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- Title
TALL FIRS, ZIP-LINES, AND RESERVED INTEREST DEEDS: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FEDERAL CONSERVATION EASEMENTS IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE NATIONAL SCENIC AREA.
- Authors
Baker, Nathan J.; Fraser, James A.
- Abstract
The federal government owns many thousands of conservation easements on private lands. Thus far, private landowners have challenged few of these federal easements in litigation. In the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, the United States Forest Service has acquired more than two dozen conservation easements to protect scenic and other resources, and in recent years, landowners have tested several of these easements through litigation at the county, state, interstate, and federal levels. Scholars write extensively on conservation easement law, but few address whether federal conservation easements are effective in protecting resources in the face of landowner challenges. In this Article, we discuss three litigation case studies involving disputes over federal conservation easements in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. We argue that these conservation easements have been effective in protecting resources, primarily because government and citizen enforcement of zoning requirements have filled gaps left by ambiguous or silent easement terms. We also make several recommendations for improving the effectiveness of conservation easements in the National Scenic Area, some of which may be applicable in other jurisdictions.
- Subjects
COLUMBIA River Gorge National Scenic Area (Or. &; Wash.); LAND use laws; FEDERAL government; UNITED States. Forest Service; JURISDICTION; CONSERVATION easement laws
- Publication
Environmental Law (Lewis & Clark Law School), 2016, Vol 46, Issue 4, p759
- ISSN
2831-9028
- Publication type
Article