Managing Conservation Easements in Perpetuity - Environmental ...

ut not in many other areas of the country. Hurricanes are of concern
in the Southeast, and ice damage in the Northeast. Floods can occur
almost anywhere. Use local government maps to identify the location
of federal flood zones and avoid storing your records in those areas.
Urban areas may be more prone to human tampering and rural areas
may be more prone to pest damage. A land trust in a modern office
with a firefighting sprinkler system may be more concerned about
water damage than fire. Alternatively, fire may be more of a concern
for land trusts with offices in an old house. Fire, insects, mold, dust,
wear or tampering are common threats across the country. Identify
and assess the potential risks for your land trust, the likelihood of their
occurrence and your organization’s tolerance for risk. Then develop a
records policy to address your particular situation. You should reevaluate
threats and your organization’s risk tolerance periodically.
Copies
For day-to-day use, land trust staff or volunteers should have copies
of the permanent records, whether paper or electronic, for conducting
land trust work. This practice preserves the permanent records from
unnecessary handling, damage and loss, and allows daily use of the
copies. Your land trust’s records policy should address proper use of
copies and preserving the confidentiality of any information reflected
in such documents.
A land trust will need different numbers of copies for different types of
documents. For example, for easement stewardship, some land trusts
keep three sets of all relevant documents: one for the office staff, one
to take in the field and one constituting the permanent file that is kept
in a separate location.
At a minimum, land trust personnel, both staff and volunteer, should
update the field and office copies annually at the time of the annual
monitoring visit. It may be more efficient to add copies to the field
and office folders at the same time that the final record is archived —
when you issue the approval, resolve the violation, interpret a clause or
receive a notice from a landowner.
You should also check the archive records prior to starting an amendment,
when investigating a violation and before issuing an approval to
ensure that you are working from the most current information.
Recordkeeping 59
You should check the archive
records prior to starting an
amendment, when investigating
a violation and before issuing an
approval to ensure that you are
working from the most current
information.