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Conservation Easements

Adding to Land Under Conservation Easement

A landowner has land under conservation easement and is ready to conserve more of their nearby property. How best to carry this out? This guide describes three approaches and includes a model document to help implement one of the alternatives. 

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Aug 28, 2020
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Amending and Restating Grants of Conservation Easement

Best Practices to Document Changes

If a land trust intends to amend a grant of conservation easement, implementation of the changes requires careful planning and drafting. The consequences of a poor execution range from missed opportunities to improve easement stewardship to inadvertent elimination of conservation protections.

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Apr 26, 2017
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Amending Grants of Conservation Easement

Legal Considerations for Land Trusts

This guide informs easement holders of legal matters to consider under Pennsylvania law and the Internal Revenue Code when making decisions regarding the amendment of grants of conservation easement.

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Apr 22, 2016
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Conservation Easement

A Property Rights Based Tool for Resource Protection

A conservation easement limits certain uses on a property in order to advance specified conservation purposes while keeping the land in the owner’s ownership and control.

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May 12, 2022
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Conservation Easements

An Introduction for Private Landowners

A conservation easement limits certain uses of the land in order to advance one or more conservation objectives while keeping the land in the owner’s control. It is established by mutual agreement of a landowner and a private land trust or government.

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Jul 01, 2021
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Conservation Easements in Court

A Review of Easement Violation and Enforcement Litigation in Pennsylvania

A review of Pennsylvania judicial decisions reveals that conservation easement holders and the conservation values they uphold prevail when a dispute leads to litigation. Courts respect the text of easement documents and their conservation purposes. This guide reviews eleven cases where the interpretation or enforcement of a conservation easement was at the center of litigation.

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Nov 28, 2020
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Costs of Conservation Easement Stewardship

The holder of a conservation easement must monitor the eased property to confirm compliance with conservation restrictions and, when necessary, take action to uphold the conservation objectives of the easement. These and other stewardship activities result in costs, year in and year out, to the holder.

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Jul 25, 2017
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Deed Restriction Versus Conservation Easement

In most circumstances, a conservation easement is a far better tool for conserving land than a deed restriction. This guide explains how the tools differ.

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Jun 15, 2021
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Delineating Conservation Easement Boundaries and Protection Areas

Properly delineating the boundaries of conservation easements and their different protection areas is crucial to easement stewardship and enforcement. Conservation restrictions are difficult, if not impossible, to enforce unless tied to physical locations on the ground. This guide discusses the delineation of boundaries and protection areas using physical markers, verbal descriptions, and visual depictions.

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Mar 11, 2021
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Farmland Preservation Options for Landowners

Government and Private Approaches to Conservation Easements in Pennsylvania

Fifty-eight Pennsylvania counties have agricultural land preservation boards that purchase agricultural conservation easements. Sixty-eight private, charitable land trusts accept donations of conservation easements or, less commonly, purchase them. These two paths to farmland preservation differ in many ways.

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Feb 09, 2023
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Federal Tax Deductibility of Conservation Easement Donations

Some donations of conservation easements qualify for a federal income tax deduction; others do not.

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Feb 06, 2021
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Guide and Model Policy for Conservation Easement Amendment

Conservation easements are intended to last—to ensure protection of important resources, no matter people’s whims—through the decades and centuries. However, the world changes and so do understandings of how best to meet conservation objectives. LT must be prepared to address these changes in order to ensure that its conservation work is effective while assuring its supporters and the public that it is a reliable agent of conservation. To this end, LT will judiciously consider potential conservation easement amendments and take actions that are conservation-driven, ethical, and legally sound.

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Sep 24, 2022
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Guide to the Conservation and Preservation Easements Act

Pennsylvania Act 29 of 2001

Conservation organizations can avoid many potential difficulties in conservation easement stewardship by ensuring that their conservation easement documents are drafted to conform with the Conservation and Preservation Easements Act.

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Mar 24, 2017
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Holders, Beneficiaries and Backup Grantees

Defining Roles and Relationships to Achieve Conservation Easement Objectives

A conservation easement may have one or more holders responsible for upholding the easement’s conservation objectives. It may have a beneficiary, an entity with some rights to manage the easement in furtherance of the conservation objectives but no responsibility to do so. It may also provide a contingency plan to replace a holder in the event the holder cannot or will not perform its duties. Effective long-term easement management requires that when more than one entity shares easement management rights, the relationship between the entities must be carefully delineated.

