This article was originally published in the Billings Gazette.
Strong private property rights are a cornerstone of Montana values, and landowners have long been the stewards of the landscapes that define our state. However, modern pressures—rising development, cost of living, and environmental challenges—are increasingly threatening the ability of landowners to keep their land’s ecological and agricultural integrity. Conservation easements, sometimes called voluntary land protection agreements, offer a unique solution that enables a landowner to protect their land from these rising pressures, while maintaining private property rights and receiving compensation for their commitment to stewardship.
We encourage Montana Senators to vote no on SB 209, which seeks to eliminate this important, market-driven conservation tool.
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified organization like a trusted, local land trust. Most easements restrict specific types of development, like housing subdivisions, while still allowing traditional uses like farming, ranching, mining, or forestry. Most importantly, the landowner retains ownership and management of the property, ensuring it will remain productive and adaptable to their needs and those of their families.
Conservation easements are rooted in the principle of choice, a fundamental tenet of strong property rights. Landowners are the ones who decide how their land will be managed and what protections they wish to apply. By choosing to place a conservation easement on their land, they can protect their home in perpetuity, while also maintaining Montana’s open spaces, conserving important wildlife habitat, and sustaining agriculture in Montana.
While easements have important conservation value, they are also an economic lifeline to landowners. Depending on what is best for the landowner, they can receive direct payments, tax incentives or a combination of both. These funds can then be used to reinvest in their land if they choose. For example, many ranchers and farmers in Montana have used conservation easements to improve their existing agricultural operations or expand their ranch or farm. In doing so, they ensure their legacy is inherited by the next generation of ranchers or farmers without the fear that they will have to sell off parts of their land to pass it down. By recognizing the economic value of stewardship, conservation easements create a win-win scenario when it comes to maintaining private property and keeping Montana’s land open and healthy.
Conservation easements are always voluntary and customizable to fit the needs of both the landowners and their families. Each one is carefully tailored to reflect the landowner’s goals and ensure that the agreement enhances, rather than hinders, the property’s long-term viability and legacy.
At a time when open spaces and working lands continue to disappear, our organizations are at the forefront of applying novel, landowner-focused solutions. Conservation easements are an essential tool in our efforts towards balancing private property rights with the conservation of our natural and agricultural heritage. They empower landowners to secure their own vision for their land while contributing to the long-term health and vitality of Montana’s shared landscapes. At a time when many in Helena and beyond are advocating for top-down, regulatory means of conservation, easements provide a bottom-up, landowner-driven approach to ensuring healthy landscapes and productive rural economies. We need to keep this tool in the toolbox.
Here in Montana, our current conservation easement laws are strong, and we believe they should be maintained as such, despite misguided attempts to do away with this tool. Maintaining strong easement laws will conserve Montana now and for future generations. By promoting conservation easements, and ensuring a strong, stable regulatory environment for those who buy and sell protected lands, we can honor the partnership between landowners and their land—a partnership that benefits communities, economies, and ecosystems alike. We encourage our leaders to reject SB 209.
