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This Week's DISCUSSION FORUM

Are CONSERVATION EASEMENTS good land use management or a modern-day replay of the old European feudal system? Read "Indentured Servitude in America" and give us your reaction?

INDENTURED SERVITUDE IN AMERICA

The New England Forestry Foundation granted a conservation easement the size of Rhode Island to the Pingree family for land their family has owned since the 1840s. The easement covers 762,192 acres of Maine forest and cost $28 million. The Pingree family agreed to the multimillion-dollar deal several years ago, but the money had to be raised before the deal could be completed.

Million-dollar donors include the Kresge Foundation, the Libra Foundation, the John Merck Fund, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund, the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation and one anonymous donor. The Nature Conservancy even got into the deal by donating money and 182,000 acres of their vast landholdings to complete the easement.

Conservation easements are being used more and more as a tool to tie up vast areas of land to prevent any kind of development. In all instances, easements last forever and no child or subsequent owner can ever alter their restrictions. Today, environmental groups and government entities are looking for ways to tie up more land under the guise of conservation by offering tax incentives through conservation easements.

Landowners are allowed to remain on the land, but are told how much of the natural resources can be used and are required to create a management plan for endangered species, wetlands and land use practices. They are inspected on a regular basis by a managing partner and still have the privilege of paying property taxes, albeit at a reduced rate, just for the privilege of having the land remain in their family's name.

Sounds hauntingly similar to the old European feudal system of Indentured Servitude.

Deal Protects Maine Forest Lands

Liberty Matters News Service
March 27, 2001
http://www.libertymatters.org

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