Latest Easement Stories

DAVIS, Calif., March 5, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Private landowners interested in enhancing, restoring or protecting their wetlands or grasslands may want to get their applications in soon. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California has set April 5, 2013, as the deadline for considering projects for 2013 Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) funding. WRP is a voluntary program that provides farmers, ranchers and other...

$4.3 million available for farmland conservation in California DAVIS, Calif., Dec. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California has set Feb. 15, 2013, as the deadline for accepting applications for the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP). "This program continues to offer private landowners the opportunity to protect farm and ranch lands in a way that keeps working land in production and preserves open space,"...

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn., Aug. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UPM Blandin and Minnesota Power (MP) have agreed to an easement exchange that will re-establish 160 acres of forest land north of Taconite. MP is vacating an existing utility easement for No. 94 transmission line on Blandin forest land. In exchange, Blandin has granted MP a 130-acre utility easement on UPM land north of Nashwauk to establish an electric transmission line that will shore up regional reliability for Iron Range...

SANGER, Calif., Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Creating a landmark legacy, Gerawan Farming has forever protected over 9,200 acres (more than 14 square miles) of fertile farmland in California's San Joaquin Valley. The Gerawan Family, farmers for nearly three-quarters of a century, has voluntarily placed this actively farmed land into a permanent agricultural conservation easement. The easement will be administered by the Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a non-profit, public-benefit...

RADNOR, Pa., Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Penn Virginia Resource Partners, L.P. (NYSE: PVR) ("PVR") today announced that it has acquired an option to purchase a pipeline easement in Susquehanna County along a 28.8 mile right-of-way corridor in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale. PVR is currently evaluating the construction of a new natural gas gathering pipeline, with an interconnection to the Tennessee system, to serve producers in the region. The optioned easement was acquired from...

$5.8 million available for grassland and farmland conservation programs in California DAVIS, Calif., Jan. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Private landowners interested in protecting their grassland or farmland with this year's funding are encouraged get their applications in soon. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California has set Feb. 15, 2012, as the deadline for accepting applications for both the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) and Farm and Ranch...

More than $30 million available for wetlands conservation in California, including the Grazing Reserved Rights Pilot Program DAVIS, Calif., Jan. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Private landowners interested in enhancing, restoring or protecting their wetlands with this year's funding may want to get their applications in soon. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in California has set Feb. 15, 2012, as the deadline for considering projects for 2012 Wetlands...

During the past decade, voluntary contracts called conservation easements have become a popular method for conserving land. Embodied in an agreement between landowners and a government or non-governmental organization, these easements have differing goals, structures and financial arrangements. As the area protected by easements has grown to 30 million acres, questions have multiplied. Are easements the most efficient way to conserve land and biodiversity? What easement structures are...

More than 1,000 acres protect bat habitat, working forest LYMAN, N.H., Oct. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Critically important bat habitat and a significant portion of Gardner Ridge, the scenic backdrop for New Hampshire's Town of Lyman, have been conserved, Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust and The Trust for Public Land announced. The conservation of 1,081 acres on Gardner Mountain includes an easement, supports timber management, protects important habitat, and guarantees public...

Approximately $20 million invested in local farm and ranch communities DAVIS, Calif., Oct. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) California State Office, with the California State Department of Conservation (DOC) and several farm and ranchland trusts, have had an historic year preserving 14 significant farms and ranches throughout Northern and Central California in 2011. NRCS and partners invested approximately $20 million in...