Conservation Easements

Conservation Easements
Conservation easements are one of the most flexible and effective means available to protect private property while providing tax relief. A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement that ensures that property will be managed according to the landowner’s wishes. Each individual agreement is unique to the special qualities of the land and the conservation goals of the landowner.
Property rights involve many components, including rights to manage resources, change use, subdivide or develop land. Under a conservation easement, a landowner voluntarily limits one or more of these rights. For example, a landowner donating a conservation easement could choose to limit the right to develop a property, but keep the rights to build a house, raise cattle and grow crops.
Often, landowners donate these easements. However, public funding sources can offer far more opportunities for significant land conservation. In 2005, the Texas Legislature created the Texas Farm and Ranch Lands Conservation Program, a purchase of development rights (PDR) program that is designed to pay property owners who volunteer to conserve their land. However, this program has never been funded and very little funding is currently available for conservation in Texas. Click here for more information on a 2009 effort by Rep. Charlie Geren and former Sen. Kip Averitt to fund the program and earn federal matching money that would help Texas landowners conserve.
Despite the lack of funding at the state level, cities and counties in central Texas including Austin, San Antonio, Hays County and Travis County have passed bond elections to generate public dollars to preserve natural areas and protect water supply. Contact HCA for more information about these opportunities.
Link to our issue page on Conservation Easements
The Hill Country Alliance has had success in hosting workshops to highlight financial and conservation tools available to rural landowners in fast-growing Hill Country counties. These workshops are designed to provide farmers, ranchers, and other landowners with effective tools and resources to help them address issues inherent in passing family land on to future generations.
On February 15, 2019 with the help of the Comal County Conservation Alliance, we hosted a landowner workshop covering a variety of topics related to conservation easements at the Anhalt Dance Hall in Spring Branch, TX. The presentations given at this workshop can be accessed below.
Presentations from 2/15/19 Workshop:
- Daniel Oppenheimer, HCA – Hill Country Growth and Land Conservation
- James Bradbury, PLLC – Conservation Easements in Texas
- Margaret Menicucci, Braun & Gresham Attorneys at Law – Conservation Basics & Income and Estate Tax Benefits
- Carrie Kasnicka, Guadalupe-Blanco River Trust – Land Trust 101
- Shane Kiefer, CWB Plateau Land & Wildlife Management – Introduction to Wildlife Management Property Tax Valuation
Recent Conservation Easement News
Hays County partners with Hill Country Conservancy and La Cima to acquire Purgatory Creek Nature preserve as conservation land
Hays County has acquired Purgatory Creek Nature Preserve, a 1,068-acre conservation easement that will permanently protect and preserve the land from future development. This easement was proposed and sponsored by the Hill Country Conservancy (HCC) to be funded...
PEACE: The time to conserve land is now
The Edwards Aquifer, source of Comal Springs, is recognized as one of the most prolific karst aquifer systems in the world. Storm water enters and travels through the system with amazing speed, allowing for rapid recharge of this elegant water source. However, this...
119 acres of scenic Hill Country views and habitat protected forever!
Querencia is the home of landowners Deborah Elliott and Pat Davis. The name of the property is a Spanish word referring to one’s safe place, or a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home. The place where one is their most authentic self. Since...
380 acres of scenic open space protected forever
Texas Land Conservancy has completed the permanent protection of 380 acres in San Antonio, known as the Espada Tract. This new conservation easement protects the scenic open space views along 2.2 miles of the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System. This includes 1.6...