Capturing the Value of Appreciated Development Rights on Conservation Easement Termination

This article explores conservation easement drafting strategies responsive to global warming and climate change. It proposes the development of an "Ark" easement, which unlike traditional, perpetual easements, would be terminable by the holder without resort to a judicial proceeding if global warming caused changes render the conservation purposes of the easement impossible or impractical. For this strategy to succeed, however, the easement holder must be able to recover the full, appreciated value of the development rights and redeploy them to further the social good of land and resource conservation.