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Trust for Public Land
Conservation easements, one of the most valuable tools available to protect open space, are becoming increasingly popular, particularly in some western states.
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) believes easements are a valuable tool for protecting open space in communities, while at the same time keeping lands such as ranches in productive use. TPL works with communities around the nation to help them achieve their open-space goals. In the West, TPL has worked on a number of easements.
Easements are often the conservation tool of choice for the more than 1,500 local land trusts around the nation and have been used in all 50 states. A study by the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) found that local land trusts held more than 17,800 easements, covering more than 5 million acres. The LTA found that from 1988 through 2003, the amount of easement acreage protected by local land trusts increased 1,624% -- a sixteen-fold increase.
Easements are also a useful tool for protecting local economies. For example, in 2003, TPL completed the final phase of a five-year-long effort to protect more than 142,000 acres in the Thompson and Fisher River Valleys in northwestern Montana - the largest easement in the history of the Big Sky state. The land, located in one of Montana's fastest-growing areas, will continue to be logged by its owner, Plum Creek Timber, but it will also remain open for recreation and cannot be sold for residential or commercial development.
Elsewhere in Montana, TPL has worked on easements in Gallatin County to protect traditional farms and ranches in another fast-growing county. Gallatin County voters have now passed two bonds, each providing $10 million to preserve open space. Thus far, the Gallatin program has committed money to 14 land conservation projects, of which eight are complete. If all of the transactions close, more than 25,600 acres will have been protected.
TPL has worked in a number of other Western states to help secure easements, including:
- In Colorado, TPL recently helped secure an easement on the McIntosh Dairy, a 245-working dairy on the South Platte River near 104th Street in Denver, and also helped secure an easement on the Medlin ranch, a 58-acre South Platte riverfront parcel near Brighton. The easements will protect open space as part of the plan by Adams County to protect open space in the ever-growing Denver region.
- In Utah, TPL recently worked successfully for an easement on the historic Brooke Ranch, a 1,500-acre working ranch in the state's historic Cache Valley. The ranch has been run by the White family since it was first created in 1906.
- In Oregon, the 11,400-acre Drew's Valley ranch is now protected under an easement handled by the TPL. The ranch is east of Klamath Falls, in the south-central part of Oregon, a formerly rural area that has faced increased development pressure in recent years. Jack and Bev Sparrowk, owners of the ranch, wanted to ensure their land would be permanently protected from development.
- In California, easements are increasingly popular in California. For example, in the central coast region, TPL helped secure an easement on the 17,000-acre Varian ranch, permitting traditional ranching activities while blocking the threat of development. In the Sierra Nevada, west of Yosemite National Park, TPL earlier in 2005 secured an easement on almost 3,000 acres of an oak-studded ranch on the main route to Yosemite. The ranch is in an area under increasing threat of development.
- In Idaho, TPL is working to secure easements on thousands of acres of land owned by the Potlach Corporation in the St. Joe River basin in Idaho's panhandle, an area that is popular with fishermen and hunters, but is under development threats from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and Spokane, Washington. TPL has handled easements on 30,000 acres of Potlatch land and is working on more acreage.
- In New Mexico, TPL is working with local villages in the northern part of the state to protect their agricultural heritage and the acequia water systems, which have been used to water crops and communities for centuries. For example, in Placities, north of Albuquerque, TPL is working to secure an easement on 4.6 acres of fruit orchards planted by early Spanish settlers.
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