Blufflands Protection Program

The Minnesota Land Trust is looking for willing landowners to participate in the Blufflands Protection Program, a conservation initiative to permanently protect high quality habitat complexes in southeastern Minnesota.

This page will help you decide if the Blufflands Protection Program is right for you. Below there is information about the program, conservation easements project selection criteria, and how to apply.

Why apply?

• Protect Minnesota’s important wildlife habitat, water quality, and beautiful open spaces
• Receive tax incentives or other compensation for a permanent conservation easement on your wetlands and their surrounding natural lands.
• Preserve your family’s legacy on the land.
• Join a community of dedicated landowners who steward over 70,000 acres of important Minnesota places.
• Receive a free habitat management plan, with the potential for financial and technical land management assistance.

What is a Conservation Easement?

The Minnesota Land Trust is seeking landowners interested in securing a lasting legacy for their lands through conservation easements.

Conservation easements are voluntary agreements through which landowners agree to limit the future use and development of their property to permanently preserve its natural features.

Lands protected by a conservation easement remain in a landowner’s private ownership, with the landowner retaining the right to use and manage the land in line with the terms of the easement. Public access is not required.

When the land is transferred to a new owner, the easement stays with the land ensuring it is permanently preserved for generations to come.

Each conservation easement completed by the Minnesota Land Trust is individually crafted to reflect the special characteristics of the land and its uses. However, certain restrictions are required to protect the natural habitat and associated species, including:

• Feedlots are not allowed.
• Buffers of 150 feet must be established along all wetlands, intermittent and perennial streams, rivers and lakes prior to closing of the easement.

Easement Value and Compensation

The Land Trust uses certified appraisers to ascertain the value of your land without the easement, and then the value of your land with the easement in place. The difference between the two is the easement value. The easement value results from the property rights that have been restricted and the appraised value of those rights.

Upon finalizing a conservation easement with the Land Trust, landowners will receive a one-time payment for the amount indicated in their application, up to 100% of the appraised easement value.

The Minnesota Land Trust is a nonprofit organization and the donation of all or a part of a conservation easement may allow the landowner to claim a tax deduction. Please consult your attorney.

Requirements to apply

Property must:

• Be located within the Blufflands Protection Program area (see map). If uncertain, please contact Mark vander Linden.
• Be at least 40 acres in size.
• Have wetlands or water bodies with in the proposed easement area or contribute to conservation of adjacent wetland habitats.
• Contain less than 10% of proposed easement area in cultivation.

Selection Process

Application Review

Applications will be reviewed, ranked, and prioritized as they are received.

Applications received after the deadline may not be reviewed for the current phase of this program, but may be considered later if funding is available.

Projects that are the best fit for the Blufflands Protection Program will be larger in size and will have high quality natural lands with little development.

Landowners must indicate their desired compensation—payment per acre—for the easement on their application. Please note that the Land Trust cannot pay more than the full appraised value of the easement.

The Land Trust is able to conserve more land and may prioritize your property if you opt to donate some or all of the value of the conservation easement.

Prioritization and Selection

Easements will be funded in order of assigned priority. The Land Trust will prioritize potential parcels using two sets of criteria:

Ecological

• Habitat quality and quantity.
• Context relative to other natural and protected lands such as parks, wildlife refuges, etc.

• Landowner’s desired compensation on a per acre basis and willingness to donate some or all of the value of the easement.

How to Apply

Ready to apply? Apply online here.

For a paper copy of the application and landowner questionnaire, contact Mark van der Linden. A PDF copy is available for download here. 

Application Deadlines
The first two rounds of applications are complete. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis moving forward.

Questions? Contact Mark van der Linden at 605-595-5251.

Completed Protection Projects & Habitat Restoration in the Southeast Blufflands

• 
  Protecting & Connecting the Southeast Blufflands Near Brownsville, MN 
  Located atop a beautiful and steep forested bluff overlooking Brownsville, MN, this recently protected property—a generous full donation of the conservation easement—is in the Minnesota Land Trust’s Southeast Blufflands priority conservation area.   Though small in acreage, the quality of the protected property, due in part to the landowners’ diligent restoration efforts, has an outsized impact… Read more: Protecting & Connecting the Southeast Blufflands Near Brownsville, MN 
• 
  The Elevation Effect—Climate Resiliency in Southeast Minnesota
  The Minnesota Land Trust has added 43.7 acres of permanently protected property near Winona, MN, in the Land Trust’s Southeast Blufflands priority conservation area. The protected property has a restored grassland with native plants including big bluestem, switchgrass, prairie cordgrass, lake sedge, woolgrass, tussock sedge, and bottlebrush sedge.   A deciduous forest comprised of eastern cottonwood,… Read more: The Elevation Effect—Climate Resiliency in Southeast Minnesota
• 
  Goats Help Restore Resilient Lands in Southeast Minnesota
  Goats are known for all kinds of antics, including yelling, fainting, and of course, climbing into everything from delivery trucks to trees. In Southeastern Minnesota, on a Winona County property permanently protected by a Minnesota Land conservation easement, these functionally majestic animals are being leveraged for another one of their innate talents-their ability to destroy… Read more: Goats Help Restore Resilient Lands in Southeast Minnesota

Funding for this program is provided by the Outdoor Heritage Fund as recommended by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.