 Indiana's heritage is deeply
rooted in agriculture. However, as people continue to migrate out of
the city to rural areas, farmland is being fragmented and lost. American Farmland Trust, Purdue University, Indiana Land Resources
Council, and Indiana Farm Bureau produced the "Indiana Farmland:
Fight or Flight? Preserving Indiana's Agricultural Heritage" video to explore
the value of preserving farmland and to present farmland protection
program options for growing communities that also want to protect prime
farmland and open space. We are proud to have our farmland protection
program featured in this video. If you are interested,
contact us.
Wood-Land-Lakes RC&D is one of
the area's first organizations to develop and hold conservation easements
for farmland protection through our Land Trust. We
are primarily
interested in protecting farmland from development and subdivision. Farmland includes woodlands,
wetlands, prairies, pastureland, and wildlife habitat.
Landowners can donate their development rights through a
farmland conservation easement and protect the land from further subdivision or
development. A conservation easement is a voluntary, written agreement
between the landowner and Wood-Land-Lakes RC&D in which the landowner agrees to restrict
the use of the land in exchange for certain tax and estate planning
benefits as well as the benefit of knowing that their farm will not be
subdivided or developed.
The Land Committee has created informational
brochures as
well as some articles to assist in understanding the
conservation easement process:
Please note that conservation easement contracts are flexible and can
be modified to suit a landowner's desires regarding
protection.
Please
contact the office
for a version of the conservation easement contract that can be easily
modified.
One of the purposes of Wood-Land-Lakes RC&D, a non-profit organization, is to
permanently protect farmland from non-farm development. Comprised of private
citizens and property owners interested in seeing farmlands remain in
production forever, Wood-Land-Lakes RC&D's Land Committee is committed to
farmland preservation, everywhere. We are thrilled to get the
opportunity to assist other groups become qualified conservation
easement holders.
Conservation
easements protect the land for the future.
Once an easement is granted,
it is highly unlikely it will ever be rescinded!
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