Background A land trust should prepare and maintain complete written documentation of transactions. It needs to have two sets of documents: (1) documents that are accessible and can be used for monitoring or as problems and issues arise (“working” files); and (2) documents that are safely stored in a way…

Background The term title means evidence of ownership—that is, the legal documentation of an owner’s right to the property. Before a land trust commits to acquiring land or conservation agreements, it needs to make sure there are no title problems that could undermine the important conservation values of the property…

Background This practice is integrally linked with 8D, project planning, and reflects the integration between conservation agreement planning, drafting and enforceability. The actual drafting of a conservation agreement should implement the project plan. Restrictions should be drafted to ensure that important conservation values are not significantly impaired, and in a…

Background It is important for a land trust to know the boundaries of its fee holdings and conservation agreements. The best way to secure this information is through a survey, but this is not always practical on large parcels or in inaccessible locations. In all instances, a good property description…

Background Hazardous and toxic substances may pose serious environmental threats if improperly stored or managed. Contamination from these substances can also pose serious economic threats if it occurs on land trust property. Legislation on this topic varies between provinces, however, a land trust that owns or was a previous owner…

Background In many transactions, the land trust and the landowner are working so closely together toward the same goal that it can be easy to forget that each has independent interests to protect. Thus, each party should have separate legal and financial representation. By advising landowners to obtain legal, financial…

A. Legal Review and Technical Expertise Background A timely and thorough legal review for every transaction is essential—to protect both the land trust and the resource values entrusted to it. Land transactions need to be structured in a way that protects the land trust’s interests and ensures that they last….

Background Partnerships are integral to the success of many land conservation transactions, and land trusts are increasingly engaging in partnerships to maximize their conservation success. Partnerships bring together important skills for complex projects, but can also leave one or more parties feeling disappointed with the process. Partnerships involving acquisition of…

Background This practice calls for each project to be tailored to the specifics of the property through some form of project planning. The process may take the form of an actual project plan, a completed project planning data sheet, or may be reflected in the correspondence, maps or other documents…