Rethinking the Perpetual Nature of Conservation Easements

This article argues that the charitable trust doctrine of cy pres should apply to donated conservation easements and, if interpreted as suggested, can provide a principled means of modifying or extinguishing easements that have ceased to provide sufficient public benefits to justify their continued enforcement (or have even arguably become detrimental to the public). It states that the landowner should be permitted to exercise dead hand control over the use of the property encumbered by the easement, but only so long as the easement continues to provide benefits to the public sufficient to justify its enforcement.