In 2021, brothers Tom and Jim Irwin put a permanent easement on their 158-acre Michigan farm, honoring their late father's wish and keeping developers from splitting it

A permanent conservation easement was placed by brothers Tom and Jim Irwin on their 158-acre family farm in Grass Lake, Michigan, in April 2021, which restricts the property from future development and keeps it together as farmland, forest, and wetlands, and fulfills a wish that their late father, Richard “Dick” Irwin, had already acted on during his lifetime. The farm had been in the Irwin family for more than 150 years, with Tom and Jim inheriting it in 2017. Their father had previously worked with Legacy Land Conservancy to protect another portion of the property through conservation easements between 2004 and 2008, and the brothers completed the new agreement with the Ann Arbor-based nonprofit on Earth Day in 2021, according to Legacy Land Conservancy’s announcement on April 26, 2021.The agreement restricts development but leaves the farm in private handsA conservation easement is a legally binding agreement that places a limit on how land can be developed or used, and it can protect agricultural soil, wetlands, and other natural features without transferring ownership to a government agency or conservation group. The property remains privately owned under the Irwin agreement, but development that would potentially undermine its conservation value is restricted. Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development explains that agricultural conservation easements can limit subdivision and other development while making sure that the land is under private ownership, and the restrictions are intended to preserve farmland and open space over the long term.The Irwin property includes rolling farmland, forest, and wetlands off Grass Lake Road, with Legacy saying that the land was at risk of development and sits next to other protected properties in the Sharon Short Hills area. The farm is also part of a roughly 300-acre natural greenway in the area, which supports wildlife habitat and water quality.The farm dates back to an 1836 land purchaseJames Irwin, the brothers’ great-great-great-grandfather, purchased the first 80 acres of the estate in 1836, and the original deeds were signed by President Martin Van Buren on sheepskin, according to Legacy Land Conservancy. At its largest, the farm covered about 354 acres, and later passed through generations of the family. Dick Irwin arranged conservation protection for part of the land before his sons inherited the farm, with Tom and Jim then choosing to place the remaining 158-acre property under a new easement. In comments published by Legacy, the brothers said that their father had taught them to leave the Earth in better condition for the next generation, and they said that the agreement put his values into practice and would keep the farm as one parcel that would extend beyond their lifetimes.Conservation groups helped finance the dealLegacy worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, the Carls Foundation, and private contributors to assemble funding for the easement, and the arrangement paid the brothers for the development rights that they agreed to give up. The brothers planned to use part of the proceeds to reinvest in the property, and at the time of the agreement, they leased out the farmland with the intention of restoring the historic barn and farmhouse and restarting the family’s farming business together.Legacy Land Conservancy, founded in 1971, works to protect farmland, natural areas and freshwater resources in the region, and a report in the local Manchester Mirror on May 24, 2021 documented the agreement and the property’s history. The easement does not make the farm public property, since the Irwin family retains ownership, while the conservation restrictions limit future development under the terms of the agreement.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.