The Antiplanner used to think that conservation easements were a great idea. Only 30 percent of the nation’s land is public, and easements provided a way to protect some of the remaining 70 percent from development.
But lately I’ve come to have my doubts. To get tax credits for easements, they have to be perpetual. And who are we to try to decide the fate of land for future generations? Just as it might be unwise to wantonly destroy something that people in the future might value, it could be similarly inappropriate to lock it up and throw away the key.
Is Colorado running out of open space?
Flickr photo by Gord McKenna.
In recent days, the Rocky Mountain News has documented some other abuses of the easement process:
