| 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. The
American Farmland Trust, Purdue University, the Indiana Land Resources
Council & 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 its farmland protection
program featured in this video. If you are interested, the video (VHS or DVD) is
available under our free rental page.
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 Committee. We
are primarily
interested in protecting farmland from development and subdivision. This includes woodlands,
wetlands, prairies, pastureland, and wildlife habitat.
Landowners can donate their development rights through a
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.
The Land Committee has created informational brochures (request copies) as
well as the following 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.
Wood-Land-Lakes
RC&D currently holds conservation easements protecting approximately
1400 acres of farmland in Allen, Elkhart, LaGrange,
Steuben, Whitley, and St. Joseph Counties. Click here for more specific
information on some of those 1400 acres and
their owners.
Wood-Land-Lakes RC&D has also completed a 248 acre
conservation easement in Vigo county. The conservation easement
was then transferred to Sycamore Trails RC&D after their Land
Committee organized as a "qualified conservation organization." This
qualifies Sycamore Trails RC&D to hold conservation easements.
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 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! |
