Conservation Covenant

A conservation covenant is a voluntary agreement to conserve land or protect features relating to it. It is an agreement between a private land owner and the Regional District and is legally binding on the future owners of the property. A covenant may include provisions that restrict the use of, or require that improvements be maintained on the property for the protection of natural, environmental, wildlife or plant-life values.

Conservation (Section 219) covenants are frequently used by the Regional District to protect sensitive environmental features such as riparian areas during land development application processes. Section 219 covenants are an inexpensive means to preserve land or its special attributes.

Conservation covenants can also exist between property owners and private conservation organizations such as the Land Conservancy, the Land Trust Alliance, Ducks Unlimited, BC Grasslands, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, etc. This is an easy way property owners can protect particular features of their land in perpetuity.