Articles
Making Your Wishes Live Forever
(Stephen Foster (M.A., M.L.S., Ph.D) is a professional geographer and social entrepreneur attempting to balance a personal and professional life in Toronto with a variety of volunteer engagements in the County of Haliburton. In the latter capacity, he is contributing to Environment Haliburton, the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust and the Loon Lake Property Owners’ Association.)
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Posted: February 11, 2008
There’s more than one way to make sure that nobody ever paves your little piece of paradise and puts up a parking lot.
You might decide to give it to a land preservation organization like the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust (HHLT), as explained in the article "Making a Gift of Your Land" on this web site.
Or, you may elect to keep your land but protect its special features forever by donating a Conservation Easement to an agency like the Land Trust.
That’s just what Lorne and Rhoda Almack did with their 34 acres of woods, meadows and streams on the Oak Ridges Moraine, not far from Toronto. Ontario Nature was the recipient.
Photo: Lyn Winans
"The Easement allowed me to do what I wanted in terms of allowed uses," Lorne says in an article posted to the Ecological Gifts section on Environment Canada’s web site.
"If somebody else wants to buy the property, they can keep some horses and pursue some farming but cannot develop the land – no housing, golf course or severances."
A Conservation Easement is really an agreement between the landowner and an Easement holder such as the HHLT. The owner and the holder agree to restrict future uses of the property in perpetuity and the holder promises to enforce the restrictions.
(A variety of private and public agencies, including all three levels of government, may be Easement holders. However, the rest of this article will assume a Trust is involved.)
The Easement may restrict anything from development to gravel pits to logging to trapping to water extraction – just about anything that would diminish the natural heritage of the place.
Title to the land remains in the owner’s hands and can be bought and sold, but the Easement is attached to that title forever. Future owners will have to observe its provisions and the Trust is entitled to make regular inspections to see that they do.
No two Easement agreements are the same; they are the product of negotiations between the donor and the Trust. In some cases, the Trust may agree to share the cost of the professionals involved in the process.
The donor needs to take a hard look at the recipient. Will it risk confrontation to enforce the Easement? Is it in for the long haul? Just in case, does it have a solid succession plan if it fails?
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Last Updated: May 23 2009 2:38:41 am.
Photo: Lyn Winans
Did You Know...
that the Dahl Family has planted over 100,000 trees on their 500-acre property. For over 50 years, they have spent their time on tree planting, conservation and preserving the property. Find out more about The Dahl's Forest.
