What is the Tecumseh Land Trust?

• We are one of over 1,200 conservation land trusts in the United States.
• Our mission is to assist land owners in finding ways to protect their valuable farm land and significant historic or natural sites.
• We have been in existence for 15 years, surpassed 500 members in 2002, and have protected more than 10,000 acres of land
• We are a 501(c)(3) organization that primarily serves Clark and Greene Counties.
• The OSU Extension Fact Sheet is another resource for more information about land trusts.

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What is your mission?

The Tecumseh Land Trust of Greene and Clark Counties is a private, not-for-profit conservation organization. Its purpose is to preserve agricultural land, open space, and historic structures in voluntary cooperation with landowners and their heirs, and to educate the public about methods of private land conservation.

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Why do you protect so much farmland?

• Agriculture is Ohio's #1 industry; and most of the state's land is divided into farms of 50-200 acres.
• We're losing farmland in Clark County at the rate of 1,100 acres a year, mostly to residential development.
• Working farmland preserves native plants and animals in its untillable niches.
• Well farmed land helps preserve good water quality.
• Farms provide open vistas which make residential areas more pleasant.
• Farms cost less in services than they bring in tax revenues.
• Agriculture is important in our culture and history.

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How do you protect land?

• We work primarily with landowners who can benefit from donating or selling conservation easements to the land trust.
• We sometimes accept gifts of land, place an easement, on the land, and then sell it. We use any profits to purchase easements on other property.
• We hold only perpetual easements at this time, monitoring the properties annually to ensure that the terms of the easement agreement continue to be met

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What exactly is a conservation easement?

• A conservation easement is a condition or limitation attached to the deed for a property that essentially prevents future development.
• The easement agreement incorporates the permitted and restricted uses for the property in the future.A private organization, like a land trust, or a government unit can "hold" an easement
• The value of an agricultural conservation easement is the difference between a property's development value and its agricultural value.
• Eased land can be bought and sold, but the conditions of the easement remain in place.
• OSU Extension Fact Sheet is a resource for more information about conservation easements.

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What does it mean to hold an easement?

• We develop the specific language of each easement agreement with the landowner.
• We document the specific conservation or historical values of a property with maps, photos, and descriptions, and attach the documentation to the easement.
• Once drafted and documented, the easement is signed by land trust officers and the landowner and recorded at the county court house.
• We monitor the properties on which we hold easements annually, and share our findings with the landowner.
• If eased land is sold, we orient the new land owner to the conditions of the easement.

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What if Tecumseh Land Trust were no longer in business?

If we were to go out of business, our assets and responsibilities would be transferred to a similar organization; if a local land trust were not available, the national land trust organizations with which we are affiliated would be able to take this responsibility.

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How are you funded? Do you get money from the government?

• We are supported by donations from members and charitable organizations.
• We do not get operational funding from the government.
• Government units sometimes fund acquisition of specific properties or easements.
• We have a separate account specifically for monitoring and stewardship costs that is funded primarily by donations from landowners.
• Landowners also pay the costs of establishing the easements.
• TLT is in the early stages of developing a consulting and service program for small and developing land trusts.

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How do you decide what land is most important to protect?

• We use a set of guidelines that prioritize lands that protect watersheds, contain important native plants and animals, or are of historic significance.
• We seek agricultural easements on properties that are viable for farming into the foreseeable future.
• We seek to preserve "blocks" of adjoining farms and open space as the most effective way of ensuring the preservation of viable agricultural land.
• Our aim is to permanently preserve 50,000 acres in each our two county area, comprised of "blocks" of primarily agricultural land.

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What progress have you made with the Clean Ohio Programs?

• Clean Ohio has created much interest in farmland and natural conservation.
• We worked with landowners to apply this January through April for purchase of easements on the 10,000 acres of farmland in Clark and Greene Counties that scored best in the competitive Clean Ohio programs. TLT staff and volunteers pre-scored properties comprising three times this much acreage. Land owners are willing to donate 50% of the value of easements on their properties.
• TLT has been able to protect 3,205 acres during the first 2 and 1/2 years of this four year pilot program. This represents payments of nearly $4 million dollars to landowners for the sale of their development rights.

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What can local government do to assist in preservation?

• Townships can develop a plan, identifying those areas most important to preserve and those most logical to develop and can designate agricultural or historical areas and zones.
• Townships, counties, and cities can set aside transfer fees, a percentage of sales tax, or other funding to purchase easements on key properties, or to use as match to leverage state or federal dollars.
• To get the right balance of development and preservation, they can evaluate costs and revenues of different land uses - residential, commercial/industrial, and agricultural.

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What can individuals do to assist in preservation?

• Join the land trust, contribute, and volunteer.
• Consider donation or sale of an easement or an estate gift as a part of your own financial planning.
• Talk to your neighbors about joining the land trust or preserving their land.
• Tell public officials and candidates that this is an issue you are concerned about.

• Let state and federal candidates know you're concerned about getting and keeping funding in place for easement purchase and opening the option in Ohio to transfer development rights.

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The Tecumseh Land Trust of Greene and Clark Counties is a private, not-for-profit conservation organization. Its purpose is to preserve agricultural land, open space, and historic structures in voluntary cooperation with landowners and their heirs, and to educate the public about methods of private land conservation. When current Projects are complete, we will have preserved over 12,000 acres in our working area with the support of over 500 members.
Tecumseh Land Trust . . . Preserving our Rural Assets.
www.tecumsehlandtrust.org