Conservation Easement Guide for Municipalities

Post date: Dec 4, 2017 4:47:51 AM

A new guidebook will help municipalities looking to set up a local conservation easementprogram.

Alberta’s local governments are increasingly being called on to help conserve the province’s ecologically sensitive and agriculturally valuable lands, but the toolbox for this can seem limited.

Some municipalities have turned to the conservation easement tool, working with the landowners in their local community to help them protect these features on private land parcels.

But what is the ‘conservation easement’ tool, and how can municipalities use it?

A new guide by the Miistakis Institute, created as part of the Community Conserve initiative, is aimed at answering those questions. The Conservation Easement Guide for Municipalities is a step-by-step manual for local governments, providing background information on the policy, planning, and financial considerations, and detailed direction on the preparation and administration of a conservation easement program. Alongside the Guide are fact sheets, sample policies, Alberta-based examples, and other support resources.

The Guide and its associated resources are free to download from the Community Conserve web site at: http://www.communityconserve.ca/completed-projects/ceguide/