Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity - Environmental ...

context in which a land trust operates. No universal amendment
procedure fits every organization; each land trust must tailor its own
amendment review process to its particular organizational requirements
and applicable laws.
Some organizations prepare a written procedure similar to the outline
below that includes the basic steps and key questions that a land trust
should use in evaluating amendment proposals and completing amendments.
Other organizations’ written procedures are more general and
address the critical elements of the overall decision-making process,
acknowledging that the details are adapted on a case-by-case basis.
A land trust that has little or no experience amending its easements
might use the following amendment procedure outline to develop its
own written procedure. Those with more experience and a written
procedure in place might use this outline to review and adjust their
own procedural details.
A land trust is not obliged to amend an easement simply because it
considers an amendment request. The amendment procedure can lead a
land trust to deny an amendment, as well as to negotiate changes to an
amendment proposal so as to mitigate any negative effects or improve the
conservation benefit.
Steps in the Process
1. Initiating the proposed amendment
The request. Usually the landowner initiates an amendment request,
but a land trust may as well. Some land trusts are proactively amending
easements, with landowner cooperation, to revise archaic language
in older easements. In such circumstances, the procedural details will
vary because the land trust is seeking landowner approval rather than
the reverse. Regardless of who initiates the amendment request, the
land trust should uphold its amendment policy.
Discussion and negotiation. Usually, amendment requests have a soft
start. A landowner may call the land trust or mention the issue during
the annual monitoring visit to informally discuss the change that
he or she is seeking. This initial conversation can help the organization
understand what modifications to the easement the landowner
is requesting. Sometimes techniques other than an easement amendment
better address the problem, and an amendment can be avoided.
Amendments 187
Creating written amendment
procedures offers a land trust
many benefits and assists a land
trust in considering amendment
requests in an efficient, consistent
and knowledgeable manner.
No universal amendment procedure
fits every organization; each
land trust must tailor its own
amendment review process to its
particular organizational requirements
and applicable laws.
Create a checklist to guide your
land trust through the needed
due diligence for any conservation
easement amendment
proposal.