Private landowners
The connections between people and land are countless. Land can provide a spiritual sense of place, happy memories of times past, and hope for future generations’ connections with the land around them. Some of our greatest accomplishments have been tied to preserving not only the land, but the legacies that go with it. There are many reasons why someone may want to ensure the long-term protection of a piece of land or restore its ecological health and many ways to accomplish it. Check out the many options that are available for you to protect or restore your special place.
Land Management & Restoration
Although preserving land is important, restoring and managing healthy natural areas is our end goal. Some may ask why we even need to manage natural areas; can’t Mother Nature take care of herself? The simple answer is “no.” The introduction of plants that make their homes in Europe, Asia, or other continents to our local ecosystems often leads to the reduction of plants that have lived here for thousands of years. We’ve seen problems with our soils, more local flooding and fewer native birds, butterflies, and other animals that depend on our local plants.
The Conservation Foundation works with private and public landowners to take care of their land through the Conservation@Home program, helping to develop ecological management plans, and, in some cases, taking on the role of Ecological Manager of a site. We know a lot of qualified ecological management companies and can make recommendations.
Landowners and volunteers have a role to play, too. Depending on the size of the site and the resources available, landowners and volunteers can accomplish many of the restoration tasks. Staff from The Conservation Foundation can assist with outlining a plan for work. Ecological management is not only for undisturbed natural areas. It is important to properly manage naturalized detention basins or buffer areas to keep them working well, to maintain or increase diversity and keep out invasive plants.
To learn more about your land preservation options, please email our Director of Land Preservation Dan Lobbes at [email protected] or call (630) 428-4500 ext. 104.
Conservation Easements
If you’d like to preserve your land but wish to maintain ownership, a conservation easement may be just the thing for you. A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement that a landowner makes to permanently restrict the type and amount of development that can happen on their property.
These agreements are tailored to the vision of the landowners and can be made with public agencies or with private land conservation organizations such as The Conservation Foundation. Easements do not require public access and can allow farming activities to continue. Conservation easements are recorded on the deed to the property and are in force no matter who owns the property in the future.
There may be financial benefits for putting a conservation easement in place, if an easement meets criteria relating to the quality of resources being conserved and its proximity to other natural areas. Some of these benefits come as reduced income or property taxes.
For more information and to pursue your land preservation options, please email our Director of Land Preservation Dan Lobbes at [email protected] or call (630) 428-4500 ext. 104.
Matchmaking
Many landowners would like to sell or donate their property to local open space agencies, but don’t know who to call. Since we have been working with public agencies throughout northeastern Illinois since 1972, we can put you or the interested landowner in touch with the right people at the appropriate agencies.
In addition to getting the conversation going, we can work with both the landowner and the public agency to make sure that whatever happens is good for both parties.
For more information and to pursue your land preservation options, please email our Director of Land Preservation Dan Lobbes at [email protected] or call (630) 428-4500 ext. 104.
Donating Your Land
There are a variety of reasons why a landowner may wish to preserve their land by donating it to a public agency, and we can help make that happen. In addition, there are some considerations that could make it a good idea to donate the property to The Conservation Foundation instead of directly to the public agency.
One landowner had specific ideas how she wanted her land managed, and trusted us to put the right restrictions in place prior to transferring her land to the forest preserve district. By holding on to the land for a while, we have also helped park districts and forest preserve districts stretch the donation by giving the agency the time it needs to line up grant funding for its project and enables the agency to do more with less funds.
For more information and to pursue your land preservation options, please email our Director of Land Preservation Dan Lobbes at [email protected] or call (630) 428-4500 ext. 104.
