State law
Wyoming's proposed 30-year cap on conservation easements did not advance
Published · Reviewed by Easements.com
Most conservation easements in the United States are perpetual. That permanence is the point for the land trusts and agencies that hold them, and it is also the feature that draws periodic legislative attention, because it binds owners who have not been born yet.
Wyoming's 2025 session saw one of those attempts. House Bill 220, titled "Conservation easements-amendments," proposed limiting the duration of conservation easements to 30 years, with definitions and conforming changes to match. It did not become law: the legislature's own history for the bill shows it was received for introduction on January 17, 2025, and then not considered for introduction on February 3, 2025.
What the bill would have done
The bill's own description states its purpose plainly: an act relating to property, conveyances and security transactions, limiting the duration of conservation easements to 30 years, providing definitions, making conforming amendments, specifying applicability, and providing for an effective date.
A duration cap changes the character of the instrument. A perpetual conservation easement is a permanent reduction in the bundle of rights attached to the land, which is why it supports a deduction or a purchase price today. A term easement is closer to a long lease of development rights, and both its tax treatment and its market value are different.
Because the bill was never taken up, none of that took effect in Wyoming. Conservation easements there continue to be governed by existing state law, and a perpetual grant remains enforceable as written.
Why bills like this keep appearing
The recurring argument for a cap is generational: an owner today can restrict a parcel forever, and heirs who inherit the land inherit a decision they had no part in. The recurring argument against a cap is that conservation buyers, whether a land trust, a state program or a federal one, are paying for permanence and will not pay the same for 30 years.
There is also a records dimension. Instruments creating or transferring conservation easements are recorded in the county land records, and a duration limit means a recorded document with an expiration a future title examiner has to catch. Perpetual easements do not have that failure mode.
Whatever the merits, an owner should track this kind of bill by its actual disposition rather than its headline. Introduction, committee passage and enactment are three different things, and legislature sites publish the step-by-step history for each bill.
- A perpetual easement runs with the land and binds every later owner.
- A term easement expires, which changes both valuation and the title record.
- A bill's status page, not a news summary, is the reliable source for whether it passed.
Checking the status of any easement bill yourself
Every state legislature publishes bill text and an action history for free. Search by bill number or by keyword, open the bill's page, and read the dated list of actions. Terms like "did not consider for introduction," "died in committee" or "failed" mean nothing changed in the law.
If a bill did pass, the next step is finding where it landed in the code. Enacted bills amend numbered statute sections, and the state's published code, not the bill, is the text that governs. Our state easement law pages link directly to those code sections.
For conservation easements specifically, also check whether the holder is a land trust, a state agency or a federal program, because program rules can impose requirements the state statute does not.
What this means for you
- 1In Wyoming, nothing changed in 2025: a perpetual conservation easement is still perpetual.
- 2If you are considering granting one, read the duration clause and confirm whether it is perpetual or for a term.
- 3Ask the holder in writing how amendment and termination work before you sign anything.
- 4If you are buying land already under a conservation easement, get the recorded instrument and any baseline documentation report.
- 5Treat legislative proposals as proposals until the legislature's own action history shows enactment.
Related questions
How this page is sourced
Last reviewed September 11, 2026 by Easements.com. Written from state statutes, county recorder publications, and standard appraisal practice. Every state-specific figure links to a free official source you can open yourself.
- Wyoming HB0220 (2025), Conservation easements-amendments — Official bill page with sponsors and current text.
- Wyoming HB0220 digest and action history — Dated action list showing the bill was not considered for introduction on February 3, 2025.
- Colorado Revised Statutes 38-30.5-106, recordation of conservation easements — Example of a state recording requirement for conservation easements in gross.
General information, not legal advice. Read our editorial standards or report a correction.
General educational reference only. Prescription periods and their exceptions change, and several states set the period by case law rather than by statute. Read the linked official code and consult a licensed attorney in that state before relying on any of it.
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