FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-April 25, 2023 Logan, Utah — Utah Agricultural Land Trust has opened its doors for business in the state of Utah to serve private ag landowners throughout the state in their efforts to conserve their ag lands. “Development pressures are intense these days and many family farms and ranches are threatened, “ said Deborah Van Noy, founder and board member of UALT. “We will educate and participate with Utah ag property owners in preserving their family farming and ranching operations,” she added. Conservation easements are a primary tool for private ag land- owners to protect their land from development – residential or commercial. This tool is being used widely throughout the western states and has resulted in preservation of thousands of acres of farming and ranching lands. The process involves placing easements on ag landowners’ property that restricts certain uses (specifically development of the land) thereby causing this property to be passed over when developers are seeking new areas for expansion. “Conservation easements not only protect ag lands but by the very nature of this type of land protection, wildlife habitat and aquifers, air quality and open space benefit as well,“ said Van Noy. Agricultural land trusts focus exclusively on helping property owners who own and manage working ranches and farms in Utah and are different from other conservation entities whose attention tends toward wetlands, waterways and other riparian areas. “The ag landowner has improvements on their property and may further expand those improvements as their farming or ranching operation grows,”, said Van Noy. “A conservation easement simply limits the creation of subdivisions and commercial development on that property,” she added. Utah Agricultural Land Trust is a member of American Farmland Trust’s National Agricultural Land Network. More information on UALT is available at www.utahaglandtrust.org
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Contact:
Deborah Van Noy
435-770-7095