S O U N D   O F F

We have much bigger problems than conserving land so that it can’t be developed. The biggest land use problem in the United States is exclusionary zoning/affordable housing. Conservation easements tend to exacerbate this problem, not help it at all. Often, keeping people out is the explicit or implicit motivation behind conservation easements. We have plenty of open space in the United States. I certainly support conserving “the Crown Jewels”- those parcels with extraordinarily high conservation values that are likely to endure into perpetuity- but that’s not what we are doing today. Today, it’s a game to maximum number of parcels and number of acres. No quality control. Price paid is often based on development value that has no relationship to the benefits we are supposedly getting. We use gross benefits in the crude calculations that we make in those rare instances that we make crude calculations, not net benefits.

If we spent a fraction of the money and effort that we spend on conservation easements instead of affordable housing, we could make great progress. I would suggest that if your goals involving increasing the quality of life for low- to moderate-income families, land trusts are not where you should focus your energies. Families concerned with the issues most talk about, "will there be enough food, will I have a roof over my head tonight," don’t really worry about whether a particular piece of land will be developed or not. Conservation easements make your lives more comfortable and pleasant, but they don’t help poor people.

Jesse Richardson