For the past decade, traditional environmental lawyers -- advocates for the public interest, governments, and regulated parties -- have watched, with mixed feelings, the dramatic rise of a distinct form of land conservation. Private, non profit land trusts appear to be everywhere. Traditional...

Perpetual conservation easements are intended to protect the particular land they encumber for the conservation purposes specified in the deed of conveyance in perpetuity, or at least until circumstances have changed so profoundly that continued protection of the land for those purposes is no...

The use of tax incentives to encourage private landowners to donate conservation easements has become increasingly popular as policy makers search for ways to combat the growing problem of urban sprawl. The tax incentives have worked remarkably well to encourage private landowners who have both...