View the proposed changes in detail

WeConservePA offers for public comment a number of potential changes to the Model Grant of Conservation Easement and Declaration of Covenants. These changes were first proposed in the March 2025 Conserve Land Update with additional changes stimulated by discussions at April’s Pennsylvania Land Conservation Conference, and modifications to the earlier proposals made in response to reviewer feedback through May.

The potential changes include:

  • Clarifying the Highest Protection Area permitted activities to better communicate that active management for the purpose of improving biodiversity, habitat, and the broader ecosystem is appropriate
  • Adding clarity regarding the permission to merge lots
  • Revising the Standard Protection Area Conservation Objective
  • Removing a parenthetical example
  • In the Minimal Protection Area, replacing limits of one Dwelling Unit and one Improvement containing Dwelling Units with fill in the blanks and a default number of two for each
  • Modifying 8.03(c) “Ending Continuing Liability”

Send comments on these proposed changes to jhollinger@weconservepa.org as soon as possible to be considered in this year’s updates.