Conservation Easements in McHenry County, IL: Farmland Trust

McHenry County sits at the edge of Chicago's fastest-growing exurban fringe, and it has responded with one of Illinois's more developed farmland-protection efforts: a county commission, a private land trust, and 11 of the state's 40 officially designated agricultural preservation areas. Here's how conservation easements actually work here, for both a farmer considering one and a buyer evaluating land near or under one.

This page covers what's specific to McHenry County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

Why McHenry County has a bigger conservation-easement story than most Illinois counties

McHenry County sits directly in the path of Chicago's exurban growth, and the regional numbers behind that pressure are stark: since 1970, suburban sprawl has consumed roughly 250,000 acres across the six-county Chicago metro area, cutting the region's farmland share from about 50% to 41% of total land, and the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin metro area converted more agricultural land to development between 2001 and 2021 (92,673 acres) than any other metro area in the country. McHenry County's western half remains substantially agricultural, but that regional trendline is exactly why the county built a more active conservation response than most Illinois counties need.

That response shows up in a specific, countable way: 11 of Illinois's 40 officially designated agricultural preservation areas are located in McHenry County, per American Farmland Trust. That concentration -- more than a quarter of the state's designated areas sitting in one county -- is the clearest evidence that McHenry County farmers and officials have engaged with farmland preservation more actively than the state average.

Two separate paths to a conservation easement here

McHenry County's Agricultural Conservation Easement and Farmland Protection Commission (ACE), established under Chapter 2.80 of the county code, exists specifically to create and administer a program for permanently protecting farmland from conversion to non-agricultural use. In practice, this gives a farmer or landowner the option to donate or sell the development rights on their property to the county by establishing an agricultural conservation easement -- a legal restriction, recorded against the property, that ensures the land stays in agricultural use even after it's sold to a future owner.

Separately, The Land Conservancy of McHenry County -- an independent nonprofit, not a county government body -- runs its own farm program that works with landowners on agricultural conservation easements outside the county's own ACE process. The organization received a $135,000 grant in 2024 (per AgriNews reporting) to support this work, suggesting active, ongoing capacity rather than a dormant program. The McHenry County Conservation District, a separate public entity again, takes a related but distinct approach: it manages more than 25,600 acres of open space and leases roughly 5,400 acres of farmland to about 70 different farmers through its own Farm Management Program -- land the Conservation District owns outright rather than land under a conservation easement held on privately-owned ground.

If you own farmland and are considering an easement

A conservation easement is a permanent, recorded restriction -- it runs with the land through every future sale, not just your own ownership. Before pursuing one through either the county's ACE Commission or the Land Conservancy of McHenry County, understand exactly what future uses the easement would foreclose (a subdivision into multiple lots, most non-agricultural commercial development, and often even certain new structures), and get independent legal and financial advice, since a properly certified easement can carry a real tax benefit: Illinois Public Act 88-657 allows land protected by a conservation easement and certified by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as demonstrating a public benefit to be assessed at 8-1/3% of fair market value for property-tax purposes, instead of the standard 33-1/3% ratio -- a substantial ongoing tax reduction, but one that depends on IDNR certification, not the easement alone.

Whether donating or selling the development rights makes more financial sense for your situation, and which of the two programs (the county's ACE Commission or the private Land Conservancy) fits your goals, are questions worth working through with both organizations directly and with your own advisor before committing to anything permanent.

If you're buying land that carries, or sits near, a conservation easement

Given how many agricultural preservation areas and active conservation programs operate in McHenry County, it's worth specifically checking whether a parcel you're evaluating already carries a recorded conservation easement -- this restricts what you, as the buyer, will be able to do with the land regardless of what the current listing implies, since the restriction transfers with the property. Pull the parcel's recorded documents from the McHenry County Recorder and ask directly whether any agricultural conservation easement, ACE Commission agreement, or Land Conservancy easement is recorded against it.

If a parcel sits adjacent to, rather than under, a conservation easement or Conservation District-managed farmland, that neighboring land use is unlikely to change in the way ordinary neighboring farmland might -- which can be a genuine plus for anyone specifically seeking a rural setting with reduced future development-pressure risk next door, though it's worth confirming the neighboring easement's specific terms rather than assuming permanence covers every possible future use.

Agricultural Conservation Easements in McHenry County, Illinois

Why McHenry County has a bigger conservation-easement story than most Illinois counties

Two separate paths to a conservation easement here

If you own farmland and are considering an easement

If you're buying land that carries, or sits near, a conservation easement

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