Conserve Your Land
Do you want to conserve and protect land in our beautiful Island home?
The Cowichan region has finite land, most of it is privately owned, and much of it is subject to environmental decline. The Cowichan Community Land Trust (CCLT) seeks to protect and restore ecosystems at risk in partnership with individual champions and organizational allies.
The CCLT aims to help private property title holders conserve and protect land in the Cowichan Region.
We primarily do this by forming conservation covenants that are registered on to the title in perpetuity but can also support the creation of ‘Other Effective Conservation Measures’ (OECMs) such as parks or conservation cemeteries.
What is a Conservation Covenant?
A conservation covenant is one of the most powerful promises you can make.
It is a formal legal commitment to protect your land for nature that still allows you to own your property, live on your property, and sell it whenever you want.
The power of a conservation covenant is that it binds future owners to the same promises you made, meaning the land you’ve loved and cared for remains protected forever.
Koksilah River – Photo Credit: Stephanie Cottell
How they work
A conservation covenant is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a primary conservancy or land trust, which is registered on the land title. The landowner promises to use and protect the land in certain ways and the conservation organization promises to regularly monitor the property to ensure that it remains protected forever.
A conservation covenant is ‘held’ by a lead organization like the CCLT, which agrees to take on the perpetual responsibility to monitor and enforce the agreement. There is also a partnering conservation organization that is registered as a co-covenant holder to help ensure the long-term protection of the land.
A covenant binds all future owners of the land to the same terms you agree to. It creates a permanent sanctuary for the plants and animals you share the land with.
It can be placed on all or just some of your property, giving you the flexibility to continue to live on and even further develop the unprotected portion. It also allows you to own (and sell or bequeath) your property while still protecting the land.
Conservation covenants are monitored annually to ensure the eco-cultural conservation values continue to be protected.
Interested in learning if your property might be eligible for a conservation covenant?
Please fill out this brief questionnaire
Financial Costs of Conservation Covenants and Other Effective Conservation Measures
There are costs associated with conservation covenants and OECMs that are typically born by the property owner initiating the covenant. These can include:
- appraisals
- legal costs
- ecological base-line documentation registration costs.
- endowments required to support the long-term monitoring and management costs.
If the ecological values of the land are very high sometimes funds can be sourced through grants to help cover these costs. There is also the federal Ecological Gifts (EcoGifts) Program. An ecological gift is a donation of ecologically-sensitive land, or an eligible interest or right in land, to a qualified recipient such as the CCLT. A donation of land or conservation covenant that is approved through the EcoGifts Program has additional tax benefits to the donor.
Learn more about EcoGifts here:
Please note: It is the responsibility of the donor to obtain independent tax and legal advice when considering any kind of conservation donation.
The CCLT’s Eco-cultural Conservation Springboard
The term ‘eco-cultural’ engages a conservation approach that values the interconnected ecological and cultural relationships that people have with and within their natural environment. For example, learning and preserving traditional Indigenous ecological knowledge and practice contributes to successful conservation of biodiversity and ecological health because these place-based relationships have developed over thousands of years. Bringing ancient place-based knowledge together with a newcomer’s love and care for their ecological home can enhance our mutual efforts and in fact grow supportive eco-cultural relationships in the process.
Recently the CCLT launched a new initiative to help address financial barriers to conservation on private land in the region. There is a small but growing fund available to help meet costs of conservation covenants and other OECMs. Property title holders can apply for this funding as part of the conservation application process.
People who wish to support conservation of private land in the region can also donate to the Springboard fund. Donate here: please select Springboard Fund in the drop down menu:
Donate here: please select Springboard Fund in the drop down menu
Mill Bay Area Covenant – Photo Credit: Stephanie Cottell
Please Get In Touch!
Please be in touch to let us know how we can work together to protect these unique and threatened areas of our beautiful Cowichan region.
Email: info@cowichanlandtrust or by Phone: 250-746-0227
Cowichan River – Photo Credit: John Scull