Black Swamp Conservancy protects three more farms

PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Black Swamp Conservancy has added three properties to its conserved lands. With the addition of these farms, Black Swamp Conservancy has now protected a total of 11,251 acres in northwest Ohio.

Each landowner entered into a land conservation agreement with the Conservancy — known as a conservation easement — that will ensure that the farmland will be used for agriculture, forever.

All three agreements, which total 276 acres, were reached by the Conservancy in partnership with the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

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Through such land conservation agreements, the landowner does not give up ownership of the land, but protects the agricultural value of the land by forfeiting the right to use the property for anything other than agriculture.

The agreements are perpetual in duration; they are binding on the landowner who signs the document and on every future owner of that land.

The 163-acre Ewald Farm, 33-acre Fry Farm and 80-acre Wise Farm are all located within an important focus area for the Conservancy.

This area north of Tiffin is significant due to the productive farmland soils and the proximity to other protected properties and to the Sandusky State Scenic River and its tributaries.

Black Swamp Conservancy has agricultural land conservation agreements on 20 farms in Seneca County totaling more than 2,700 acres.