Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity - Environmental ...

the severity of conservation easement violations. To build those relationships,
you must know your landowners and how to contact them
and be able to track changes in land ownership. In the event your
land trust is forced to go to court to enforce or defend a conservation
easement, your organization will need a credible recordkeeping system
and sufficient records to prevail. Good recordkeeping is comparable to
good personal hygiene: flossing your teeth, cleaning your clothes and
scrubbing your fingernails are not a lot of fun, but they are necessary if
you want to effectively function in society. Similarly, without a reliable
recordkeeping system and adequate records, courts will not uphold
your land trust’s easements and it will be more difficult to maintain
good landowner relations over time. A good recordkeeping system for
your conservation easement projects can save your organization time,
money and headaches, so take the time to clean up and organize your
land trust’s records.
Benefits of Good Records
Well-designed records systems:
Reduce space and storage needs. Often we keep records much longer than
necessary. You should purge unimportant records according to your
land trust’s records retention and document destruction policies. A
good recordkeeping system can cut land trust expenses by reducing
the costs of storage, file drawers, the time and labor involved with
managing too much paper and electronic material, and lost opportunities
associated with searching too many records to find essential
information.
Improve operational efficiency. A systematic and consistent recordkeeping
system helps board, staff and volunteers promptly locate
vital documents and provides guidance on the destruction of valueless
documents. Such a system improves efficiency, provides the material
necessary to serve your landowners well, allows your land trust to
report accurately to funders, the IRS and the public regarding your use
of money and helps your land trust conserve more land.
Provide organizational consistency and continuity. A good recordkeeping
policy and associated procedures will provide consistency for the land
trust over time, no matter who is working with the data and records.
This issue becomes increasingly important as a land trust grows and
personnel (whether volunteers or staff ) changes. In addition, a good
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