FAQs

• A CE is a legal tool that restricts residential, commercial, and industrial development of land to maintain its conservation values, and in the case of an agricultural CE, its agricultural production capability, including horticulture and forestry (think food and fiber!).
• A CE is recorded in the Register of Deeds office in the county in which the property is located and is permanent.
• A CE “runs with the land,” meaning it will continue to apply as it is transferred to
  buyers or heirs.
• A CE is “held” by a qualified organization, which can be a local nonprofit conservation organization or a government entity, to ensure compliance with its terms and conditions.

WLT has several state and federal funding partners (i.e. NCADFP, USDA NRCS, USDOD) that provide grant funds to “purchase” CEs and to cover much of the due diligence costs associated with the CE process. If you are considering placing your farm or forest under a CE with WLT, we will work with you to identify available funding opportunities and work through the process very closely with you.

• A property must be privately-owned and at least partially in working lands use (agriculture, horticulture, forestry).
• Some of our funding partners have specific criteria, e.g.:
  – NCADFP minimum acreage requirements — 5 acres for horticulture, 10 acres for agriculture (row crops or pasture), 20 acres for forestry, or a combination of working lands use.
  – USDA NRCS  — 50% or more prime or significant soils
  – USDOD — within ENC Sentinel Landscape and compatible use with military installations
• If there are existing easements that have removed development rights from the property, those areas will likely be ineligible.

• A property subject to a CE remains in private ownership with the current landowner and successors.
• The property may be sold or bequeathed after the CE is recorded, and the new landowner owns the land subject to the terms and conditions of the CE.
• It is essential to know that once the CE is recorded, you cannot get rights back that were given up.
• Many of our funding partners require that you will not be able to subdivide the property (cannot split it between siblings, delineate a piece for a home mortgage, etc.)

• CEs can vary, but in general, remove some set of development rights from the property which may negatively impact the conservation values; for agricultural CEs, primarily removal or limitation of nonagricultural uses of the property.
• Prohibited and restricted activities for an agricultural easement typically include subdivision, mining, dumping and trash, commercial signage, and industrial and commercial uses outside of agricultural and customary rural enterprises.
• CEs that are of military importance and funded by USDOD will restrict tall structures, upward-facing lights, and other military training hindrances.
• Many of our funding partners have template easements that already have agreed upon terms and restrictions, which is especially helpful when combining funding sources.

• No. CEs do not grant public access, unless explicitly desired by the landowner, and agreed upon by all parties.
• WLT and its funding partners will have the right to access the property to ensure the terms of the CE are upheld but with reasonable advance notice and verbal consent from the landowner, typically limited to once per year.

• With CEs that do not grant public access, the landowner has a right to privacy.
• Other rights, such as water rights, hunting rights, farming rights, subsurface mineral rights, and timber rights, remain with the property.
• Most of our funding partners allow for some minimal residential use of the property for the landowner as well.

The CEs that WLT hold are all perpetual or permanent. That enables the land to be protected forever and allows future generations to continue using that land to produce food and fiber.

No. You can choose to place all or only a portion of your land in a CE. This option allows you to have areas for future home sites or other future objectives for your property.

No. There is no fee to work with WLT. We do request donations from our CE donors in order to support our mission and continued stewardship of our protected lands in perpetuity.

WLT works with multiple funding partners, and in many cases grant awards include allowances to provide funds to at least partially cover certain transaction costs associated with the CE process, such as closing and legal fees, hiring a surveyor, and conducting a baseline documentation report of the property.

• If WLT identifies available funding sources that your project is eligible for and is successfully awarded a grant which can fund the easement purchase value, you can be compensated for the purchase of a CE.
• Any amount of money you may receive for your CE purchase value (reduction in FMV
  of the property due to the CE restrictions) will be determined by appraised values of
  the property and funds in any grant awards.
• CE purchase payouts are disbursed to the landowner after the CE is recorded.

For a CE purchase or to claim a charitable donation of CE value, an appraisal is required by a qualified appraiser experienced in CE valuation. WLT can help point you to some experienced appraisers in your area.

Yes. While we cannot give tax or legal advice, generally funds received for a CE purchase will be subject to capital gains taxes. It is the same as if you sold real estate property during a typical real estate transaction. There are generally two ways you may reduce your tax liability—like-kind real estate exchange or federal CE tax incentive.

During the CE process, you must decide if you want to include areas around existing or future structures within the CE boundaries. If you do not want those structures included in the CE, they can be excluded (and therefore will not be held to the terms of the CE). If they are excluded, right of way access connecting them to a public road must be designated. If you do want the areas around existing or future structures included in the CE, then those areas must be designated ahead of time and included
on the survey. These areas are called “building envelopes.” Once the CE is recorded,
you can only build appropriate structures inside of the building envelopes, and the
building envelopes cannot change location within the easement boundaries. Before building, you will just need to confirm your plans with WLT to ensure consistency with the CE terms (permitted by the terms of the CE, does not exceed impervious
surface thresholds, and is located within a building envelope).

