UCEA
Uniform Conservation Easement Act Update
The Uniform Conservation Easement Act (UCEA) benefits the land conservation work Land Trust Alliance members do every day. Introduced in 1981, the UCEA provides states with a model law facilitating private land conservation for the public good. It’s powerful, effective and successful. After an extensive public review in which the Alliance and dozens of land trusts participated, the ULC voted to not create a committee to draft changes to the UCEA.
- View the Alliance’s thank you letter to the committee (January 17, 2018)
- View the final report and recommendation from the study committee (January 5, 2018)
- View proposed changes here (detailed in a conference call agenda from December 11, 2017)
Originally drafted by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), the UCEA has withstood the test of time and has helped land trusts protect almost 17 million acres of land. A background report available below includes all the proposals discussed on the first study committee call.
The Alliance encourages you to learn more about your state enabling act and the UCEA, since it may profoundly affect your work.
What You Can Do
Stay informed about your state laws. Evaluate this list of possible refinements that some other states have successfully enacted to see if the political atmosphere in your state is favorable for consideration of conservation enhancements.
Background
- A letter directing the formation of the study committee and outlining the impetus is available here; and a full background report, summarizing various potential changes, is available here.
- A helpful reference prepared for the Alliance and its members is “A Guided Tour of the Conservation Easement Enabling Statutes” by Robert Levin, which was last updated in 2014. This report presents a comprehensive overview of state conservation easement enabling statutes.
- “Conservation Easement Enabling Statutes” by Nancy McLaughlin and Jeff Pidot from 2013 contains the views of the ULC study committee’s official reporter.
- For another perspective on the various overlapping legal regimes affecting land conservation, see “When Perpetual is Not Forever,” an April 2012 law review article by Jessica Jay, and the December 2012 response from Ann Taylor Schwing, “Perpetuity is Forever, Almost Always.” A follow-up article, “Understanding When Perpetual is Not Forever,” came in May 2013.
- The Alliance’s official comments are here (dated July 21, 2017) and follow-up comments are here (dated December 6, 2017)
- The Uniform Law Commission's letter in response to the Alliance's official comments is here.
While this matter can feel distant from the daily work of land trusts, its relevance and potential effect could not be more real or more pressing.
Contact Us
The Alliance welcomes discussions with anyone interested learning more. Please write to Leslie Ratley-Beach, the Alliance’s conservation defense director, or Sylvia Bates, the Alliance’s director of standards and educational services.