What We Do
The Yolo Land Trust has one simple and vital mission: to conserve agricultural land in Yolo County. Land conservation keeps our rural heritage alive, fosters healthy communities, generates good jobs, supports working farms and ranches, preserves wildlife habitats, and maintains the agricultural landscapes of Yolo County.
Conserve Land
Yolo Land Trust works to help landowners interested in preserving their property’s resources through its most common tool: a conservation easement (CE). Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between a landowner and a nonprofit organization such as YLT in which the landowner agrees to restrict the use of the land to farming, ranching or habitat protection…
Yolo Land Trust works to help landowners interested in preserving their property’s resources through its most common tool: a conservation easement (CE). Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between a landowner and a nonprofit organization such as YLT in which the landowner agrees to restrict the use of the land to farming, ranching or habitat protection. The landowner continues to own, manage and operate the land, and pay property taxes, but the land must remain as a working farm. The agreement with YLT is recorded in the public records and the land use restrictions remain in effect in perpetuity. Yolo Land Trust acts as a steward, visiting the land once a year to ensure that the resource values remain the same over time. CEs can provide landowners with significant tax benefits, as well as peace of mind that their property will be preserved as they wish.
Other conservation tools include donations for tax benefits and the purchase of significant resource lands.
Ensure Strong Public Policies
The Yolo Land Trust encourages public policies that support and enhance long-term farmland protection and promotes public awareness of the importance of agriculture and the need to preserve it. YLT is a respected member of the Yolo County community, is a member of the Yolo County Farm Bureau, and our staff actively engage with local and state officials.
Provide Technical Support
Relying on its long history and the expertise of its board and staff, YLT provides technical support to local and state government agencies. It maintains a neutral position regarding land-use changes by simply providing information, background, and insight regarding the effectiveness and potential outcomes of proposed policies and projects.
Why A Land Trust
Land trusts such as Yolo Land Trust provide a creative and effective mechanism in environmental conservation efforts.
01
Speed & Flexibility
As private organizations, land trusts can respond quickly with flexibility and confidentiality.
02
Local
Because they are locally based organizations, land trusts understand the local community, its issues and values, and respond to the individual needs of landowners.
03
Professional
Land trusts are experienced working with the teams of legal, tax and real estate professionals involved in land transactions. Yolo Land Trust has public policy, land use planning and natural resource conservation expertise.
04
Tax Benefits
Land trusts provide cost-effective land protection. A land trust’s nonprofit status also offers land donors potentially significant tax benefits for their donation of conservation easements or conservation lands.