Conservation Easements on Private Land

Hongxi Zhao and Matthew Gammans

Conservation easements are legal agreements in which a landowner agrees to restrict certain land uses to protect conservation values in exchange for payment. Depending on the easement type, these restrictions may limit development, subdivision, drainage, conversion, or certain agricultural uses. These agreements can shape landowners’ production options and affect land values in regions where farming and ranching are major economic activities.

The U.S. federal government has entered into more than 43,000 conservation agreements with private landowners, with at least an additional 200,000 agreements held by other governmental and non-governmental entities. Federal easements remain a subject of public interest and policy debate, especially in regions where a large share of land is privately owned, and agricultural production plays an important role in the broader economy. In April 2025, Representatives Julie Fedorchak of North Dakota and Harriet Hageman of Wyoming introduced the Landowner Easement Rights Act (H.R. 2773). The proposal would prohibit the Department of the Interior from entering into new conservation easements lasting longer than 30 years and would allow landowners, in some eligible cases, to renegotiate, renew, or buy back certain easements at fair market value.

Federal easement acreage is concentrated in a relatively small number of states. The top four states ac- count for a large share of all private land under federal easement. Figure 1 shows that North Dakota and South Dakota rank first and second in total area of private land under easement, with nearly all easement land in those states managed by the federal government. Colorado and Maine rank third and fourth, although easements in those states are more often administered by land trusts or other nonfederal entities. Several of the leading states also have substantial agricultural production.

Figure 1: Top 10 States by Easement Area.

Note: The data only covers privately owned lands, and excludes easements with unknown ownership type.

Source: NDSU using PAD-US (2025).

Figure 2 shows federal easement acreage as a share of total state area. On this measure, easement concentrations are especially high in the Northern Plains, with North Dakota and South Dakota standing out clearly. Other states with relatively high shares include Montana, Minnesota, Delaware, Louisiana, and Colorado. In several states with relatively high easement shares, agriculture and ranching are major land uses, so easement restrictions may have important implications for how private land is managed.

The cumulative number of easements (with a recorded establishment year) shows steady long-run growth, as illustrated in Figure 3. Before 1990, relatively few easements appeared in the data. The number increased after the introduction of major federal programs, including the Wetlands Reserve Program in 1990, the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program in 1996, and the Grassland Reserve Program in 2002. Growth remained steady during the 2000s. In 2014, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) consolidated these federal programs. Today, most federal easements fall under either ACEP Agricultural Land Easements or ACEP Wetland Reserve Easements. This historical pattern should be interpreted with some caution because the establishment year is missing for about 45 percent of the observations used. Even so, the available data indicate that federal easements became much more common after the 1990s and have continued to expand over time.

The long-term restrictive nature of easements is central to current policy discussions. The PAD-US 2025 records show that, measured by the number of federal easement records with private landowners, 91.9 percent are classified as perpetual conservation easements. These agreements are commonly intended to preserve wetlands, grasslands, and other habitat values in perpetuity. While they can provide substantial payments to landowners, they may also impose durable limits on future land-use options. In agricultural settings, those limits are especially important because restrictions on conversion, drainage, or other land improvements can affect production choices, returns to land, and the flexibility of future owners.

Figure 2: Federal Easement Acreage as a Share of Total State Area.

Note: The data does not include any easement with unknown ownership or management type. The denominator, state areas, includes both land and water areas.

Source: NDSU using PAD-US (2025).

Overall, the PAD-US data show that federal conservation easements on private land are geographically concentrated and often long-lasting. The strongest concentrations appear in states where agriculture, grazing, and other working-land uses remain central to the landscape. For that reason, easement policy is not only a conservation issue but also a land-use and economic issue.

Figure 3: Number of Easements by Establishment Year.

Note: The data covers only privately owned lands under federal management, and does not include any easement with unknown ownership, management type or establishment year. About 45% of available observations have a missing establishment year.

Source: NDSU using PAD-US (2025).