Two bills have been filed in Montana and Tennessee concerning conservation easements, something American Stewards has focused on for many years.
In Tennessee Senator Jack Johnson (R-Dist 27) has introduced SB 207, once again creating the “Farmland Preservation Fund.” The same Senator filed this bill last session, but it died.
He’s reintroduced the same bill with a few “guardrails” that don’t change the fact that he’s using tax-payer dollars to create a fund that will grant non-profit organizations millions of public dollars to purchase conservation easements (CEs) on private property.
The bill states: “A grant application must prove satisfactory to the Department of Agriculture that the farmland or forestland will be used for farm or forestry purposes.” But, remember no matter what “guardrails” Senator Johnson places on the Fund, the “conservation purpose” will always be the controlling factor on the land. The conservation purpose may allow farming and forestry practices, but the conservation purpose determines how many cattle can be grazed, what crops can be planted, how many acres can be farmed, and how many trees can be harvested – forever. The easement holder decides this, not the landowner.
There is also another “guardrail” that states: “Qualified easement holders shall not sell, transfer, release, or otherwise divest a conservation easement acquired by participating in the grant program.” Since these easements are in perpetuity, the landowner has no guarantee that the future easement holder will be of the same mindset as the entity they originally signed up with.
The bottom line is that all CE’s make the landowner the “servient” estate, meaning the CE owner has primary control of the land. This is why we tell landowners, it is their right to place a CE on their land, but when they do it is no longer functionally private property.
In Montana, Senator Tony Tezak (R-Dist 35) filed SB 209 limiting the term for conservation easements in his state so that no easement taken can be “in perpetuity.” This is a good first step to keep CE’s from harming future generations.
Section 4 of the bill states: “Conservation Easements may be granted for a term of not less than 15 years and no more than 40 years.”
It also states that “An easement may not (1) prohibit or limit the activities on land currently in use, or used within the past 10 years, for agricultural production by a producer of any agricultural and food product…” or (2) impose conditions requiring conversion of the land to federal administration or control.”
In other words, the easement cannot stop any agricultural production currently in use or use that has been in place for the past 10 years and it cannot be transferred to the federal government.
This is a good model bill that could be filed in every State. For a copy of Senator Tezak’s bill, click here and take it to your state representative or senator and ask them to file this bill. It will make good policy and stop CEs from being permanent.
