Conservation easements in the Adirondack Park of New York state

The use of conservation easements to keep private lands undeveloped and protect open space and large scale landscapes has grown rapidly. The New York State Adirondack Park includes 2.5 million acres (1 million ha) of state owned land and 3 million acres (1.2 million ha) of private lands; over 781,000 acres (316,194 ha) of these private lands were under publicly held conservation easement by 2012. Private landowners include commercial forest and agricultural owners, second homeowners, residential landowners, conservation organizations, educational institutions, and others. The conservation easements convey property rights from the landowner to the state in perpetuity. The specifics of each conservation easement are individual and varied, with the main purposes being to protect natural resource and landscape values such as open space, scenic areas, wetlands, riparian areas, critical ecosystems, water quality, wildlife and fisheries habitats, and other purposes.