The Michigan Model Conservation Easement (MMCE) is a template for the state's land conservancies and landowners to discuss and draft conservation easements.

First developed in 1999,  it was the result of consensus by land protection professionals and attorneys who wanted a document that used plain language and included provisions of widespread use.  In 2009, an advisory committee was formed for the first-ever review and update of the MMCE. That review was completed in 2010.

In 2014, Heart of the Lakes initiated another review of the Model with a newly constituted advisory committee and support from ITC Holdings, Inc. The 2015 MMCE is the result of consensus by the advisory committee as well as other members of the state’s land trust community.

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The Model

The standard MMCE is a template for conservation easement drafting purposes and contains sample provisions in a typical conservation easement for natural lands protection. It  is intended to add uniformity in Michigan to the conservation easement negotiating and drafting process, provide legal strength and clarity to each document, promote best practices for easement drafting, and lower the time and costs of drafting and monitoring a conservation easement. 

However, each easement is different based on the land and the landowner, as well as the policies and practices of the conservancy, and should be tailored to accommodate those varied needs. Hence, the MMCE is not a complete easement.  It should be used as a reference only and should not be used in lieu of legal review.  It  is most applicable for conservation easements placed on natural lands, and, at this time, it is not meant to be a model for working (agricultural and forest) easements.

The 2015 Michigan Model Conservation Easement and the newly developed Practitioner’s Guide are not substitutes for more extensive reference books, resources and training available for drafting and negotiating conservation easements.  

Practitioner's Guide

The Practitioner's Guide is a new companion to the standard Michigan Model Conservation Easement (MMCE) template, first created in 2015. As a guide to the MMCE, it is not a "how to" draft conservation easements.  Instead, it contains the entire MMCE with annotated comments to assist easement drafters using the MMCE template. It also provides additional language options suggested by land conservancies for several sections of the MMCE.