Conservation Easement

How long is perpetuity?

Entering your land into a conservation easement in perpetuity has some down sides.  Be sure to know the pitfalls before you sign the bottom line.  Once you sign a conservation easement it cannot be changed…it is in perpetuity.

My father died 40 years ago this September and there were no conservation easements then.  If he had signed one, how could he have prepared for 2009?  There were no personal computers, internet, Google, GPS and satellite photography and imagery.  There weren’t cell phones, no Endangered Species Act, no introduction of wolves, no public access on state lands, no NEPA,….etc, etc.  These are just a few of the changes in the last 40 years.  What will the next 40 years bring? 

Again, how long is perpetuity?

Only government entities or non-government land trusts can hold a conservation easement.  Can the conservation easement be sold or traded?  Can third parties or environmentalists challenge the uses?  A conservation easement sells off property rights and de-values our county, state and country for ones personal gain…..in perpetuity.

Although conservation easements are touted to save agricultural land, agriculture is the subordinate use.  The mineral estate is the dominate use and trumps the surface owners use.  Then the conservation easement also has a dominate priority over surface use so agriculture will have the subordinate use of the land.

Keeping our property rights with the land and fighting to keep agriculture profitable is the best way to keep open spaces, views, and save the family farm or ranch. Men and women have been fighting for generations to protect our freedom and rights we should not take them lightly.

Signing a conservation easement is a personal private property right that I respect, but I wish they were not forever.  The WSGA has no policy promoting conservation easements.  The WSGA has no policy condemning conservation easements.