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Conservation easements are sometimes referred to as “voluntary agreements.” This characterization is misleading and counterproductive for landowner-holder relations and easement stewardship.
A landowner acts voluntarily to sign the document, typically called a “grant,” that establishes and conveys the conservation easement to an easement holder. That’s where the voluntariness ends. Once the easement is granted, compliance with the terms of the grant is legally required of the signing owner and all future owners of the land.
It is an interest in real property, describable as the power to block use of the land contrary to the conservation purposes specified in the grant. The landowner grants the power, and the easement holder accepts it.
The grant reflects the mutual agreement of the landowner and the easement holder regarding the easement’s purposes and covenants, and courts interpret the easement's effect using the same rules applicable to contracts. However, the grant conveys more than a set of personal contractual rights—it conveys an interest in the land itself, legally understood as a servitude.
Highlighting this distinction impresses upon landowners the enduring power of the easement from generation to generation, and the legal obligations to respect the holder’s interest in the land and the restrictions set forth in the grant.
For more information on conservation easements, see the “Conservation Easements” category at this site.
