Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** conservation easements have…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** conservation easements have become an innovative instrument to address the tension between development and conservation on forest and agricultural lands. However, past studies have paid little attention to the unique features of working forests, especially irregular and uncertain timber revenues from multiple growth cycles. Analyses were insufficient on the legal environment framed in case law, optimal contract length, forest management under constraints, and tax incidence and welfare. The overall objective of this proposal is to examine the legal and economic consequences of restricting property rights on actively managed forests through conservation easements. This project fits in the stated FY 2021 program area priority of small and medium-sized farms (program area code A1601). We will employ computational content analysis, microeconomic theory, faustmann model, real options theory, and equilibrium displacement model to develop new theories and empirical models for forest conservation easements. The rationale for the proposed research is that these new theories and models are expected to generate new knowledge regarding the mechanism of forest conservation easements, which in turn enhances our understanding of the impact on landowners and the public, and furthermore, the development of future policies aimed at improving easement design and implementation. The proposed research is significant because the application of resultant new knowledge is expected to lead to more efficient and equitable strategies that will aid millions of forest landowners in providing environmental services while simultaneously supporting the sustainable growth of forest and rural communities.