Working Ranch Magazine - Index

Working Ranch Magazine - magazine - Index

ranch we wanted to buy brought a little
too much money for us. Ironically, it
sold to a rancher who came here
because development crowded him off
of his ranch in Colorado.”
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
LAND TRUST AND
AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST
In Wyoming, ranch-reared Alan
Barnett has managed outfits for absentee
owners, run cattle on leased ranches
and worked for Farm Credit Services,
all the while longing to
have a spread of his
own. In 1999, he took
on the debt associated
with purchasing a highdesert
ranch near
Meeteetse. Selling a conservation
easement on
the place has served to
preserve the land for
ranching, and ease the
debt load.
“But I wanted to work with an agricultural
land trust that helps landowners
keep their ranches in production, as
ranches, as well as maintaining and
improving wildlife habitat. So I struck a
deal with the Wyoming Stock Growers
Agricultural Land Trust,” says Barnett.
“The easement puts reasonable
restrictions on things that the owner
of this ranch can do, in perpetuity.
That’s how I want it to be. If my heirs
want to do something different, they
can get to work and buy their own
land to do it. The easement I set up
Wide-open spaces are getting
harder and harder to
find for most city dwellers.
They have to go a long way
to get some solitude, a
commodity never in short
supply on a cow outfit.
68 |WORKING RANCH | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2008
goes with this ranch. Call it the price
of having it given to them,” he adds.
“Besides, having a conservation
easement on a ranch could add to its
market value. Maybe not now, but
down the road, I think ranch property
will become more sought-after when
it is protected.”
Barnett says three of his neighbors
have followed his example and negotiated
conservation easement transactions.
Each is different and tailored to
the character of each ranch and the
“The conservation easement I
set up goes with this ranch. That’s
how I want it to be. If my heirs
want to do something different,
they can get to work and buy
their own land to do it.”
Alan Barnett, Wyoming ranch owner
goals of both the landowner and the
entity holding the easement. There is
no such thing as a “one size fits all”
conservation easement.
WHOA, THERE NELLY,
NOT SO FAST!
The decision to enter into a conservation
easement should not be made
quickly or lightly, warns Glenn Pauley,
executive director of the Wyoming
Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust,
and chairman of an association of
ranch-rooted, regionally-based groups
known as the Partnership of Rangeland
Trusts.
Pauley advises landowners to first
talk with others who have entered into
conservation easement transactions,
especially ranchers who might have
donated or sold easements to an organization
being considered. Thoroughly
investigate such organizations.
“I recommend that every landowner
get independent legal and financial
counsel when deciding if a conservation
easement is right for them, and
the incentives are adequate
for their situation,” states
Pauley.
The terms and financial
benefits should be reviewed
with both an attorney and
an accountant. Nothing
that the landowner does
not understand and agree to
should be included. Pauley
also advises landowners to
shy away from language that
is overly restrictive.
“A properly drafted conservation
easement should preserve rights and
uses the landowner needs to manage
the property, but ensure that natural
and productive features of the land
will be maintained. Both should be
clearly stated,” he adds.
Neither always good nor always bad,
says Pauley, conservation easements are
management tools. As with the application
of any tool, success depends on
using the right one for the right job and
knowing how to use it.