- Conservation and agricultural land easements dictate to future generations opportunities for the land, to the extent that a conservation or agricultural land easement could deny future generations an opportunity to subdivide and develop the land.
- An easement may or may not take land out of production forever. In some cases, a landowner’s goals might include forever protection of a grassland that was once used as cropland, or conservation of a native grassland so that it can never be converted to cropland. Also, some use agricultural land easements that are specifically designed to conserve working farms and ranches, whereas others may be more focused on the conservation of rare wildlife or native plant communities.
- Conservation and agricultural land easements are not for everyone. They are not appropriate for anyone who is not comfortable with the concept of forever conservation. They are also not appropriate where there is no development threat or a lack of conservation values to protect. Also, if a family has several generations of good land stewards behind them and a couple of generations ahead of them who are likely to follow the same path, a conservation easement is not needed.
- Donated conservation easements have led to abuse of the tax code. In some parts of the country, especially the southeastern United States, "syndicated" conservation easements have led to abuse of the tax code by artificially inflating a property's development value and then erasing that value through a conservation easement, which rewards investors with an unjustified tax deduction. The Land Trust Alliance, a national association of land trusts, is aware of these abusive transactions and supports bipartisan legislation that would make such transactions illegal.
Conservation Easements
Easements Aren't for Everyone
Though the benefits far outweigh the negatives, it's important to note a few drawbacks to easements
