Protect Your Land – Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust

Protect Your Land

Your land is more than real estate — it’s a legacy. We work with
landowners and other partners across Sutter, Yuba, and Colusa
counties to keep farms, ranches, and wildlife habitat protected forever.

Voluntary Land Conservation

Protecting the land you love, on your terms

Property is more than just real estate. It is a legacy, a part of family heritage. The Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust works with willing landowners who want to ensure their farms, ranches, and natural lands stay that way for future generations.

Every project is voluntary and landowner-driven. Most protected lands remain privately owned and working — conservation doesn’t mean giving up your land or opening it to the public.

4,716

acres permanently protected

counties: Sutter, Yuba, and Colusa

1989

protecting local land since

Forever

accredited by the Land Trust Alliance

Everything landowners need to know

Program Area

Where we work — from the Sierra foothills to the Coast Range across Sutter, Yuba, and Colusa counties.

Conservation Options for Landowners

Easements, donations, bargain sales, and other ways to protect your property.

What is a Conservation Easement?

What you keep, what you give up, and how an easement works in plain language.

Landowner’s Guide

Our step-by-step guide to planning a conservation project for your land.

Landowner FAQ & Myths

Straight answers to the questions landowners ask most.

Our Protected Lands

An interactive map of the properties we’ve protected across the region.

Mitigation & Professional Services

Mitigation land and easement stewardship for agencies and developers.

Contact Our Lands Team

A confidential, no-obligation conversation about your property.

How It Works

From first conversation to protected forever

Reach out

Tell us about your property and your goals. The conversation is confidential and non-binding.

Explore options

We visit the land with you and review which conservation tools fit your family’s plans.

Shape the agreement

Together we set the terms — what’s protected and the uses you keep, like farming and ranching.

Protected forever

We monitor and steward the easement permanently, to Land Trust Alliance standards.

Conservation Options for Landowners

Ways to protect your land

Our staff works with landowners to preserve the natural landscape and protect wildlife habitat, water quality, and historic resources — while promoting traditional uses such as agriculture, hunting, and forestry.

Conservation easement

A voluntary legal agreement that permanently limits development while you keep ownership, farm the land, and pass it on. Easements can be purchased, donated, or a combination of the two.

Most common option

Fee title acquisition

In some cases we acquire property outright — by purchase or donation — and manage it ourselves, as we do at North Butte and the West Butte Schoolhouse.

For high-value habitat or historic sites

Donation by will

You can specify in your will that a conservation easement or the property itself be given to a qualifying organization upon your death, reducing the taxable value of your estate.

See Legacy Giving →

What is a Conservation Easement?

The short version

A conservation easement protects private land from development or other uses incompatible with your conservation goals. By granting one, you’re assured the conservation values of your property are protected in perpetuity — and you keep the right to live on it, farm it, sell it, and pass it down.

What you keep

Ownership of the land — we never own any part of it
The right to sell, mortgage, or transfer the property
Continued agricultural and recreational use
Use of existing buildings, without restrictions
Income from traditional and sustainable uses
Your privacy

What the easement limits

Subdivision of the property
Construction of new structures
New impermeable surfaces
Uses incompatible with the conservation values
An easement should never be so restrictive that it makes the land a financial burden on present or future owners.

Our responsibility

Annual monitoring site visits and reports
Sign maintenance and landowner relations
Easement defense, backed by Terrafirma insurance
A non-wasting stewardship endowment for every easement
Stewardship typically costs $4,000–5,000 per year, funded by an endowment of roughly $140,000 per property.

How the process works

STEP 01

Questionnaire & title

You complete a landowner questionnaire and share a current preliminary title report.

STEP 02

Site visit

We walk the property with you and talk through existing and potential future uses.

STEP 03

Board approval

An internal review goes to our board, which approves the project so we can formally engage.

STEP 04

Funding & recording

We pursue grant funding, then draft and record the easement. A retainer covers staff time.

Landowner FAQ & Myths

Common landowner questions

Tap any question to expand it. For anything specific to your property, please talk to our lands team — and consult your own tax attorney on tax questions.

Why should I grant a conservation easement?

Conservation easements protect private land from development or other uses incompatible with the preservation goals. By granting an easement, you are assured that the conservation values of the property will be protected in perpetuity — landowners play a vital role in preserving America’s natural heritage for future generations. Easements can be purchased or donated, or a combination of the two. Landowners who donate easements to a “qualified” charitable conservation organization can receive substantial tax deductions if the transferred rights provide a significant public benefit. Sutter Buttes Land Trust meets the criteria of a qualified charitable organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3).

If there is an easement on my property, does the Land Trust control my property?

