Grants for Conservation Easements

This web page contains documents necessary to develop a conservation easement, which meets Department standards for grant eligibility under the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, Lake Protection Program and Rivers Program. The page also contains a model access easement and model subordination agreement. We recommend that you begin by reading Grant Requirements for Conservation Easements and the first section of the Drafting Notes. This will give you the basic background information you need.

All documents can be downloaded for your use. The DNR Standard Grant Easement is a word fillable document. As explained in the guidelines and Drafting Notes, you must use the standardized language except in those areas that can be customized. For this reason, you can only edit the blue text. The blue text in the fillable form represents the italicized text in the reference version of the easement. For access to the fixed portions of the text and for further information on how to use the fillable forms, contact your region grant specialist.

The Drafting Notes can be downloaded to your computer and individual sections can be cut, pasted and edited into the standardized easement to fit your needs.

Good luck with your easement!