Conservation Covenants

Landowners interested in preserving the beauty and ecological integrity of their land for future generations can turn to conservation covenants.
 

Conservation covenants document specific conservation and land stewardship objectives over a defined area and are registered on the owners’ land title, remaining on title in perpetuity.
 

Conservation covenants are granted by landowners to “covenant holders” – non-profit organizations that undertake annual monitoring to ensure the terms of the covenant are being followed.
 

The Metchosin Foundation has been granted the authority to hold covenants within the District of Metchosin and is able to work with local landowners to facilitate covenant assessment, development and registration. A generally recommended best practice is that, once a proposed covenant has been verified as feasible, two separate agencies become engaged as co-covenant holders. The Metchosin Foundation has constructive and collaborative relationships with other agencies that can be engaged as co-covenantors.
 

Each covenant is tailored to suit the unique attributes of an individual piece of property and the vision and needs of the landowners who grants the covenant. Given that covenant assessment, development and registration incurs a combination of fixed and variable costs, the covenant holding agency(ies) that will be providing support funding generally specify a minimum threshold covenant area size, e.g. two hectares. However, if the area to be placed under covenant contains a feature with particularly high ecosystem value (e.g. a natural pond or wetland), or if the proposed covenant area abuts an existing protected area, the minimum threshold size for covenant registration may be reduced.
 

You can learn more about conservation convenants here.

If you’re interested in exploring a conservation covenant, the Metchosin Foundation can help. Contact us at ‘contact [at] metchosinfoundation [dot] ca’.