FEE TITLE ACQUISITION

Placer Land Trust preserved 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" (also sometimes called "fee simple") 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 the Doty Ravine Preserve, Swainsons Grassland Preserve, Shutamul Bear River Preserve, Taylor Ranch Preserve, Kotomyan Big Hill Preserve, Stagecoach Preserve and the Canyon View Preserve in fee title, and we co-own the Codfish Falls Trail Preserve in fee title through a partnership with Protect American River Canyons (PARC).

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. The restoration of Canyon Creek at Stagecoach Preserve is an example of a project made possible by fee title land ownership.

Fee title ownership is not ideal for all lands, especially lands that require involved management. For example, PLT has no desire to own working farm or ranch lands in fee title. We believe 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 tool.

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.

To learn more about how lands are acquired in fee title, contact Executive Director Jeff Darlington at (530) 887-9222 or jeff@placerlandtrust.org.

Placer Land Trust 11521 Blocker Drive, Suite 100 Auburn, CA 95603 (530) 887-9222 info@placerlandtrust.org

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