Working Forest Conservation Easement - 600 Acres, 1998

The Land Trust helped another family "save the farm" and protect their agricultural investment through a conservation easement on their property. This project protects approximately 600 acres of a cow/calf operation with acres of blue oak savannah and pasture lands in Grass Valley.

The owner of the property was interested in pursuing a conservation easement to protect the land he loved and to make it possible for his family to keep it in agricultural use. So toward the end of his life he worked through an estate planner and the Land Trust to craft an easement that allowed full development rights on a small portion of the ranch, for use by his children to sell or develop as they see fit, and placed the rest under a conservation easement to protect the agricultural operation by preventing incompatible uses or future development.

His actions have resulted in preservation of some 600 acres of prime ranch lands, as well as open space and habitat, in a fast-growing part of Nevada County. But perhaps more importantly, the owner assured his family's ability to keep the ranch by reducing the overall value of the property through the conservation easement, which lowered the estate taxes required to pass the land on to his heirs. His daughter is now carrying on the family ranching tradition.