Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity - Environmental ...

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that neither the original grantors nor the land trusts are infallible, that
natural forces can transform a landscape in a moment or a century,
and that amendments can protect more as well as less. Exceptional
circumstances sometimes warrant amendments. A land trust should
be prepared for that possibility, while at the same time ensuring that
the conservation values of a property are protected. Time brings many
changes, and humility suggests that we cannot anticipate all eventualities
in even the best written conservation easement.
Who among us ever wrote an easement anticipating 70,000 people
would attend jam band Phish’s last outdoor festival and concert? That
is just what happened on a conserved farm in Vermont. The conservation
easement governing uses of the farm did not even come close to
addressing this issue. Can we really create a document that will last
forever and anticipate today what uses of the property a landowner
will want and legitimately need in the future?
Change is inevitable. If we resist all change and refuse to consider any
easement amendments, we will be faced with situations that will make
land trusts look bureaucratic,concerned more with facing the challenges
of the past than those of today. We will be in an unnecessarily adversarial
position with our landowner partners and, perhaps, the public. On
the other hand, if easements may be changed upon a whim, we undermine
the confidence that landowners and the public have placed in our
organizations. Sound decisions about conservation easement amendments
demonstrate to members, regulating agencies and the general
public that easements can respond to change in ways that continue
to protect land and serve the public interest while still upholding the
purposes of the conservation easement in a manner consistent with the
land trust mission and with the intentions of the original grantor.Sound
decisions about individual conservation easement amendments benefit
easement programs nationwide, while unsound decisions about conservation
easement amendments jeopardize all easement programs.
This chapter will give your land trust the knowledge and the tools to
make ethical, legal and sound decisions about amending its conservation
easements. There are basic elements that should be included in
an amendment policy, which this chapter covers. It also provides an
in-depth look at amendment principles and discusses how an amendment
policy may be adjusted to reflect the organizational mission
and comply with state and federal law. The Land Trust Alliance does
not have all the answers to these complex issues — no one does.
Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity