Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity - Environmental ...

The key to discovering easement
violations is to be continually
vigilant and use multiple
sources of information.
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To learn of potential violations such as prohibited subdivisions of land
or separate conveyance of parcels, or to track changes in land ownership,
you should check land records regularly (many of which are electronically
accessible from office or home computers). If checking the
land records is not feasible for your land trust, try to find a reporting
database. For example, some states have real estate transfer taxes and
require regular electronic reporting of transfers of land subject to the
transfer tax. If your land trust operates in such an area, it can periodically
peruse the database for information about easement landowners’
land transactions.
Another way to detect violations is to develop relationships with other
professionals, such as real estate agents, attorneys and zoning and
building officials, so that they will call you if they have questions about
conserved land. Some land trusts who have taken the time to develop
these relationships report that their local building department will not
issue a building permit until it first contacts the land trust to report the
permit application. Land trust personnel, whether staff or volunteer,
should read local trade journals and newspapers for notices of sales,
foreclosures and auctions that may alert them to easement violations
or the presence of a new owner of conserved land.
Robert Keller, executive director of the Mountain Conservation Trust
of Georgia, says that what coaxed him into the land trust business was
the thousand cups of coffee he had with landowners. He stresses that
the ability to listen goes beyond stewardship or enforcement. His land
trust wants to be seen as outstanding in that regard — accessible and
open.
By understanding the resources your land trust is protecting and the
lives of the landowners you work with, you can analyze how best to
allocate your land trust’s resources to identify problems early and
before they become major concerns. The key to discovering easement
violations is to be continually vigilant and use multiple sources of
information, rather than simply relying upon your land trust’s annual
monitoring visit.
Document the potential violation
When you discover a potential violation, you should document it
immediately as appropriate to the circumstances. You may need to
schedule another site visit to further document and better understand
the situation, as well as the landowner’s intentions. You should docu-
Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity