Conservation Easements: the Proven Path to Ensure Working Lands Endure, Waterfowl Flourish, and Traditions Thrive

The voluntary, market-based approach to habitat conservation is popular among hunters, producers, and communities.

By Zach Hartman, Chief Policy Officer, Ducks Unlimited

Across the continent, working lands and wetlands – places that grow our food, support wildlife, and anchor rural economies – are under constant pressure. These are the places where families earn a living, and where hunters pass down their cherished traditions and heritage. We can either watch that heritage slip away, or commit to a voluntary, proven, and practical path for protecting these landscapes while maintaining their productivity – conservation easements.

At their core, conservation easements are voluntary agreements between a landowner and a government agency or a nonprofit organization. These agreements compensate landowners to preserve land values that provide a public benefit, such as food production, wildlife habitat, water quality, and water storage. Furthermore, these voluntary agreements ensure the land’s natural, agricultural, and historical values endure. The result is simple: land stays in private hands, continues to work for families and communities, and gains the long-term stewardship that wildlife and waterfowl depend on.

Conservation easements are free-market, incentive-based contracts. Landowners choose whether to participate, negotiate terms that align with their goals, and receive fair compensation for the habitat and environmental values their land provides. This voluntary structure is why easements have earned broad support among farmers, ranchers, hunters, and conservationists alike.

Instead of mandates, easements rely on partnership and clear, mutually agreed-upon outcomes.

For Ducks Unlimited, this voluntary, partnership-based approach is important. We were founded by hunters who understood that healthy wetlands are essential to strong waterfowl populations and to the outdoor traditions we cherish. Easements protect the marsh, grass, and cropland that sustain wildlife while ensuring the land remains productive and resilient.

Generations of duck hunters have been proud to purchase Federal Duck Stamps that support federal investments in conservation easements that protect waterfowl breeding habitat. These conservation easements are a critical part of America’s National Wildlife Refuge System, which sustains populations of waterfowl for all Americans to enjoy today, tomorrow, and forever.

Easements protect private property rights by enabling landowners to monetize the environmental and habitat values of their land. In other words, landowners can be paid for the conservation benefits their land produces – clean water, flood mitigation, wildlife habitat – just like they would be compensated for other uses, like energy development.

Conservation easements are about keeping land working. Producers can farm a dry wetland under agreed-upon conditions and may qualify for USDA payments when appropriate. Ranchers can graze and hay after the Primary Nesting Season, aligning operations with wildlife needs without sacrificing productivity. As a result, perpetual conservation easements are extremely popular among landowners and in high demand, as evidenced by the waiting lists to enroll land in virtually all available easement programs.

This working-lands approach is central to Ducks Unlimited’s mission. Wetlands and grasslands aren’t just habitat; they’re part of a resilient agricultural landscape that holds soil, stores water, and sustains livelihoods.

Easements provide the long-term certainty that wildlife needs. For waterfowl, protected wetlands and adjacent grasslands mean better nesting success and more reliable migration stopovers. These same landscapes support songbirds, upland game, pollinators, and fish, creating connected habitats that function at the scale nature requires.Hunters see these benefits firsthand: thriving wetlands lead to healthier waterfowl populations and more resilient seasons. But the impact goes far beyond the duck blind. Like a singular raindrop in a still pond, these benefits ripple outward. For downstream towns and cities, wetlands store water, which in turn reduces flood risks and improves water quality. For outdoor recreationists, they sustain hunting, birding, and fishing opportunities that strengthen local tourism. When landowners are empowered to manage habitat, entire communities benefit.Strong rural economies depend on productive private lands. Conservation easements enable producers to maintain and expand their operations, and if they choose, pass the land to their heirs while keeping family businesses intact. From keeping private land in agricultural production to supporting local supply chains, easements help stabilize local tax bases.

A conservation easement isn’t charity; it’s a capital infusion that helps landowners grow or maintain operations and reinvest in the landscape. Compensation can fund new equipment, improved fencing and water infrastructure, habitat enhancements, or debt reduction. This financial flexibility is critical in a world of tight margins and unpredictable markets. It makes stewardship a smart business decision today and a family legacy tomorrow.

Ducks Unlimited partners with willing landowners to deliver easements that are tailored, transparent, and grounded in science. We prioritize projects that restore and protect wetlands and grasslands, enhance water management, and support working agriculture. The goal is always the same: keep land working, keep waterfowl thriving, and keep rural communities strong.

Easements have recently scored meaningful victories with support among conservative lawmakers. At a recent meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a misguided motion to create model anti-easement legislation was struck down. Similarly, the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses (NASC) passed a resolution emphasizing the importance of voluntary, perpetual conservation easements. These pivotal moments represent a statement of intent – conservation easements are tremendously valuable to our way of life, and they’re here to stay.

For hunters, easements protect the habitats that underpin the hunt. For farmers and ranchers, they safeguard productivity while honoring property rights. For wildlife, they create the continuity that nature needs. And for communities, they deliver clean water, flood resilience, and economic stability.

Conservation easements succeed because they respect choice, reward stewardship, and deliver results. They conserve essential landscapes while keeping them in private, productive hands.

The question isn’t whether we can afford to conserve—it’s whether we can afford not to. By supporting voluntary, market-based easements, we can commit to a future where working lands and wetlands endure, waterfowl flourish, rural communities prosper, and our thriving hunting heritage can be shared across generations. That’s a future Ducks Unlimited is proud to help build—one partnership, one easement, one acre at a time.

Zach Hartman is the Chief Policy Officer at Ducks Unlimited, the world's leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation.