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Blog Post #2:  What Is a Conservation Easement?

6/30/2016

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"Colorado’s troubled conservation easement program was a “bait-and-switch scheme” that violated due process and the U.S. Constitution, hundreds of the program’s former participants allege." The Denver Post, March 28, 2016. (Link below.)
Let’s Start at the Beginning
 
How do I tell the harrowing story of Colorado’s disastrous conservation easement program?  In my recollection, things began to fall apart as early as 2005, although we didn’t realize it until 2007 when we started seeing nasty articles in the newspapers.  Even then, we didn’t understand what was happening – or that it was happening to us personally -- until we got notices from the IRS in 2008 and notices from the state in 2011. 
 
But, before you can understand how things fell apart, and why hundreds of landowners just filed a suit against the State of Colorado, you have to understand the whole conservation easement program.  My goal is to 1) tell story of the misunderstood conservation easement (hereinafter C.E.) scandal in Colorado, 2) tell the stories of the citizen/landowners who have been harmed and who have taken on the Goliath of the State of Colorado, and 3) to shed light on what it cost both the state and the landowners financially, the personal cost in emotional harm to the landowners, the brain damage for everyone involved, the shame of Colorado’s greedy and unjust war on its own citizens, and the staggering indifference of public officials to the constitutional rights of its citizens.
 
Over the years I’ve watched as various headlines have popped up, only to dwindle away with no public outcry.  Why so little compassion from the public?  Why so little interest?  I don’t think I can answer that, but I think one reason is that this subject is so complicated that the newspapers were not able to adequately capture the story and the facts eluded the public’s understanding because it was never fully and fairly explained. Friends frequently ask me about it, so I’ve decided it’s time to set the record straight.
 
So, what makes me an expert?  Who am I to tell this story?  I was thrust unwittingly and unwillingly into the eye of the storm, along with my business partners.  We were front and center in the preliminary skirmishes, which bloomed into war, and it nearly ruined my life.  There is no amount of money that can ever pay us back for the financial and emotional toll this experience took.  At times I was unable to work because managing the ensuing lawsuits became a full-time job.  I lived it, breathed it, suffered it.  Yes, I am an expert. I am also a professional writer.  Who better to tell the story?
 
So let’s start at the beginning.
 
What Is a Conservation Easement?
 
Many of you are already familiar with the notion that there are certain rights associated with a parcel of land, such as mineral rights, that you can sell to someone else even though you still own the land.  In other words, you “sever” those particular rights from your parcel, and sell or assign them to someone else and they no longer belong to you.  So far, so good.
 
One of the severable rights that belong to landowners is development rights:  the right for the land to be developed now or in the future into something other than what it currently is.  A conservation easement means that you, as a landowner, give up your rights to the future development of your land and donate those rights to a land trust (a charitable organization) that exists to protect the land.  When you give your development rights away to a land trust, you give them away FOREVER, and that creates a conservation easement on your land that is recorded as part of the legal description of your parcel.  You still own your land, and can do what you’ve been doing with it (e.g., running cattle, or growing hay), but you can never build a housing development on it.  This DEVALUES your land because, even if you sell it to someone else, they can’t develop it either. EVER!  Wow, why would anyone do that?
 
Why Would Anyone Put their Land into a Conservation Easement?
 
Why would anyone deliberately devalue their land and give up potentially huge future profits?  If you have a large parcel of land, you probably worked darn hard to buy it and pay for it; or maybe you still have a mortgage on it!  If you have a large parcel of land, it may have been in your family for generations.  You love it, you need it, and you treasure it.  Your land is everything to you – your way of life, your financial future, and it has a huge place in your heart.
 
“Estate planning was a driving force behind Mike and Cathy McNeil’s decision to put the bulk of their 3,033-acre ranch in the San Luis Valley into conservation easements. The primary reason ranchers like the McNeils put their properties into conservation easements is love of the land. ‘If money is the only, or primary deciding factor, then a landowner is better off to just sell their land outright,’ Cathy McNeil said. ‘That would be the better economic decision.’”  By Margaret Jackson, The Denver Post, November 4, 2007.
 
You may have absolutely no intention of ever developing your land.  In fact, you may be opposed to it ever being developed.  But, unless you are stinking rich, there is no reason to deliberately devalue your land and put it into a conservation easement.  Except that the State of Colorado created an incentive for landowners to give up their development rights.  We’ll get to that in a minute.  But first, why would they do that at all?
 
