Ask Me Anything: Does Placing My Land in Forest Reserve Protect My Land From Development?

NO. Forest Reserve is very different from a conservation easement. The Forest Reserve Program is a property tax incentive program to encourage landowners to keep forest cover as woodland. Land that is designated as Forest Reserve is not allowed to be developed, however, the landowner can remove the land from the Forest Reserve Program at any time and it then can be developed. The Forest Reserve Program is NOT a long-term tool to protect land from development. This is very different from a conservation easement, which is a legal, binding agreement attached to the property deed in perpetuity. A conservation easement is a tool to assist landowners in protecting their land from development. It is an agreement entered into between a landowner and a conservation organization that prohibits and allows things that the landowner and the conservation organization mutually agree upon.

For details and a fact sheet regarding the Forest Reserve Program in Iowa, visit the DNR web site.

For additional information regarding conservation easements, contact Bur Oak Land Trust at 338-7030 or info@buroaklandtrust.org.