Post-Construction Storm Water Management in New Development & Redevelopment: Conservation Easements

"Conservation easements are voluntary agreements that allow an individual or group to set aside private property to limit the type or amount of development on their property. The conservation easement can cover all or a portion of a property and can either be permanent or last for a specified time. The easement is typically described in terms of the resource it is designed to protect (e.g., agricultural, forest, historic, or open space easements) and explains and mandates the restrictions on the uses of the particular property. Easements relieve property owners of the burden of managing these areas by shifting responsibility to a private organization (land trust) or government agency better equipped to handle maintenance and monitoring issues.

"Conservation easements are thought to make a contribution to protecting water quality, mostly in an indirect way. Land set aside in a permanent conservation easement is land that will have a prescribed set of uses or activities, generally restricting future development.

"The location of the land held in a conservation easement may also determine if it will provide water quality benefits. Property along stream corridors and shorelines can act as a vegetated buffer that may filter out pollutants from storm water runoff. The ability of a conservation easement to function as a stream buffer is related to the width of the easement and in what vegetated state the easement is maintained." [from Factsheet Description]

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