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 by the  Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, Little Traverse Conservancy, and Leelanau Conservancy,  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 MMCE Advisory Committee was formed for the first-ever review and update of the MMCE.  That review was completed in 2010 with facilitation from Heart of the Lakes.

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.

A new Practitioner’s Guide for Michigan's land protection professionals is also an outcome of the 2014-15 review.

How to Use the Model
The MMCE should be used as a reference only and should not be used in lieu of legal review. 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.

The MMCE is suggested language that can assist users as they draft their own conservation easements.  The MMCE is not a complete easement, and is most applicable for conservation easements placed on natural lands.  At this time, it is not meant to be a model for working (agricultural and forest) easements.

The MMCE and Practitioner’s Guide are not substitutes for more extensive reference books, resources and training available for drafting and negotiating conservation easements.
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Practitioner's Guide
The Practitioner’s Guide is a new companion to the standard Michigan Model Conservation Easement (MMCE) template, first created in 2015. The standard MMCE is a template for drafting purposes, and contains sample provisions in a typical conservation easement for natural lands protection. 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.

​The Practitioner’s Guide is a guide to the MMCE and is not a guide to drafting easements in and of itself. It provides additional language options and commentary to easement drafters using the MMCE template.