ConsEasements

Conservation Easements

Easements are restrictions on the use of private property. Most homes, for example, have utility easements to guarantee utilities have access to the property.

The Federal Government and private groups are using “conservation easements” to control the uses of farmlands, ranches, forests, mines, water sources, and more. These easements restrict land uses. Typically, the lands being sought are strategic (the gems amongst the gravel), and the easements are perpetual. Once signed, these easements purportedly given government control of lands in perpetuity.

Property owners are encouraged to accept these easements. The carrots include up-front monetary payouts, as well as the (mistaken) belief acceptance will protect existing uses against future government actions. The sticks include unending harassment, intimidation, outright threats, and government actions that reduce property values.

Property owners don’t understand the consequences of accepting a conservation easement.

For one, these easements require compliance with certain regulations. But these regulations are not static; they get worse over time. A set aside along a creek that starts with a 50-feet regulation can grow to a 300-foot set aside, for example, and even engulf the land the home sits on ― without any further input or approval of the owner. For another, easements reduce property values, oftentimes dramatically, as property owners discover when they try to sell. These properties are, in many cases, snapped up by conservancy groups for pennies on the dollar, then sold at jacked-up prices to the federal government at a handsome profit. The result: What started out as an easement grows into the permanent and perpetual abolition of private property.

Jim Beers
Jim is a wildlife and wetlands biologist. During his career, he worked for Utah’s Fish & Game, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the US Navy, spanning Utah, North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York City, and Washington, DC.
•hear: Jim explains the consequences of conservation easements.
•email: Jim Beers