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Oct 06, 2017
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Model Conservation Easement

The Model Grant of Conservation Easement and Declaration of Covenants with Commentary provides users with a state-of-the-art legal document and guidance to customize it to nearly any situation. No easement document has benefited from more real-world testing and peer review.

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Jun 19, 2018
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Not a Charitable Trust

The Donated Conservation Easement in Pennsylvania

Little evidence exists to support the proposition that a donated conservation easement, in the absence of a charitable trust agreement, is a charitable trust in Pennsylvania; indeed, there is compelling evidence to the contrary. (Holder covenants may be used to buttress easements and do not run into the legal obstacles or suffer from the policy failings of the trust proposition.)

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Sep 23, 2022
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Not a Public Trust

Land Trust-Held Conservation Easements in Pennsylvania

 No legal precedent exists in Pennsylvania for finding that a conservation easement acquired by a private land trust is a public trust.

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Jul 25, 2017
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Pre-Existing Mortgages in Easement Transactions

Using Non-Disturbance and Subordination Agreements to Prevent Extinguishment and Comply with Tax Law

When a mortgage predates an easement on a property, the easement could be extinguished in a foreclosure if the owners default on their mortgage payments. And if the easement is to be donated and the donors wish to obtain tax benefits, additional complications arise. These problems can be avoided by obtaining an agreement from the mortgage holder appropriate to the circumstances.

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Feb 15, 2023
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Riparian Buffer Protection Agreement

A riparian buffer protection agreement limits activities on all or a portion of a property to advance conservation purposes while keeping the property in the control of the landowner.

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Oct 10, 2019
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Stewardship Funding Arrangements

Options for Financing the Obligations of Conservation Easement Holders

A landowner may agree to one or more funding arrangements that require the landowner or successive owners of an eased property to make one or more payments to the easement holder to support stewardship of the property. These arrangements may be customized to fit the stewardship demands created by the particular conservation easement and the financial circumstances of the owner.

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Sep 25, 2018
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The Durability of Conservation Easements

Favorable Law and Committed Holders Ensure Lasting Conservation

Landowners grant conservation easements to conservation organizations (“land trusts”) in perpetuity. The conservation objectives of the easement and the associated restrictions on how land can be used are intended to be permanent. Land trusts and their allies across the nation go to great lengths to ensure this permanence. 

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Feb 07, 2022
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The Nature of the Conservation Easement and the Document Granting It

By statute and by common law interpretation, a conservation easement is a real estate interest and is governed by real estate law, in particular, the law of servitudes. This guide analyzes the nature of the conservation easement and the operation of the document granting the easement. It includes discussion of the mechanisms that assist in upholding the easement’s conservation objectives in perpetuity.

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Jan 26, 2023
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Who Has Standing?

Conservation Easements in Pennsylvania Courts

Who can assert claims and be heard in Pennsylvania’s courts if a dispute heats up over the management of a conservation easement?

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Apr 27, 2016
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Who May Get Involved in Conservation Easement Management Matters?

A Consideration for Amendment of Pre-June 2001 Easements

Occasionally a land trust will seek to amend a conservation easement. More often, the owners of land subject to an easement will ask for an amendment. In any case, the issue of who can insert themselves into easement management matters can be compelling reason for the parties to agree to an amendment if the easement was created in Pennsylvania prior to June 22, 2001.

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Oct 28, 2021
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Working Forest Conservation Easement

A Property Rights-Based Tool for Conservation

A working forest conservation easement keeps forestland intact for timber production, providing support for rural economies. It is established by mutual agreement of a willing landowner and a private land trust or government. The conservation easement limits subdivision, development, and activities that would hinder the land’s capacity to grow trees for industry or potentially provide recreational opportunity.

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Oct 26, 2021
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Your Loss Is Not My Benefit; Your Gain Is Not My Detriment

The Tenuous Link Between Value to Landowner and Value to Conservation in Easement Transactions

How does decrease or increase in market value of land resulting from establishing or amending an easement relate to the conservation easement’s value? What do we mean when we refer to “value”? This guide explores these questions

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Nov 03, 2020
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