Conservation easements are a tool used by landowners to ensure that the natural character of their land will be preserved for future generations.

However, a bill recently approved by a Kansas Senate committee would basically eliminate the long-term environmental protections provided by conservation easements. Rather than allowing land to be placed in an easement in perpetuity, as currently provided, the bill would allow easements to be established only for 50 years or until the death of the property owner who sought the easement.

Those limits essentially defeat the purpose that most landowners have in mind for conservation easements. Protecting the property from development during their lifetimes isn’t a problem for the landowners. What they want is to make sure the natural beauty and character of their land is protected for the long term, including after their death.

Property owners can protect their property by either donating or selling conservation easements to the Kansas Land Trust, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service or some other entity that will protect that easement on their behalf. It’s not unlike property owners exercising their right to sell timber or mineral rights to their property. Landowners simply work with a conservation organization to form an agreement about what uses will be allowed and prohibited on the land going forward. The right to enforce those wishes is then transferred to the conservation group.

Under existing law, it is not impossible for property placed in a conservation easement to be used for another purpose sometime in the future. If there is a compelling public interest, the right to use the property for other purposes can be obtained either through negotiations or eminent domain.

In many cases, property owners simply want to protect their natural condition of their property. The Kansas Land Trust oversees 22,000 acres of prairie, woodland, farmland and ranchland property placed in conservation easements across the state, including 12 easements in Douglas County. The Land Trust also has partnerships with Fort Riley to protect land and habitat in areas near the fort and with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to conserve native prairie in the heart of the Flint Hills. Statewide, about 130,000 acres have been placed in conservation easements with various entities.

Forming conservation easements has been an attractive option for many landowners and a valuable conservation tool for the state. The bill approved by the Senate committee would, for all practical purposes, eliminate this tool for landowners and conservation groups. As the Legislature heads into the home stretch of the current session, Kansans should hope lawmakers don’t have the time or inclination to push this harmful legislation forward.