FAQs: Land Trusts 101

Since joining the CLC in May, Stewardship Director Lynne Flaccus has spent the summer and fall getting to know many in the Chocorua/Tamworth community and familiarizing herself with the CLC lands and the covenants and easements that the organization holds.

The CLC made a deliberate decision to hire a Stewardship Director (as opposed to an Executive Director) for its first full time employee because land stewardship is the primary function of a land trust, and because an experienced staffer brings thoroughness, professionalism and efficiency to this important task.

At the CLC Annual Meeting in August, Vice President Peg Wheeler presented “Land Trusts 101,” an overview of the responsibilities of a Land Trust in the 21st century. These Frequently Asked Questions are drawn from that presentation.

Recently, CLC has been referring to itself as a “Land Trust.” What is a Land Trust?

A land trust is a nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting in land or conservation easement acquisitions, or by its stewardship of such land or easements.

By effectively saving land, land trusts enhance the economic, environmental and social values of their communities. They provide clean water, fresh air, safe food, places for recreation and a connection to the land that sustains us all.

Source: 2010 National Land Trust Census Report-Land Trust Alliance

How common are land trusts? How many are there in New Hampshire?

In 2010 (the date of the Land Trust Alliance’s most recent census), there were 34 different land trusts in New Hampshire, at least a third of which were all volunteer organizations.

Were the CLCF and CLA Land Trusts?

The CLCF (Chocorua Lake Conservation Foundation) and the CLA (the Chocorua Lake Association), the predecessor organizations to the CLC, were founded at the same time, in 1968, with different, but intersecting goals. The CLCF was a legal trust that held title to individual parcels of land and, through agreements with property owners, committed to overseeing the covenants and easements in the Basin to ensure the conservation of the protected properties into the future. The CLA, on the other hand, was a membership organization that functioned more as a landowners “association.” The CLC is the successor organization to both organizations and has accepted continuing responsibility to protect these lands in perpetuity.

What role do state and local land trusts play in land conservation?

The federal and state governments have preserved, protected and managed significant portions of our special natural landscapes through national and state parks, national monuments, national and state forests and the like. However, many other smaller parcels of land are protected in some manner through non-governmental means including through numerous large and small land trusts across the country.

Since records were first compiled in 1985, the acreage protected by land trusts has increased from about 2 million acres to nearly 18 million acres by 2010. In the northeast, over 5 million acres have been conserved by land trusts. In New Hampshire alone, nearly 350,00 acres have been preserved by land trusts.

What exactly is “land stewardship?”

Broadly speaking, land stewardship is the process by which a land trust satisfies the legal and ethical obligations created when the trust acquired the property or accepted an easement or a covenant. When a land trust accepts a conservation covenant or easement, it accepts a perpetual, legal responsibility to protect the conversation values described in that covenant or easement, to visit the protected property on a regular basis, and to uphold the terms of the covenant or easement. This process is “stewardship”

Sound stewardship that promotes and ensures the protected values of the land is achieved through the establishment of “baseline” documentation of property conditions; on-going, regular communication with owners of protected land; ensuring continued implementation of the terms of the easement or covenant when a property changes hands by engagement with the new owners; investigating all apparent violations of the covenant or easement terms; and addressing any departure from the conservation terms to ensure those original terms continue to be honored.

What do land trusts do?

The primary focus of many land trusts, particularly those that are “young,” is to acquire property or easements in order to protect the natural characteristics of their focus area. Some land trusts may be focused on a protecting a particular watershed or viewshed while others may focus on preserving particular types of property (e.g. working farms or forests). This protection is accomplished through land acquisition or through the acquisition of conservation easements. Once a parcel is acquired or an easement is obtained, the land trust has a continuing duty to ensure that the property maintains its character.

I hear the terms “easement” and “covenant” being used, seemingly interchangeably. What are they and how are they different?

Covenants, broadly defined, are legal agreements where two or more parties agree to take or refrain from taking, particular actions. When applied to properties, a covenant outlines what a property owner agrees to do or not do with their property. A conservation easement is an agreement between an individual owner and a land trust (or a government entity) whereby the landowner agrees to refrain from certain activities in relation to the property in order to achieve certain conservation purposes. Covenants, as originally established in the Chocorua Basin, were employed because the concepts of “land trust” and “conservation easement” had yet to be established in 1968, when the CLCF was founded and the land in the Basin was first formally and legally protected.

Covenanted protection of the entire Basin creates not only a commitment between each landowner and the CLC, but also a mutual agreement among owners of covenanted land to uphold the terms of the covenants for the benefit of all. CLCF (predecessor of CLC) is an owner of land subject to the early covenants and is also a participant in the agreement among landowners.

How much land is the CLC presently responsible for protecting?

The CLC is responsible for 3,801 acres across 142 individual parcels. 931 acres are owned and/or managed by the CLC across 20 distinct properties. 2,870 acres are protected by conservation covenants and easements held by the CLC on 122 properties.

In addition, the CLC maintains public access to the lake through the Grove, the Island and the Beach. Through its seasonal patrol, annual site maintenance and regular upkeep, the CLC provides access to thousands of people every year to stop to swim, paddle, picnic, paint, photograph or otherwise enjoy the natural landscape of the Basin.