Aid_Content Page_Conservation easements

Conservation easements

A conservation easement is a legal agreement in which a Landowner conveys some of the rights associated with ownership of his/her property to an "Easement Holder." The Easement Holder may be a governmental unit or a qualified nonprofit organization. The DNR's Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, Lake Protection Program and Rivers Program require grantees to develop a conservation easement.

You will need the documents on this page to help you create your conservation easement. We recommend that you begin by reading Grant Requirements for Conservation Easements (CF-025) [DOC] and the first section of the Drafting Notes. This will give you the basic background information you need.

You must use the standardized language, except in those areas that can be customized. For this reason, you can only edit the blue text in the templates. The blue text in the Microsoft Word represents the italicized text in the reference versions. For access to the fixed portions of the text and for further information on how to use the fillable forms, contact your regional stewardship grant specialist.

The Drafting Notes can be downloaded to your computer and individual sections can be cut, pasted and edited into the standardized easement to fit your needs.

Good luck with your easement!

Guidelines

Reference documents

Templates

Contact information
For questions about conservation easements, contact:
Your regional Stewardship grant specialist