Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity - Environmental ...

Scenario 3: Weighing Impacts to Conservation Purposes and
Attributes
The owner of a 400-acre easement-protected dairy farm approaches the land trust
with an amendment proposal that would allow him to expand his herd size greatly,
diversify the operation, reduce water pollution and cut energy consumption on the
farm.The proposal includes expanding his herd from 400 to 2,200 cows; processing
the manure in a methane digester that would produce electricity, bedding material
for the cows and marketable fertilizer; and running the wastewater through a series
of greenhouses that would produce vegetables and bedding plants for local markets.
The amendment request is to expand the size of the farmstead building envelope
from 20 acres to 50 acres, or from 5 percent to 12.5 percent of the entire 400 acres.
Resolution: The focus of this land trust’s conservation program is to conserve working
farms because of the importance of agriculture to the state’s economy, its scenic
beauty and its cultural heritage. Within this context, the land trust focused on the
conservation purposes of the easement when analyzing the landowner’s request.The
amendment would have enhanced a principal purpose of the easement, the continuation
of an economically viable farm. But the proposed operation was out of scale
with agriculture in the region, prime agricultural soils would be taken out of production,
and the complex of new buildings would have had significant scenic impacts.
Looking at the easement purposes in the context of the community and the land
trust’s goals, the land trust found that the negative effects on the other conservation
attributes protected by the easement far outweighed the positive effect on the agricultural
purposes. Therefore, the land trust denied the amendment request.
Discussion Questions
1. How does a land trust evaluate the effect of an amendment on multiple
conservation purposes?
2. Does the land trust need to consider obtaining third-party review of an
amendment?
3. How does a land trust proceed when it determines it must say no to an
amendment request?
Amendments 203
E X E R C I S E O N E