Maine Land Trust Easements

Sample Documents - Policy on Holding Easements on Land Trust Preserves

Maine Coast Heritage Trust Policy for Holding Easements on Land Trust Preserves
With increasing frequency, MCHT is being asked, by local land trusts and landowners, to assume "back-up" oversight on land trust easements and fee properties. Sometimes a landowner is doubtful about the local land trust's long-term viability, sometimes a land trust seeks and outside watchdog to guard against bad decisions of future directors, sometimes a funding source requires added protection.

In some cases a deal won't go through unless MCHT accepts secondary stewrship responsibility. It is also part of MCHT's mission to foster as much land protection throughout the state as possible, and to ensure a high quality of stewardship on those lands. Since MCHT cannot be the primary steward for all lands that merit protection, the double layer can leverage more quality land protection at relatively low cost.

For these reasons, MCHT must consider seriously any request to provide a double layer of protection. The positive elements of the added responsibility must be weighed against the cost, and MCHT must be careful not to overload its resources with unnecessary stewardship burdens.

MCHT will consider providing a double layer of protection for lands owned by other conservation entities and for lands protected by easements that are held by such entities when a reasonable number of the following criteria are met. (Note: lands owned by towns and other organizations whose missions are not primarily land conservation are not considered to have de facto primary protection.)

a) The property and the conservation plan for its protection meet MCHT's land protection criteria necessary to work on a project
b) All methods of providing a double layer of protection have been explored with the land trust (including a declaration of trust).
c) MCHT is the best choice to provide the double layer of protection.
d) Funds are available for a stewardship endowment.
e) The project cannot succeed without MCHT involvement.
f) The easement design is as simple as possible.
g) The project makes sense to MCHT, i.e. protects conservation values important to MCHT.
h) For land trust fee properties a management plan must be submitted before MCHT will hold an easement in order to inform the easement. Subsequently, MCHT must be notified of any significant changes to the management plan.

In addition, staff will streamline the methods for stewarding easements providing a double layer of protection to other conservation entities, including receiving an annual monitoring report from the owner and monitoring less frequently if feasible.

Back to the Land Protection Resource Center