Members or districts holding conservation easements

[Shana Joy]

Hi all!

Do any NASCA members out there (or your state’s conservation districts) hold conservation easements or participate in securing or monitoring conservation easements of any kind? This could be Farm Bill easements, state program easements on ag lands or forest lands, conservation planning for easements or monitoring compliance with easement terms in some way. Any and all information you can share about this topic and your experiences with it in your state would be much appreciated. Thanks all!

[Dick Went]

Recently we have done 2 ewp easements since NRCS can’t hold property. However, we do this having found a group that will receive the land after all other work is done.

[Kent Zimmerman]

NRD’s in Nebraska use easements to convert irrigated crop land into dry land for the purpose of reducing consumptive use of groundwater.

[David Williams]

Several districts in NC hold conservation easements. Most are for farmland preservation obtained via a combination of federal/state/local farmland preservation funding programs. There are also a few who hold donated easements (back when the state/federal tax credits made that attractive).

We also contract with several districts to monitor easements held by the state CREP or Swine Buyout programs or easements held by the state for mitigation.

On a related note, the Lincoln SWCD prevailed in February in their appeal to a decision by NRCS to refuse to allow the district to hold an ACEP-ALE easement on property owned by one of the district supervisors. NRCS had alleged a conflict of interest, but the judge ruled that the district had implemented sufficient safeguards to ensure the individual supervisor did not influence decisions on acquiring, monitoring, or enforcing the easement.

[Tom Gordon]

We do all of this and our program is extensive, covering all types of land conservation, particularly forest lands. Our Lands For Maine’s Future Program also acquires easements for farmland preservation and working waterfronts. Monitoring easements falls to our Director of Real Property Management. If here are specific questions, you could address them to David Rodrigues,
Director of Real Property Management, Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, (207) 287-4916.

[Hakim Saadi, P.E.]

Robert Reschke asked me to reply.
In Kansas, the Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Conservation (KDA-DOC) was authorized by the legislature in 2015 (HB 20161) to take action necessary to restore, establish, enhance and protect natural resources with conservation easements for the purpose of compensatory mitigation required under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. KSA 2-1904 (3) (f) (10) (c) established fees for the acquisition and administration of conservation easements held on behalf of “organized” Watershed Districts.

KSA 2-1904 (h) All costs associated with compensatory mitigation, including, but not limited to, the costs of any litigation or civil fines or penalties, shall be paid by the watershed district for which the Kansas department of agriculture division of conservation holds the conservation easement.
The KDA-DOC is charging $10,000 per conservation easement. That money is deposited in a conservation fund within the KDA for the 3rd Party Easement – compensatory mitigation fund.
The USACE requires Watershed Districts to acquire a 3rd Party Easement Holder where compensatory mitigation is required. KDA-DOC is a USACE approved 3rd Party Easement Holder. There are now 6 entities qualified to hold 3rd Party Easement, including KDA-DOC.

Our task, for this first and only easement we hold is to monitor the preservation of 16.4 acres (surrounding 4 acres of sediment pool) – Mitigation area is to be fenced around the conservation pool:
• No motorized vehicle use allowed.
• Livestock exclusion fence to eliminate grazing by domestic animals.
 5-wire barbed fence, with steel posts used as corners to prevent damage from burning.
• Monitor mitigation area for invasive brush and noxious weeds.
Scope of Mitigation: To restore and preserve the areas around the proposed floodwater detention structure in a manner to preserve and enhance the current native habitat while preventing adverse effects of future development by reserving the areas for wildlife and limited recreational use: Vegetative buffers utilizing existing native timber will be created.

[Sharon Doucette]

We do all of those in Minnesota. Please feel free to contact me at the email provided or 651-539-2567. I’d be happy to answer questions or get you in touch with appropriate staff.

[Colleen Meredith]

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources Soil and Water Conservation Program does not hold any type of easements. There is a maintenance contract on all of our conservation practices. Most structural practices have a maintenance life of 10 years, seeding practices are 5 years and a few other practices are one year.

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