The Conservation Easement Assistance Program of the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association has helped land trusts conserve 6,153 acres in 13 counties over the past two years.

Through CEAP, land trusts may apply to the Association for up to $5,000 in grant funding to help cover the transaction costs associated with conservation easement donations and bargain sales.

Rick Koval, Land Protection Specialist for the North Branch Land Trust, knows well the value of CEAP. Since the launch of CEAP in November 2003, NBLT has obtained CEAP grants for nine conservation easement projects.

“I am certain,” Koval says, “that without CEAP many land conservation easements would never have been completed and thousands of acres of land in Pennsylvania would never have been conserved.”

CEAP is intended to help in situations where the easement donor is unable or unwilling to cover transaction costs.

Andy Loza, PALTA Executive Director explains, “A goal of CEAP is to promote better stewardship. If CEAP funding can enable the easement donor to make a much larger stewardship endowment donation than otherwise possible, that’s great. However, we don’t want a land trust applying for CEAP funds without first trying to secure a cash donation from the landowner.”

CEAP is made possible through generous grants by the William Penn Foundation and the Bureau of Recreation & Conservation, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Growing Greener Program.

“CEAP is a unique partnership between DCNR and PALTA that enables us to be more economical and efficient in fulfilling our mission to conserve and protect Pennsylvania’s open space and natural resources,” said Larry Williamson, DCNR Deputy Secretary of Conservation and Engineering Services.

To learn more, visit the Conservation Easement Assistance Program webpage.

Special Event: 2006 Pennsylvania Land Trust Association Conference April 28-29.

This article is reprinted with permission from the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association’s Winter 2006 issue of ConserveLand Newsletter. Find these other informative articles online from this same issue—

• Ranking Pennsylvania Land Trusts
• Land Trust Work in Pennsylvania
• An Interview with Rick Santorum
• Conservation Tax Benefit Update
• Transfer of Development Rights in Pennsylvania
• CEAP Expansion Planned

3/17/2006