George Evans grew up on part of the property that he and Gail, his wife, now own. They own 145 acres, 55 acres from his family and 90 acres from her family. George placed a conservation easement on the 145 acres in 1991. His primary motivation was to prevent the subdivision and development of the property. George watched the changes in the area and saw that fifty percent of the hunting lands and open space had been lost in his lifetime.

George Evans grew up on part of the property that he and Gail, his wife, now own. They own 145 acres, 55 acres from his family and 90 acres from her family. George's father was born on the property in 1900, but he is unsure of the year the land was purchased. Gail's grandparents were married in 1902 and farmed the second property, but again George is unsure of when the original purchase occurred. The 90 acre parcel is completely forested and the 55 acre parcel is half agricultural land with 14 acres enrolled in the CRP program and 2.9 acres of riparian buffer established under the Chesapeake Bay Conservation Reserve Enhancement program.

George placed a conservation easement on the 145 acres in 1991. His primary motivation was to prevent the subdivision and development of the property. George watched the changes in the area and said that fifty percent of the hunting lands and open space was lost in his lifetime. George said "farmers will start selling lots for houses and all the open space tends to disappear in the development". His personnel experience illustrates the role family sometimes played in the fragmentation and loss of open space. George said "It's kind of difficult to say no to your relatives when they want a little piece of your farm, want a house. I didn't want to deal with that because I'm a soft-hearted guy and hate to say no. So I thought this is a good way to get out of that. I'll just go talk to the conservancy, give them a donation, and put that as one of my easements. No development, no subdivision, period". George also wanted to protect a native brook trout stream on the 90 acre parcel.

George described the process of placing the conservation easement as not difficult. He had to obtain two appraisals to establish the value of the easement donation for tax purposes, reserved the right to harvest timber with a conservancy approved stewardship plan written by a certified forester, restricted all mineral extraction activity on the 90 acre parcel to protect the native brook trout stream, and allowed only one half acre of mineral extraction disturbance on the 55 acre parcel. The primary restriction in the conservation easement is the ban on all subdivision and development.

George would not change anything in his conservation easement. It allows him all of the same uses of the land he had prior to the easement.

James C. Finley Center for Private Forests

Address

416 Forest Resources Building
University Park, PA 16802

James C. Finley Center for Private Forests

Address

416 Forest Resources Building
University Park, PA 16802