Preserving land from development is all about woods and streams and birds and beasts. That’s the fun part.

But it’s also about laws and contracts and tax rules and finance. That’s the boring part – yet without it, the woods and beasts are in trouble.

This is why the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests gave two major awards this fall to attorneys who have spent decades helping create and maintain the legal and financial structures which preserve land: The President’s Award to Thomas Masland of Canterbury, and Conservationist of the Year to Bob Wells of Hopkinton.

Both men say they got started working in the field because of their spouses.

“I’m a Missouri farm boy and had never heard of an easement,” admitted Wells, an attorney with McLane Middleton who specializes in trusts and estates. “Once I married my wife Binnie then I recognized how important conservation is.”

“I got started because my wife was on the staff of the Forest Society as a land protection specialist,” said Masland, with Ransmeier & Spellman in Concord. “I was recruited to do a series with landowners on how land protection can help with estate planning. … It became an active part of my practice.”

Their work with the Forest Society has often focused on easements and other ways of legally binding future owners of property so that it will remain in its current state, whether wooded or used for farming or for timbering or whatever.

‘I think that has been one of the positive developments of real estate law over the last half-century, the ability to create legally binding agreements … that go with the land and last in perpetuity,” said Masland. “As Woody Allen says, ‘Forever is a long time.’”

Wells served nine years as a trustee for the Forest Society and then switched to the Land Protection Committee, in which volunteers make recommendations about proposed easement purchases – “sort of a sounding board if you will … after a lot of staff work.”

“There are often caveats such as they have a cabin and want to maintain it, or they want an (agricultural) easement but want to use it as a wedding venue: is that part of agriculture?” he said.

Just as importantly, the group helps the job of stewardship.

“When an easement is given, it’s the Forest Society’s responsibility forever,” he said. “We have visits on a regular basis from the stewardship staff … They worry about problems (like) somebody has an easement sells the house. The next person doesn’t remember they’re not supposed to build across a certain line and suddenly there’s a tennis court, a swimming pool on. It can get very complicated.”

Masland agreed.

“A lot of of easements granted in the early days, the property is now changing hands. Owners were not part of initial discussions about the easement, may not understand it, may disagree with some provisions,” he said, noting that the Forest Society has increased the staff overseeing easements. “Stewardship has become more important.”

The Forest Society has drones to fly over easements, some of which cover thousands of acres, to see what’s going on. “We used to do airplanes but that was very expensive,” said Wells.

Over the years, both said, a realization of the importance of conservation and agricultural easements has grown more common and gained more support.

“The trend is there is more money available to help with purchase of easements. But the low-hanging fruit has been picked – people who wanted to donate have already done that. Now easement transactions have turned into what can be some sophisticated real estate transactions, with different funders and different requirements,” said Masland.

In giving the President’s Award, the Forest Society said that as legal counsel to the group for more than 30 years, Masland and his team “played a central role in developing the conservation easement template used statewide.”

Furthermore, said Jack Savage, president of the Forest Society, “Tom and his wife, Sylvia Bates, walk the talk. Together they became the first hikers to complete our Forest Reservation Challenge in 2017 by visiting all 33 trails featured in the Challenge.”

The Conservationist of the Year award for Wells noted that the family recently donated an easement on 455 acres in Hopkinton and Henniker, “bringing the block of protected land in this area to nearly 10,000 acres.”

“It was a family decision,” said Wells, listing children and in-laws who were part of it, even though it reduced the value of future inheritance.

And that, said Masland, is an important point. Land protection is more than just a way to avoid taxes; it’s a way to preserve the world that people love.

“The income tax charitable deduction, that’s just the icing on the cake. I don’t think I’ve ever had anybody approach me for land conservation for tax reasons alone,” he said.

Asked if people would still preserve land if there was no tax benefit at it, he said yes. “They do it because they’re interested in protecting the resources.” In fact, he said, it’s not uncommon for the tax benefit to be less than the costs of surveying, preparing and transferring the property “For them, it’s an expensive gift.”

David Brooks can be reached at dbrooks@cmonitor.com.