Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity - Environmental ...

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C O N T E N T S Violation Resolution Tools · 298 Preventing and Mitigating Violations · 310 Funding Easement Defense · 312 The Future of Easement Defense · 315 Putting It into Practice Exercise One: Managing Easement Violations · 316 Template: Easement Violation Resolution Policy Template · 330 Case Study: A Success Story, Vermont Land Trust · 337 Evaluate Your Knowledge · 341 Conclusion · 347 Sample Documents · 348 Additional Resources · 375 Check Your Progress · 378 Action Plan · 379 Glossary · 383 Index · 389
A Note on the Standards and Practices Curriculum and Accreditation “Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity” is part of the Land Trust Alliance’s Standards and Practices Curriculum and is designed to provide you with guidance and tools to implement Practices 9G, 11I and 11E. This course will: • Help you understand the practices • Provide you with tools to implement the practices in your organizations • Inspire organizational change • Help you save more land for the long term The Standards and Practices Curriculum is made up of 15 courses that cover the accreditation indicator practices. Indicator practices demonstrate that a land trust is operating in an ethical, legal and technically sound manner, and ensure the long-term protection of land in the public interest. Voluntary land trust accreditation will provide independent verification of these practices. The evaluations contained in this book are for training purposes only. They are not designed or intended to determine if your land trust is ready for accreditation. Completing a course does not necessarily demonstrate that an organization is actually carrying out the practice. Therefore, the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, will examine documents and information in project files to verify that each indicator practice is being carried out in the land trust applying for accreditation. For specific guidance on how to interpret Practice 9G for land trust accreditation and how the Commission will evaluate policies covering practices 9G, 11E and 11I, see www.landtrustaccreditation.org. This course and others in the curriculum are designed to help your land trust understand how to implement the practices. Please note: • The curriculum is not required for accreditation • Completing the curriculum will not guarantee accreditation For more information on accreditation, visit www.landtrustaccreditation .org. To learn more about the Land Trust Alliance’s training and assistance programs, visit www.landtrustalliance.org. Sylvia Bates Executive Editor, Standards and Practices Curriculum Director of Standards and Research, Land Trust Alliance
Page 1: Managing Conservation Easements in
Page 4 and 5: Managing Conservation Easements in
Page 6 and 7: The Land Trust Alliance’s mission
Page 8 and 9: C O N T Acknowledgments · 5 A Note
Page 13 and 14: When a land trust accepts a conserv
Page 15 and 16: Eternity is a long time. Especially
Page 17 and 18: Course Road Map This course covers
Page 19: Course Resources This course includ
Page 22 and 23: Everyone is responsible for good re
Page 24 and 25: 22 4. Consider costs and capacity w
Page 26 and 27: The long-term health and success of
Page 28 and 29: 26 recordkeeping system that includ
Page 30 and 31: At a minimum, a land trust should k
Page 32 and 33: In addition to your land trust’s
Page 34 and 35: 32 to serve owners of conserved lan
Page 36 and 37: 34 Post-Closing Easement Stewardshi
Page 38 and 39: Transparent and ethical procedures
Page 40 and 41: 38 final wording of the clause. The
Page 42 and 43: 40 certain documents, such as lette
Page 44 and 45: 42 able people depending on life ex
Page 46 and 47: Proper record destruction maintains
Page 48 and 49: Recordkeeping practices are essenti
Page 50 and 51: C A S E S T U D Y When the house wa
Page 52 and 53: C A S E S T U D Y People close to t
Page 54 and 55: Every project file should have a un
Page 56 and 57: 54 project; -00 identifies the firs
Page 58 and 59: Do not store permanent files — ev
Page 60 and 61:
Example 58 Combination system. Seve
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60 Retrieving Documents Documents n
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Hearsay is like children playing th
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64 trust prepares. A commitment to
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66 Essential Conservation Documents
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68 For more information on drafting
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70 for admitting GIS-driven maps in
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P U T T I N G I T I N T O P R A C T
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Page 100 and 101:
Statute of limitations: The maximum
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100 Evaluate Your Knowledge Answer
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102 Guidance 1. A written records p
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104 Conclusion Recordkeeping is an
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106 management system, a database t
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Brandywine Conservancy: Conservatio
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Mountain Conservation Trust of GA:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116 and 117:
Page 118 and 119:
VLT: Conservation Stewardship Progr
Page 120 and 121:
VLT: Computer Document File Structu
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MALT: Records Management Policy All
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MALT: Records Management Policy 122
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MALT: Records Management Policy Mon
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Greensboro Land Trust: Statement of
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CLC: Record-keeping Policy 128 COLU
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CLC: Record-keeping Policy next reg
Page 134 and 135:
CLC: Record-keeping Policy • Insp
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CLC: Record-keeping Policy 4. Trade
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VLT: Recordkeeping System Examples
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VLT: Recordkeeping System Examples
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140 Additional Resources “The Adm
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142 Check Your Progress Before movi
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Chapter Two • Amendments Otis B.
