Fee Simple (cont.)
Fee simple acquisition for conservation purposes typically involves a land trust purchasing title to a property that merits conservation.  After the title transfers to the land trust, the land is permanently maintained as open space.  Landowners often utilize this method of land protection because they are assured their family lands will be protected in perpetuity and they receive income from the sale of the land.  Fee simple acquisition can address a landowner’s financial hardships while also ensuring that the landowner’s intent to protect the land is granted.

Case Study: fee simple acquisition
Originally established as the 17,000-acre San Ignacio de la Canoa Spanish land grant in 1820, the Canoa Ranch is one of the oldest ranches in the Santa Cruz River Valley.  It remained a working ranch from 1820 to the 1970s.  More than 4,000 acres of the historic ranch were purchased fee simple at fair market value by a conservation buyer in 2001, thus transferring title to the land to the conservation buyer to maintain the property as open space.