How We Work

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Monitoring a conserved property with the landowners

There are several strategies for landowners who want to preserve their lands. A landowner may donate or sell parcels of land in order to place the land entirely in the Land Conservancy's care. More often, a landowner will donate a conservation easement to the Land Conservancy.

A conservation easement places protective restrictions on future uses of the land. The conservation easement also assigns responsibility to the Land Conservancy to enforce those restrictions forever, even when the ownership of the land changes. It is a tool used by land trusts to help landowners protect their land's natural values, while still maintaining ownership of their property.

Land trusts are authorized to hold conservation easements by both federal and state law. In addition, the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy has adopted and is implementing a set of policies and procedures developed by the national Land Trust Alliance. These operational procedures ensure that our work is done with the highest level of integrity.

The Southern Oregon Land Conservancy is part of a large network of land conservation organizations across the county working on the front lines with communities to help them preserve America's land heritage. Over 1,700 land trusts operate in the United States. Community based land trusts are experts at helping interested landowners find ways to protect their land in the face of ever-growing challenges that often result in the loss of habitat and open space.

Local and regional land trusts have been extremely successful since the first land trust was formed in 1891. Founded in 1978, the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy is the oldest regional land trust in Oregon. To date, we've helped landowners conserve 8,500 acres of irreplaceable land.

Our work ensures that the irreplaceable lands of Southern Oregon remain intact for future generations to enjoy.

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