SARPY COUNTY- Dean and Wayne Fedde know their Sarpy County farm like it’s a family member. They know the land’s stories, the names of people who’ve laid claim to it since the mid-1800s, the animal and tree species that survive on it.

“Wayne and I grew up on this farm and the farm of our grandparents,” Dean Fedde said. “We were taught a deep respect for the land and for the nature upon it.”

The brothers purchased the farm, which borders Schramm Park just south of Gretna, from their aunt in the early ‘90s.

As development crept closer to home, they turned to a conservation easement to ensure their land retains its rural identity. Now, they’re watching with alarm and disbelief as Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts campaigns against conservation programs and tools they’ve relied on for years.

“It’s just harming a lot of potential farmers and ranchers that would do a conservation easement,” Dean Fedde said. “He’s got them all in fear of any government programs.”

Conservation easements, which have been used in Nebraska and the U.S. for decades, are voluntary agreements that keep land in private ownership while an organization, typically a nonprofit or government entity, monitors the land and can enforce the easement’s requirements.

The Feddes were offered a permanent conservation easement, which permanently limits how land can be used, by the Nebraska Land Trust in 2010, according to Dean Fedde.

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