No. The land trust does not have ownership of any part of the property on which it holds an easement. You may mortgage, sell, or otherwise transfer the property. Land trusts do, however, have a responsibility to make sure the terms of the easement are being honored, through periodic onsite monitoring and other means.

Does the agreement allow flexibility in how the land is used?

Yes. The reserved rights for each property are intended to allow agricultural, residential, and recreational uses, as well as economic uses, while protecting the conservation values of the land. A conservation easement should not be so restrictive — should not remove so many opportunities to generate revenue from the land — that it could make the land a financial burden on present or future owners.

Can the family continue to use the property and existing buildings?

Yes. The easement will limit both subdivision and the construction of new structures or impermeable surfaces, but existing buildings and agricultural operations can continue to be used without restrictions. You retain all rights in the property other than those specifically removed or restricted by the easement — generally including the rights to privacy, to convey ownership, to continued agricultural or recreational activities, and to generate income from traditional and sustainable uses of the land.

Does the size of the property affect eligibility?

Our minimum acreage requirement is 50 acres. Larger parcels typically get priority over smaller easement acreage projects.

How long does the easement process take?

Most projects typically take about 2.5 years to complete, which includes completing the grant applications needed to fund the purchase of the easement.

How can donating an easement reduce income tax?

The donation of a conservation easement is a tax-deductible charitable gift, provided the easement is perpetual and donated exclusively for conservation purposes to a qualified organization or public agency. The amount saved depends on the value of the property: it is appraised both at fair market value without easement restrictions and with them, and the difference is the easement value. Potential easement donors should seek legal counsel from their own tax attorney.

Can donating an easement reduce property tax?

Property tax assessment is usually based on market value, which reflects development potential. If a conservation easement reduces the development potential of the property, it may reduce the level of assessment and the amount of property taxes owed. The actual reduction, if any, depends on many factors, including state law and the decisions of local officials and assessors. Landowners should contact the Sutter County Assessor’s office with further questions.

How can granting an easement reduce estate tax?

Federal estate tax is levied not on the value of a property for its existing use but on its fair market value — often what a developer would pay — which can force heirs to sell in order to pay the taxes. If the property has been restricted by a perpetual conservation easement before the owner’s death, it must be valued in the estate at its restricted value, lowering the estate tax. An owner can also specify in a will that a charitable gift of an easement be made upon death. We recommend contacting your estate tax attorney for clarification based on your situation.

What is a stewardship endowment, and how much is required?

Each easement must include a non-wasting stewardship endowment that funds land trust stewardship tasks in perpetuity — annual monitoring visits, monitoring reports, and sign maintenance, plus allocations for landowner relations, easement defense, transfer of ownership, exercised reserved rights, and amendments. These costs typically average $4,000–$5,000 per year depending on property size and complexity, so an endowment of roughly $140,000 is needed to generate about a $5,000 annual return.

How does the Land Trust legally protect the property?

Annual monitoring visits ensure the terms of the easement are being adhered to. If we discover a violation, we document it and attempt to resolve the issue with the landowner. If resolution requires legal action, Sutter Buttes Land Trust is a member of Terrafirma, which insures its members against the legal costs of defending conservation and provides access to a collective fund and a national team of experts.

How do I get started?

We typically start by having the landowner complete a landowner questionnaire and provide a current preliminary title report, which help us understand the property and its existing and potential future uses. We follow up with a site visit and a meeting. Once we have compiled basic property information and completed an internal project review, it goes to our board for approval — which allows us to formally engage and pursue funding, and is the point at which we would require a monetary retainer to cover staff time.

Our Protected Lands

4,716 acres protected — and counting

Every property below is permanently protected by Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust across Sutter, Yuba, and Colusa counties — working farms, wildlife habitat, and historic sites.

Click any marker to explore another protected property.

Owned & managed by Sutter Buttes Regional Land Trust Agricultural conservation easement Mitigation preserve

For more information →

Mitigation & Professional Services

For agencies, developers, and municipalities

Beyond working with private landowners, the Land Trust provides fee-based professional services across our region.

Landowner options counseling

Presenting landowners with a variety of options for preserving their lands while retaining private ownership and control.

Mitigation easements

Holding conservation easements for mitigation projects and accepting stewardship contracts. We currently hold mitigation preserves for the Army Corps, USFWS, and CDFW.

Planning & consulting

Open space planning, acquisition and management of open space, and drafting, holding, and monitoring of conservation easements for developers, municipalities, and governments.

Stewardship & monitoring

Professional stewardship for sensitive natural areas — identifying critical ecological processes on a site and implementing adaptive management to meet protection goals.

Confidential Property Inquiry

Thinking about your land’s future?

All initial inquiries are held in strict confidence and create no financial or legal obligation. Our Executive Director will follow up with you personally.