Conservation Easements

Conservation easements are legal agreements between the Conservancy and private landowners that restrict the types of subdivision, development, and activities permitted on the land. Lands protected by conservation easements remain in private ownership.

Conservation Easements

Conservation easements are legal agreements between the Conservancy and private landowners that restrict the types of subdivision, development, and activities permitted on the land. Lands protected by conservation easements remain in private ownership.
To date, Countryside Conservancy has entered into permanent legal agreements with landowners across our region to protect 882 acres of land from inappropriate development forever. Check out the properties below that have conservation easements and give us a call if you think you might want to put an easement on your property. To find out how to protect your land through a conservation easement, please follow this link.
Belin Easement
Belin easement: created in 2007. A 31-acre conservation easement in Waverly Township, Lackawanna County. This property contains forest and wetlands and protects headwaters of the Ackerly Creek as well as green views edging the Waverly Historic District.
Bidlake Easements
Bidlake easements: created in 2007. Three conservation easements based on three existing homes on a historic farmstead in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County. Protected acreage totals 62 acres and is surrounded on three sides by The Nature Conservancy’s Woodbourne Preserve.
Bohlin Easement
Bohlin easement: created in 2000. An 8-acre conservation easement on an open meadow bordered by forest and a pond that serves as an open-space resource on the edge of the village of Waverly.
Clifford Township Easement
Clifford Township Easement: created in 2008. Established to protect a family farm on the East Branch of the Tunkhannock Creek in Susquehanna County. Protected acreage is almost 179 acres. The easement permits continued farming and timbering on much of the land, while protecting the creek and wetlands on site. Acquisition was supported by RESCUE Wayne/Susquehanna.
Clinton Township Easement
Clinton Township easement: created in 2004. A 30-acre parcel in Clinton Township, Wyoming County. This parcel, covered by mature forest, overlooks the South Branch of the Tunkhannock Creek. Limited timbering is permitted under this easement through a sustainable forestry plan. All timbering is prohibited within 50 feet of the top of the creek bank.
Gargan Easement
Gargan Easement: created 2016. A conservation easement of 5.7 acres in Clifford Township, Susquehanna County. This easement preserves an undeveloped open green space in an area prone to increasing development pressure due to its proximity to Elk Mountain.
Graff Easements
Graff Easement: created in 2007. A pair of conservation easements totaling 51 acres in Benton Township, Lackawanna County. These easements protect lands along the South Branch of the Tunkhannock Creek and preserve open views along both sides of Route 524. The protected lands adjoin the Conservancy’s Messimer Preserve.
Greene Easement
Greene easement: created in 2003. A conservation easement on 152 acres of farmland in Thompson Township, Susquehanna County. Half open fields and half woodlot, including a large mature sugarbush. The owners are committed to practicing sustainable forestry and agriculture.
Herrick Township Easement
Herrick Township easement: created in 2008. Protects hayfields, shrubland and forest habitats in the East Branch sub-watershed of the Tunkhannock Creek, Susquehanna County. This easement will forever protect 54 acres in an area prone to increasing development pressure due to its proximity to Elk Mountain.
Hull Easements
Hull easement: created in 1998 and 2011. A pair of conservation easements totaling 157 acres of a working family tree farm in North Abington Township, Lackawanna County. The easement covers non-farmed forest areas and bottomlands of Kennedy Creek upstream from Lackawanna State Park, and the steep hemlock slopes leading down to South Branch Tunkhannock Creek. Much of the farmed area of the property has been placed in Agricultural Conservation Easement with the state.
LeSoine Easement
LeSoine easement: created in 2004. A conservation easement on a 116-acre former dairy farm and Christmas tree farm. This hilly property, located in Bridgewater Township, Susquehanna County, also includes man-made ponds and several open fields.
Monick Easement
Monick Easement: created 2009. A conservation easement of 7 acres in Glenburn Township, Lackawanna County. This easement preserves a highly visible piece of undeveloped green space in the middle of an area that is facing increasing suburbanization.
Müller Easement
Müller easement: created in 2005. A conservation easement of 18 acres created with DCNR support at the southwest corner of Lackawanna State Park. This easement provides new public access points to the State Park trail network and will help protect sensitive riparian lands forever.
Overfield Township Easement
Overfield Township easement: created in 2003. A 7-acre woodland and wetland parcel in Overfield Township, Wyoming County, next to the Lackawanna Audubon Society’s Davis Crossing Sanctuary. Adjacent to the former Northern Electric Railway right-of-way, with potential for development as a non-motorized recreational trail.
Rushbrooke Easement
Rushbrooke easement: created in 2001. A conservation easement on 30 acres of mature woods and open meadows, containing headwaters of Ackerly Creek. Significant frontage of mature forest on PA Route 407 in Abington Township, Lackawanna County.
Waverly Township Easement
Waverly Township easement: created in 2003. A 10-acre wooded parcel with patches of forested wetland in Waverly Township, Lackawanna County. The property is adjacent to several parcels recently converted to residential subdivisions in an area at high risk for development.
Wolfe Easement
Wolfe easement: created in 2004. A 3-acre parcel adjacent to the Conservancy’s Ziegler Preserve in Benton Township, Lackawanna County. This property, containing the former owner’s 1800s house and barn, and livestock shed was subdivided from the Ziegler property and sold by the Conservancy under conservation easement to ensure that future use of this land is compatible with the preserve.