Yes. Agricultural business or support structures, such as barns or sheds, can be built inside a building envelope. It is your choice to include or exclude from the conservation easement. If included, the building envelope location must be defined on the survey during the CE process.

Yes. The conservation easement needs legal access to a public road. If the property is
not located on a public road, the landowner must provide ingress and egress to the property, or the legal ability to enter and leave the property. Legal access must be established before a CE is recorded. Additionally, if there are areas on the property
that are excluded from the CE but are not accessible to a public road, right of way
access must be established and defined on the survey.

Yes. Since the CE remains in private ownership, the property may be sold or transferred like other real estate. It is important to note that the CE is legally binding forever. Therefore, the CE will move along with the ownership of the property.

Once the CE is recorded, you cannot repurchase the CE or any portion of the property rights that were given up. The property remains in private ownership, and you retain
all other rights that exist on the property, subject to the terms and restrictions of the CE.

As a general rule, once a CE is recorded, it cannot be amended or revised, especially those funded by our federal and state funding partners.

Yes. These legal structures are privately-held, and therefore are eligible to participate in the program.

• There is no standard length for recording a CE. The road to a CE is typically a multi-year process, especially when funded by our state and federal funding partners.
• After a grant contract is awarded, most conservation easements are recorded within two years. In some cases, the process from application to recording a conservation

Easement can take up to four years.

Yes. The land with a conservation easement still has sellable asset value due to the retention of property rights such as water rights, hunting rights, farming rights,
mineral rights, and timber rights that remain with the property. These rights have financial value and, therefore, may be used as collateral for a loan.

One requirement of the conservation easement is a forestry management plan for properties with 20 or more acres of forestland. You may continue to engage in practices that are following the property’s forestry management plan and regulatory
requirements.

Yes. The property may change its operation as long as the property remains in agricultural, horticultural, or forestry uses, is managed per approved conservation or forestry management plans, remains in compliance with the other terms of the conservation easement, and meets regulatory requirements. The primary purpose of
the agricultural conservation easement is the protection of the land resources for the
sustainable production of food and fiber.

Conservation plans and forestry management plans improve and maintain soil, water, and air quality, including preventing on and off-farm impacts to natural resources. These documents typically include a soil map and soil descriptions, a list of best management practices for the property, the location and schedule for applying
practices, information sheets explaining how to carry out the practices, and a plan for operation and maintenance of those practices. When conservation practices are enacted, they will aid in controlling soil erosion, managing animal waste, enhancing
wildlife habitat, improving irrigation water management, creating stream bank
protections, and complying with environmental regulatory requirements.

Conservation plans and forestry management plans improve and maintain soil, water, and air quality, including preventing on and off-farm impacts to natural resources. These documents typically include a soil map and soil descriptions, a list of best management practices for the property, the location and schedule for applying
practices, information sheets explaining how to carry out the practices, and a plan for operation and maintenance of those practices. When conservation practices are enacted, they will aid in controlling soil erosion, managing animal waste, enhancing wildlife habitat, improving irrigation water management, creating stream bank protections, and complying with environmental regulatory requirements.

Yes. A management plan is a living document. It is not recorded with the CE so that it can be updated over time as needed or desired; however, it must match the use of the land for the sustainable production of food and fiber.

• Grant funding is limited and a competitive process with all of our funding partners. Minimum criteria must be met to qualify for funding programs, but there are additional criteria that are
  considered for prioritizing projects for funding.
• With ADFP, some criteria are based on location and priority is given to projects:
  – with high percentages of prime and important soils
  – located in non-agricultural zoning areas
  – in proximity to other agricultural conservation easements
  – in proximity to state/federal conservation lands
  – located within a military training route or adjoining a military installation
  – in proximity to city limits
  – in proximity to residential development
  – located in a county with higher rates of agricultural land loss
  – located in priority watersheds
• ADFP also looks at these criteria which can increase your application score:
  – active production on the land directly by the landowner
  – active producers utilizing the land other than the landowner
  – qualifying as a Beginning Farmer
  – qualifying as a Socially Disadvantaged Farmer/Rancher
  – being a member of Got to Be NC/Goodness Grows NC
  – being certified as an American Tree Farmer
  – being enrolled in the Forest Stewardship Program
  – being enrolled in your county VAD/EVAD, if available
  – being certified as a Century Farm
  – having a current land management plan
  – having active/recent harvest production
  – ensuring the absence of non-compatible uses (trash, waste, erosion, etc.)
  – increasing your funding leverage by donating a portion of your easement value
  – pledging to keep the property available for future production of agricultural commodities, such as fruits, vegetables, sod, flowers, ornamental plants, trees, timber, dairy, livestock (horses, bees, poultry, etc.), aquaculture, agritourism, and grain
• In addition to most of the criteria above, NRCS also gives priority for the following:
  – high percent of cropland or pastureland
  – large property size relative to average farm size in your county
  – high county growth rate
  – having a farm succession plan
  – proximity to other agricultural lands
  – limited resource farmers
  – veteran farmers
  – at-risk species on the property
  – historical or archaeological resources
  – capital investments within the last 10 years
  – within a source water assessment area
  – enrollment in Conservation Reserve Program