Research Examines Factors that Attract Landowners to Conservation Easements

The question becomes how to make the process as efficient and effective as possible. Research funded by the SNRE mini-grant program sought to do just that, investigating landowner perceptions about CEs and the value of easements for the state of Florida. The research was lead by Dr. Janaki Alavalapati, associate professor in the School of Forest Resources and Conservation, and resulted in a refereed publication in the journal Forest Policy and Economics, with graduate student Terri Mashour as the lead author.

Florida began aggressively acquiring land for preservation in the early 1970's. In 1990, it established Preservation 2000, a program that raised $300 million per year for 10 years. The state used the money, a total of $3 billion, to acquire 1.75 million acres of land. But by the end of the 1990's, policymakers began wondering whether it would be better to buy partial rights to land they were interested in protecting, Alavalapati said. Despite some initial resistance to the concept of CEs, the state's five water management districts embraced the concept as part of their planning for 2000-2010.

"Easements help get around the problem of scarce dollars," Alavalapati said. "Buying a piece of property outright means spending more money and that leaves less money to spend on other properties that aren't valued as highly. You have to be careful. Where do you get the biggest bang for your buck?"

A CE is a legally binding, voluntary agreement between a landowner and a government agency such as a water management district or a nongovernment conservation organization such as The Nature Conservancy. The agreements, which are often perpetual, are customized to meet the needs of the landowner and do not exclude current uses of the property.

"Each CE is unique," Alavalapati said. "They can be negotiated."

For the CE study, researchers mailed 976 surveys to landowners in Alachua and Gilchrist Counties and to individuals who attended CE workshops organized by the Florida Forestry Association. The surveys assessed respondents' perceptions about CEs and their interest in entering into a CE agreement. The information is considered critical to formulate strategies to influence landowners' participation in the CE market.

The study found that education about CEs increases interest, while transferability of the easement decreases interest. Payment incentives and the ability to continue with current land use were found to increase interest, while management costs decreased interest. Environmental variables were found not to significantly influence landowner interest in CEs. The researchers said that policy aimed at generating landholder interest in CEs should recognize the role that cost/benefit factors play in the decision process.

Mashour and Alavalapati expected CE workshop participants to have the highest understanding of CEs among the three groups, but as it turned out, Gilchrist County residents had the highest awareness. However, Alavalapati said, the results could have been a case of "the more you know, the less you know." Conference participants may have learned enough about CEs to understand that they can be complex agreements, while Gilchrist County residents may have been responding to an awareness of the basic concept behind selling an easement.

Gilchrist County is lagging economically compared with other counties in the state, and landholders there appear interested in knowing about financial opportunities for their land, especially if they involve being able to keep the land in use for cattle ranching or agriculture.

Transferability of the easement can be a problem because a landowner may be unwilling to sell an easement if it means that a water management district or other government agency might obtain those rights in the future, Alavalapati said. Transferability shouldn't be a problem, but perceptions interfere. Many landowners are more willing to work with NGOs than with government agencies. One way around that, he said, would be for NGOs to pay a little extra for including transferability in the agreement.

An important factor for landowners to consider in negotiating an easement is the future value of the land, he said. Landowners have two options, to sell either a perpetual easement or a 20- to 30-year easement at a much lower price.

The published study also looked at attributes that could raise or lower easement prices for landowners. It found that having upland forest had a positive impact on easement prices. Two deed restrictions also resulted in higher prices: giving up the right to subdivide and giving up the right to log in wetlands. Longer distances from cities and the presence of wetlands were found to lower CE prices.

This information can be useful in helping landowners negotiate with organizations over the price of CEs, the study said.

For more information about conservation easements click on the links below:

Forest Policy and Economics Article

Terri Mashour's thesis on conservation easements in Florida