Conservation Easement (cont.)
A conservation easement is a recorded deed restriction, voluntarily placed on the property by the landowner and enforceable by the land trust holding the conservation easement.  Referring back to the bundle of sticks analogy, conservation easements involve giving away or selling one of the rights (the development right) in the landowner’s bundle of sticks.

Land trusts and landowners enter into conservation easements to protect important natural or cultural resource values, such as wildlife habitat, riparian areas, wetlands, open space, scenic byways, archaeological sites or agricultural lands.  Conservation easements can be sold or donated.

The use of conservation easements as a conservation tool dates back more than one hundred years.  The first conservation easements in the United States were written in the late 1880s as a method to protect parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the Boston area (Byers and Ponte 2005).  Since then, the use of conservation easements has increased significantly as a means to protect scenic views, natural areas, wildlife habitat, important water resources and working farms and ranches.  The 2003 nationwide census by the Land Trust Alliance indicates that state and local land trusts alone hold more than 17,847 conservation easements, protecting more than five million acres of land (Byers and Ponte 2005).

In order to protect the natural and cultural resources of a property, conservation easements restrict the type and amount of development that may occur on the land.  Conservation easements are tailored to address particular circumstances and concerns of both the landowner and land trust, ensuring the needs of the landowner are met while also protecting the natural areas, wildlife habitat, and cultural resources on the property.  The landowner remains owner of the property, but cannot use the property in a manner inconsistent with the restrictions set forth in the conservation easement.  Existing uses such as ranching or farming are often specified as permitted uses of the land under easement, while other uses, such as development, subdivision and lot splitting, or the use of pesticides are typically prohibited.  A conservation easement does not grant public access to the property, unless specified by the landowner in the conservation easement agreement.

The land trust that holds the conservation easement is responsible for enforcing the restrictions set forth in the easement agreement in perpetuity.  To do this, the land trust inspects the property annually to ensure that activities that are prohibited by the easement agreement have not occurred.  If the annual site visit to the property reveals that prohibited activities have occurred, the land trust is obligated by law to enforce the restrictions set forth by the conservation easement.  A land trust will request that the property owner correct the violation and restore the property to its condition prior to the violation, or it has the right to seek legal action if the request is not met.

Land trusts that hold conservation easements often require an endowment to fund the perpetual annual monitoring of the property.  This monitoring fund is typically established by a donation from the landowner establishing the conservation easement, but can also be established by the land trust through other funding sources, such as private donations or grants.  Endowments must be large enough so the cost of monitoring activities is fully covered by the interest collected on the endowment.  Monitoring expenses may include staff time, species surveys and supplies for maintenance such as fence repairs or garbage bags for trash clean up.

Case Study: fee simple acquisition
The Huggett property is comprised of 115 acres in the Santa Catalina Mountains.  It is adjacent to a state park and forest service lands, as well as state trust land.  Concerned about development threats to the property in the future, the landowner donated a conservation easement of the property to provide a buffer and a connection between and to the state park and forest service lands and to preserve, protect and enhance the natural habitat and open space values on the land.

The conservation easement prohibits the construction of additional structures or new roads, subdivision or splitting of the land, operation of mechanized vehicles off permitted roads; destruction of native vegetation; introduction of non-native plant or animal species, or manipulation of watercourses.