WeConservePA has updated its guide, Recordkeeping for Conservation Stewardship.
To be able to steward conservation easements responsibly and effectively, an easement holder must establish a system for organizing, storing, and accessing the documents, reports, correspondence, and other materials related to each easement.
Different land trusts use different systems, depending on organizational size, resources, and other factors. Though the details can vary, all systems contain some of the same basic elements. Large organizations might have a full-time records manager; smaller land trusts usually don’t have this luxury.
This guide outlines key components of stewardship recordkeeping and summarizes common approaches. In the final section, 14 Pennsylvania land trusts explain their stewardship recordkeeping practices, addressing the following topics:
- Document Storage and Backup
- Project Files
- Project Labels
- Pre-Closing Versus Post-Closing
- Monitoring Visits
- Procedures
