Agricultural Easement - 1060 Acres, 1997

Thanks to the careful stewardship and foresight of a south County landowner, 1,060 acres of prime Nevada County agricultural land will remain free from residential and other future development. The property, located west of Highway 49 and south of McCourtney Road, is the site of a working cattle ranch. The ranch owner loves quail hunting and spent the last 30 years creating extensive quail habitat on this property. It was love of the land, and a desire to assure that there would be at least one place in the state where the California quail could thrive, that persuaded the owner to sign a conservation easement with the Nevada County Land Trust. This easement was the largest in the Land Trust's history.

One of the many benefits of an agricultural easement is that the land stays in private ownership and remains a producing ranch or farm. The land can still be sold or deeded to heirs, just like any property. But by voluntarily deeding over specific development rights, the current owner ensures that the land won't be subdivided or converted to other uses in the future. This can be especially valuable in the foothills because, unlike similar ranches in the Central Valley where the land is flat and offers less in the way of wildlife habitat, this ranch boasts rolling hills, oak woodlands and meadow habitat, not to mention the quail habitat specifically created by the ranch's owner. In addition to the easement itself, the owner established a stewardship fund to help cover transaction costs and future administrative management and monitoring of the easement.

Ranch owners in the Sierra foothills face a dilemma as they contemplate passing on property to their heirs. As more and more people move to the foothills, open land is becoming increasingly more valuable due to its potential for residential or commercial development. This means that the taxes assessed on property as it is passed from one generation to the next are going up. Estate taxes can be as high as 55% of a property's fair market value. And these taxes generally must be paid within 9 months, often forcing heirs to sell all or part of the inherited land to pay the tax bill. One way for a property owner to keep valuable agricultural land "in the family" is to place a conservation easement on the property. Future owners are bound by the terms of the agreement. For example, an owner might choose to give up the right to subdivide the property, while retaining the right to graze cattle on the land. By lowering the land's future development potential, the easement reduces the property's market value, which, in turn, lowers the estate taxes.