Our Mission

A land trust is a nonprofit organization that works to conserve natural areas, farmland, and open space for public benefit. These organizations are primarily comprised of community members and local volunteers. Land trusts work with individual landowners to establish and maintain conservation easements on the land that they own. Some land trusts engage in other environmental and ecological management practices in their communities, such as tree planting or stream restoration.

A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that limits how the landowner's land can be developed in order to protect its conservation values. The exact restrictions on development and conservation values that are protected vary depending on the characteristics of the land and the landowner's goals. Conservation easements do not inherently grant public access to the land, but the landowner may choose to allow it. The landowner retains ownership of the land and the ability to sell or pass it on, but the restrictions remain on the property in perpetuity.

In addition to the benefit of protecting the land's natural resources, landowners may either be compensated financially for the value of the conservation easement or receive significant tax benefits for the donation of its value. In Baltimore County, programs like Rural Legacy and the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) will pay property owners to place a conservation easement on their property. The value of these easements is typically around $7,000-$8,000 per acre. Property owners may also donate an easement to a land trust, which provides tax benefits that are proportionate to the value of the easement for up to 15 years after the donation of the easement.