In this paper, we investigate the concept of land sharing and land sparing management options for environmental preservation. We propose a general framework for the analysis of the conjunctive implementation of both land management options. This general framework provides an empirical rule of selection that can easily be implemented by a land-planner without specific knowledge of optimization procedures. Our main finding is that both the environmental benefit to cost ratio and the benefit difference (between a sharing and a sparing management option) to cost difference ratio matter for selection of parcels. We then develop an empirical application of this framework for the Seine-Ource river catchment in Burgundy, France. We look for the best land management option to implement for water quality preservation. We show that it is more cost-effective to implement land sharing and land sparing management options conjunctively than separately.