Conservation Choices

For those interested in protecting their special piece of Muskoka, the process can often seem confusing and overwhelming. This page will introduce you to a few of the terms and tools of Land Trust agreements. Remember, one of the benefits of entering into a partnership with a registered land trust is the wide degree of flexibility in the options available to you.

Whether you would like to keep your land or donate it, live on it or leave it just for nature, The Muskoka Heritage Trust can help you to make smart conservation choices that will reach far into the future. Essentially, if you own ecologically valuable land that you wish to protect beyond your lifetime, we can help you to do so.

Keeping Your Property

For landowners, a conservation easement is a way to protect the special attributes of their property in perpetuity, while retaining ownership.

Even though you want to continue to own your property, there are a number of conservation strategies you can consider. These could include:

  • Simply gaining more information, advice or assistance on how to be a good steward of your land (see Muskoka Heritage Foundation).
  • Reconsider your property's land designation. Lands classified for conservation, managed forest, farm or heritage may qualify for a reduced property tax category.
  • Consider entering into a Conservation Easement agreement with The Muskoka Heritage Trust.

A Conservation Easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a conservation organization such as The Muskoka Heritage Trust. Together, the landowner and the Trust agree upon conditions surrounding the use and management of the property. These conditions, which have as their primary goal to protect the natural features of the property, remain in place even after the property switches hands.

Transferring Your Property

Your land may be converted into a nature reserve in your name.

You may wish to protect your land into the future by transferring ownership of the property. You could:

  • Donate your land to The Muskoka Heritage Trust to be managed as a nature reserve.
  • Sell or donate the land and then lease it (or a portion) back for a certain period.
  • Protect the land first with a conservation easement or other restriction before a transfer or sale.
  • Sell the land to the Trust at a discount, receiving a tax receipt for the amount below market value.
  • Establish a private trust that ensures the property is used only for certain purposes.

If there is no urgency to transfer the property, then consider the following options that will ensure that your land is protected long into the future:

  • Consider a land bequest. The property could be given in your will; the details are best worked out in advance to ensure that your objectives can be fully achieved.
  • Grant a "right of first refusal" to a conservation organization such as ours so that we have the first chance to buy the property, if and when you decide to sell.
  • Reserve a "life estate" when you give or sell the land, meaning that you or a family member can continue to live on the property until your death or theirs.

One interesting strategy is to donate a part of the proceeds of a land sale back to the purchasing organization. This provides the donor with a charitable tax receipt while also decreasing the net purchasing cost. Land exchanges, partial development to fund conservation, and other creative approaches might also be explored.

Purchases depend on a conservation organization raising the necessary funds, and this can take some time. Thus, installment payments or a mortgage can help pay for a purchased property over some months or years, or an "option" can allow us to raise funds over a certain period to meet a set purchase price.

A further opportunity to help us protect land is for a landowner to donate property so that we can sell it to provide funds to acquire a more ecologically significant site. Of course, any gifts of money or useful goods are also most welcome. These will help
fund our land conservation work and the ongoing costs associated with maintaining properties.
Adapted from OLTA

Donor's Legal and Financial Counsel

In every case of a donation of real or personal property, or of a conservation easement the Heritage Trust requires donors, at their own expense, to seek independent legal and financial counsel, and to provide written verification that such advice has been obtained.

The Trust will make available to prospective donors, or their duly appointed representatives, the charter and bylaws of the Trust and the financial statements. Every donation and every donor have unique circumstances and the Trust follows a thorough and cautious process to ensure that all parties fully understand and are satisfied with any agreements reached.

When dealing with assets in perpetuity, patience is more than a virtue -- it is a necessity.