Our Board of Directors has adopted criteria governing the acceptance of conservation easements to ensure that conservation activities are directed toward properties that are worthy of protection. Easements must be accepted by a majority vote of the Board of Directors, or the Executive Committee acting on behalf of the full Board.
To accept an easement, the Executive Committee or Board of Directors must find that all of the Conservation Objectives, and at least one of the Public Benefit criteria below, have been met. If all four of the Conservation Objectives and/or one of the Public Benefit criteria are not met, but the property has special significance in relation to any of the criteria, the Board may accept an easement with a written explanation of its reasoning for doing so. If we do not accept a proposed easement, a landowner may still be able to protect the land using private deed restrictions.
Any development permitted under the easement should not unduly compromise the scenic, agricultural, watershed, recreational, or other natural resource values of the property, and there should be adequate opportunity for us to review any proposed development. We will request an endowment for monitoring and enforcement.