National Conservation Easement Database

The National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) is the first national database of conservation easement information, compiling records from land trusts and public agencies throughout the United States. This public-private partnership brings together national conservation groups, local and regional land trusts, and state and federal agencies around this common objective.

Advancing accountability: The purpose of the NCED project is to, in collaboration with land trusts and public agencies, create a single, up-to-date, sustainable nationwide system for managing and accessing data about conservation easements. Five leading conservation organizations have joined forces to develop the NCED:

• Conservation Biology Institute
• Defenders of Wildlife
• Ducks Unlimited
• NatureServe
• Trust for Public Land

Key partners providing support, advice, and data include the Land Trust Alliance, representing the views and concerns of the nation’s 1,700+ local and regional land trusts, The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.

Tracking private lands conserved for the public good:  The NCED provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the estimated 16 million acres under conservation easement, recognizing their contribution to America’s natural heritage, a vibrant economy, and healthy communities. Organizations that hold easements can their easement data via a web-based portal. Voluntary and secure, the NCED respects landowner privacy and will not collect landowner names or sensitive information.

Catalyzing strategic conservation action:  Reliable data about what lands are protected and where is essential to good planning and policy-making for conservation action, natural resource management, or development. The cooperating partners are networking their data to allow users to overlay maps of easements with maps of other protected lands, conservation priorities, habitat types, and wildlife information.

Making credible data widely accessible:  The NCED makes non-sensitive conservation easement information easily accessible to everyone who needs it. NCED maps and data will be available through the Data Basin Protected Areas Center, the Conservation Registry, LandScope America, CARL (Conservation and Recreation Lands), and the Conservation Almanac.

We invite your participation:  This content is derived from the National Conservation Easement Database Website. For more information on the project, please click here. Instructions on contributing data to the project can be found on this site.