Last month, WeConservePA published Who May Get Involved in Conservation Easement Management Matters, which explains that landowners may have an interest in amending older conservation easements. At the request of several land trusts, WeConservePA has now published a simple model document that can be used to ensure that an easement pre-dating 6/22/2001 is covered by the Conservation and Preservation Easements Act (which became law on that date). It is posted alongside the Model Amendment of Grant of Conservation Easement and Declaration of Covenants at WeConservePA’s conservationtools.org library.
In addressing pre-2001 easements, WeConservePA encourages users, when reasonably possible, to consider a more expansive amendment or, preferably in most cases, an amendment and restatement of the original grant to address other possible easement deficiencies and fully bring older easement documents up to current easement drafting standards.