Benefits of Conservation Easements  to the State and Citizens of Colorado
 
Have you noticed you cannot manufacture land?  You can’t import it, either.  There is a finite amount, and you’ve probably noticed it’s being gobbled up for development. And, if you love Colorado for its natural beauty, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of development is just plain ugly. A few specific Colorado eyesores come to mind, but I won’t list them here.
 
So, putting land into a conservation easement has the following benefits for both the State and the citizens of Colorado: 
  • It helps the citizens of Colorado to preserve large tracts of land in pristine, open condition that maintains the character of the state;
  • It preserves habitats and historically significant land areas and structures;
  • It provides scenic access for the public (in other words, it protects the views);
  • Colorado’s tourism industry depends on the existence and preservation of large amounts of beautiful, preserved open space;
  • And if landowners donate the easements, the State of Colorado does not need to purchase the land at fair market value.  Wow.  Important Insight! Hold that thought. 
Wrap Up
 
In this post, I’ve laid out the definition of a conservation easement in my own words, raised the question of why anyone would devalue their land by donating it to a conservation easement, and the benefits of conservation easements to the citizens and to the State of Colorado.  Come back soon to find out how Colorado baited hundreds of landowners and then – wait for it – switched the plan after it was too late.  Do you believe me?  Don’t believe me?  Just keep reading the rest of the story…I’ll post again soon, God willing.  © Sharon Cairns Mann


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Blog Post #1:  Swindled in Colorado: What This Blog Is All About

6/28/2016

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What is this blog about?  The conservation easement scandal in Colorado has only vaguely captured the public’s attention since it started about 12 years ago (approximately 2005).  Even though it affects every Colorado citizen, it is complicated and difficult to follow, and many news readers just gave up.  Additionally, many newspaper reporters got the story wrong from the start, using the angle of the “Rich get Richer” to slant their stories against landowners, rather than understanding the real facts about the State abusing innocent – and frequently cash-poor –citizens.
 
When I mention our difficult, exhausting, and heartbreaking experience to friends, they respond with, “Oh, yeah, I saw that.  But I didn’t understand what was happening.”  Or, “I never heard anything about it,” or worse yet, “I knew you shouldn’t have gotten involved in that.”
 
I’ve created this blog to give voice to the long anguish of being swindled by the state of Colorado – they swindled me, Stan, and at least 600 other landowners.  And it’s a swindle that’s never been rectified and it was perpetrated by people – the humans behind the big cloak called the State of Colorado – on other people. It was uncaring, indecent, and fraudulent.
 
Why does it affect you?  Because it was a bait-and-switch program carried out by the State of Colorado, and it was unstoppable.  If affects you for two reasons: 1) you are benefiting from land that we put into conservation easements that we never got paid for and you never paid a dime for; and 2)  if the State of Colorado can swindle me and hundreds of other intelligent, hardworking, honest citizens they can swindle you, too.  So far, they’re getting away with it.
 
Setting the record straight
 
This blog is dedicated to setting the record straight; to providing the backstory, the history, and the facts.  I also want to report on any progress made to repair the harm done to so many.  I can assure you, however, that nothing – no amount of “setting the record straight” or money – can ever undo the financial and emotional damage the victims have suffered.
 
Please be patient as I tell the long, complicated story in a serialized blog form.  I want to tell it in a way that is understandable, and there are a lot of complicated facts.  I chose to blog about it rather than put it in book form so that I can disseminate information more quickly. I can provide updates as news happens. Additionally, I want this to be an easily accessible repository of data for researchers, reporters, politicians, lobbyists, teachers, landowners, or citizens interested in the topic. I want it to be interactive, and I include links to many resources.  I want no barriers to anyone in getting this information; therefore blogging seemed to be the best vehicle for these goals, and for easy sharing on social media. No one pays me to do this, so please be patient as I work out the kinks.
 
If you are a landowner who was affected by this, please share your comments and your emotional support for each other on this blog, and please send me your story and I will try to include it. 
 
Blessings on you, readers!
© Sharon Cairns Mann

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    Author

    Hi! Welcome to this blog!   I'm a professional writer and award-winning author. I didn't really want to write this blog, but I also believe that the story of the huge conservation easement fiasco in Colorado has not yet been adequately told. So here it is!

    It's so long, I've had to serialize it, so please note that you have to START with Blog Post #1 (June 28, 2016) for the story to make sense!  So, if you're new to the blog, please go back to the beginning and start there.   

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