16 U.S.C. § 460nnn–42 — Cooperative efforts to control development and encourage conservation

(a) Policy. Congress's position is that development on public or private land inside the Cooperative Management and Protection Area, if it's different from the land's current character and uses, goes against the purposes of this subchapter. (b) Use of nondevelopment and conservation easements. The Secretary can enter into a nondevelopment easement or conservation easement with any willing landowner, to further this subchapter's purposes. (c) Conservation incentive payments. The Secretary can also give a private landowner in the area technical assistance, cost-share payments, incentive payments, and education. This requires the landowner to sign a contract with the Secretary to protect or improve ecological resources on their private land, and only applies if those improvements also benefit public land. (d) Relation to property rights and State and local law. None of this is meant to affect anyone's property rights or interests, or to override state law.