, even 250 years from now, we have established a Stewardship and Legal Defense Fund to generate investment income to cover annual stewardship and monitoring expenses, and build our legal defense capabilities to defend conservation values through litigation if voluntary means fail.

Landowners have been the primary source of the donations used to build the fund, but it is also supplemented by gifts from members including memorial gifts, gifts designated for stewardship and planned or estate gifts.

Landowners who consider a gift of a conservation easement or a gift of land are asked to consider contributing to the Stewardship and Legal Defense Fund to ensure the long-term protection of the land. A stewardship donation is a suggested charitable donation and is not a prerequisite for acceptance of a donated conservation easement.