Fee Title Acquisition
Placer Land Trust preserves land through a variety of tools. One of the simplest tools is acquiring land in fee title through a donation, bargain sale, or outright purchase.
“Fee title” is a real estate term that means the type of ownership giving the owner the maximum interest in the land, entitling the owner to use the property in any manner consistent with federal, state and local laws and ordinances. For example, most homeowners own their land in fee title. PLT owns several properties in fee title.
Fee title ownership allows PLT to have direct control over the land. As such, we may decide to restore portions of the land in keeping with our mission. In certain circumstances, fee title ownership may also allow PLT to allow public access on a property, or to construct public recreation trails.
Fee title ownership is not ideal for all lands, especially lands that require involved management. For example, PLT believes that fee title ownership and management of working agricultural lands should rest with private landowners (that is, farmers and ranchers), and our preference is to preserve these types of land through an agricultural easement. However, for many types of land, including land preserved for wildlife habitat and/or scenic values, fee title ownership is a very valuable preservation method.
PLT accepts donations of land in fee title. If the land has extremely high conservation values, PLT keeps the land in trust through fee title ownership. If the land does not have extremely high conservation values, PLT may decide to place a deed restriction or conservation easement on the land prior to selling the land, thus ensuring its protection while minimizing our land management responsibilities and generating income to preserve other lands. As always, PLT works only with willing landowners.