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• Understand the different kinds
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Conservation easement amendments in
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deal with conflicts of interest in
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The challenge for each land trust w
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source can be invaluable in these c
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to add acreage or correct scrivener
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Organizational and Governance Docum
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Guidance on Completing IRS Form 990
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other words, these prohibitions app
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the unique and significant size of
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Islands. The states are Alabama, Al
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to agree with the owner of the encu
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are respected in other states. Your
Page 175 and 176:
should consult with experienced leg
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e added up to reach a decision; for
Page 179 and 180:
State Nonprofit Law Requirements St
Page 181 and 182:
protected conservation values and t
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Principles 5, 6 and 7 tie the amend
Page 185 and 186:
No amendment policy should be more
Page 187 and 188:
easement or the amendment in a four
Page 189 and 190:
context in which a land trust opera
Page 191 and 192:
make a recommendation to the board
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Table 2-3: Land Trust Capacity and
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These are subjects that require leg
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3. Negotiating with the landowner.
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Consulting with State Officials The
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Conservation Easement Amendments Th
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Scenario 2: Excessive Stewardship O
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Scenario 3: Weighing Impacts to Con
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Scenario 2: Excessive Stewardship O
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Drafting Easements with Amendments
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Easement Amendment Provisions Part
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the protected property is located.
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ary, these less permanent approache
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Discretionary Waiver A discretionar
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Looking Ahead: The Future of Easeme
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Easement Amendments This exercise m
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• Not result in private inurement
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V. Amendment Procedures [page 186]
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Insert the date of the policy and t
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communicating a clear process in si
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• Applied its existing conflict o
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5. Can describe two ways that your
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Conclusion Although conservation ea
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considering an amendment and the po
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I. General Policy Statement GVLT: C
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cost agreement will be developed an
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VLT Amendment Principles and Consid
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Sample Language Permitting Amendmen
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hereby approved and will not be dee
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May 23, 2006 name address town re:
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If you have any questions, please c
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“Hicks v. Dowd: The End of Perpet
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Check Your Progress Before moving o
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256 • Describe the role of variou
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258 Adoption and implementation of
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260 the landowner on the land, you
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Adopting and implementing an easeme
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A violation resolution policy holds
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IRS Form 990 and Easement Violation
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268 WCLT learned that having a thou
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If you make public detailed violati
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Collecting and sharing violation in
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Moderate and major violations go to
Page 278 and 279:
Violation policies should contain a
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The key to discovering easement vio
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Recordkeeping is essential to effec
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Extra precautions need to be taken
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Third-party violator: A person or e
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The person designated to talk with
Page 290 and 291:
Knowing When You Have to Go to the
Page 292 and 293:
290 first. This letter caused the l
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Mediation: The act of an impartial
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All conservation easements should i
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Third-party enforcer: A person or e
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298 with respect to the conservatio
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300 like posture, you will be more
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Example 302 state. If the best cour
Page 306 and 307:
Avoid placing mandatory arbitration
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306 a landowner is harvesting timbe
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308 Combined Approach Often you wil
Page 312 and 313:
Your land trust’s legal rights ma
Page 314 and 315:
Many land trusts create one dedicat
Page 316 and 317:
Land trusts may need to rethink cur
Page 318 and 319:
Page 320 and 321:
Page 322 and 323:
Waiver: The intentional or voluntar
Page 324 and 325:
Page 326 and 327:
Page 328 and 329:
Quiet title action: A lawsuit broug
Page 330 and 331:
Page 332 and 333:
T E M P L A T E You should refrain
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T E M P L A T E In determining the
Page 336 and 337:
T E M P L A T E Sample Language The
Page 338 and 339:
T E M P L A T E other violation res
Page 340 and 341:
C A S E S T U D Y called VLT to rep
Page 342 and 343:
C A S E S T U D Y Guidance Vermont
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342 4. Can list four alternatives t
Page 346 and 347:
344 2. Violation resolution princip
Page 348 and 349:
346 6. Essential violation document
Page 350 and 351:
348 Sample Documents The following
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Dutchess Land Conservancy: Conserva
Page 354 and 355:
Page 356 and 357:
Page 358 and 359:
MALT: Easement Violation Policy 3.
Page 360 and 361:
MCTGA: Procedure for Enforcement of
Page 362 and 363:
MCTGA: Procedure for Enforcement of
Page 364 and 365:
TRLT: Easement Enforcement Guidelin
Page 366 and 367:
VLT: Easement Enforcement Flow Char
Page 368 and 369:
VLT: Easement Enforcement Flow Char
Page 370 and 371:
VLT: Conservation Stewardship Progr
Page 372 and 373:
VLT: Quick Answers to Assist You wi
Page 374 and 375:
VLT: Stewardship’s FAQs VLT LANDO
Page 376 and 377:
VLT: Stewardship’s FAQs VLT LANDO
Page 378 and 379:
376 Guidebook for Directors of Nonp
Page 380 and 381:
378 Check Your Progress Before comp
Page 382 and 383:
380 • Develop an amendment policy
Page 385 and 386:
Glossary Administrative deviation d
Page 387 and 388:
the property worthy of permanent co
Page 389 and 390:
Policy: A specific course of action
Page 391 and 392:
Index arbitration 266, 292, 294, 30
Page 394:
Governance Mission, Planning and Ca
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