Landowners Conservation Easement Guide (1,009.6 KiB)
In 1998 local citizens created the Montezuma Land Conservancy (MLC) to address the growing loss of agricultural lands and open space in southwestern Colorado. MLC became the first not-for-profit land trust to focus solely on private land conservation in Montezuma and Dolores Counties.
Our mission is to permanently protect important open lands—in partnership with willing landowners—to conserve agricultural and natural resources, and scenic open space
Using voluntary, flexible, and incentive-based approaches, Montezuma Land Conservancypartners with local people who share a common vision to see their land protected for present and future generations. Montezuma Land Conservancy uses conservation easements to protect land. A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that protects a property’s conservation values by restricting development. Landowners retain all other private property rights, including the ability to sell or pass on their land as they wish. Lands remain in private ownership and they continue to generate property tax revenue for the county.
By limiting subdivision and development, local landowners bestow a great gift to the community by voluntarily preserving the very qualities that help make this place so special.
