Filling a gaping hole in conservation planning, the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment) today announced the release of the National Conservation Easement Database
(www.conservationeasement.us), the first resource to offer detailed information on nearly 18 million acres now protected by more than 80,000 easements across the United States.  Until its development, land and natural resource practitioners and decision-makers lacked a single system for sharing, accessing, and managing nationwide information about conservation easements.  Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements through which landowners, public agencies, and land trusts protect essential natural resources like drinking water, wildlife habitat, and land along lakes, rivers, and streams.  By bringing together easement data that was previously scattered and incomplete, the database serves conservationists, planners, and policy-makers across the country. 

“For the first time,” said Carlton Owen, President of the Endowment, “it will be possible to see the location, size, and purpose of conservation easements on a nationwide basis.  By having all this information in a single place, the easement database will save organizations precious time and money, because each won’t have to create their own system.”  The National Conservation Easement Database was envisioned by the Endowment and created by a team of five leading conservation groups, including the Conservation Biology Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, Ducks Unlimited, NatureServe, and The Trust for Public Land.  Funded by the Endowment, this important project received generous support from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Knobloch Family Foundation, the Graham Foundation, and the U.S. Forest Service.