When the Trust accepts an easement on a property, it has a permanent obligation to preserve not just the openness of the land but also the “conservation values” identified in the easement. These are described in detail in a baseline report compiled at the time the property is eased.  For most properties under easements held by the Trust, these conservation values are the property’s scenic quality, the wildlife habitat found there, and/or the property’s availability for public recreational access, most often via a trail for pedestrians and horseback riders.

Landowners’ management of their properties helps protect the particular conservation values they contain. Our easements recommend that landowners use of “best management practices” to sustain those conservation values. Some of these practices, which evolve over time with advances in scientific understanding, include the removal of invasive species and the planting of native species; the creation or expansion of vegetated riparian buffers along streams, sustainable forest management, deer management, the reduction of mowed lawn and the installation of meadows.