Parks, Open Space, Trails, and Trees Advisory Committee

Preserving your land as open space protects and benefits you and your land, preserves Heber City’s heritage, and ensures the quality of life we all enjoy for future generations.

• The preservation of land areas for outdoor recreation by, or the education of, the general public.
• The protection of a relatively natural habitat of fish, wildlife, plants, or similar ecosystems.
• The preservation of open space (including farmland and forest land) where such preservation is:
  • For the scenic enjoyment of the general public; or
  • Pursuant to a clearly delineated Federal, State, or local governmental conservation policy and will yield a significant public benefit; or
• The preservation of a historically important land area.

• Priority will be given to applicants who donate 25% towards the total cost of the conservation easement.  Your contribution happens as a qualified tax deduction, not as money out of pocket.  This contribution toward a conservation easement qualifies you for tax benefits that a Qualified Land Trust can explain.

• Contact the Heber City Open Space and Trails Committee at trails@heberut.gov to set-up a meeting to learn more and discuss the options available to you.
• Visit the Wasatch County Open Lands Board website and review the information there:
  • https://www.wasatch.utah.gov/Departments/Open-Lands-Board
• Contact a qualified local Land Trust such as Utah Open Lands or the Summit Land Conservancy to have them help guide you through the process:
  • Utah Open Lands Conservation Association, Inc.
    • 801-463-6156
    • https://utahopenlands.org/
  • Summit Land Conservancy 
    • 435-649-9884
    • https://wesaveland.org/

• A conservation easement is a legally binding agreement entered into voluntarily and mutually between a landowner and Utah Open Lands, protecting the land from some or all future development in perpetuity. Utah law provides landowners with a choice of easements coinciding with the conservation resources in need of protection on the property. The forms of conservation easements include: agricultural, historical, ecological, public recreational, or scenic. A conservation easement may protect one or all of the aforementioned values. A conservation easement may be purchased by a conservation organization at its full fair market value, purchased at a fraction of its fair market value, or donated by the landowner to a qualifying conservation organization. Landowners retain their landowning rights as well as many others, including right to use and sell the land. The easement will only retain the rights necessary to protecting certain conservation values, while potentially providing the landowners with tax incentives.

• The preservation of open lands is always based on a willing seller who enters into a conservation easement transaction willingly without the threat of eminent domain.

• Yes. The property owner is not selling the land, but instead selling or donating certain rights associated with the property. Depending on the easement, there will be different rights that the landowner will agree to give up—often times being the right to develop. The easement holder, either a private organization or a public agency, will hold the right to enforce the agreed upon regulations.

• Every easement is unique. It is up to the landowner and what they agree upon and what is deemed appropriate. Some easements will allow for public access, but others will not. Generally, if land is conserved for agricultural purposes, public access is not necessary. The entity entrusted with holding the conservation easement will maintain annual monitoring of the land to ensure the terms of the conservation easement remain in tact.