Guide to
Voluntary
Land Protection

Landowner's Options
Conservation Easement
Land Donation
Sale Options
Nature Preserve

Dedication as an Illinois Nature Preserve

If your property is home to state endangered, or threatened, plant or animal species, it may be of special interest to the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, which was established to protect these especially rare landscape remnants. Dedication of your property as an Illinois Nature Preserve has many similaities to dedicating a conservation easement over it to a conservation agency in terms of protection in perpetuity, the monitoring of its natural integrity on a periodic basis by the Commission to insure its integrity, and the various tax benefits which can accrue due to the charitable contribution nature of the dedication. In addition, lands which are dedicated as Illinois Nature Preserves have their real estate taxes set at $1 per acre per year.

The land can still be privately owned and privately enjoyed, but within the management and protection standards established by its dedications.