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Attachment 3 <br /> <br />Memorandum <br /> <br />To: Board of Commissioners <br /> Bonnie Hammersley, County Manager <br /> <br />From: David Stancil, DEAPR Director <br /> Kim Livingston, Land Conservation Manager <br /> <br />Date: April 11, 2018 <br /> <br />Re: Keith Arboretum Conservation Easement Amendment <br /> <br />This memorandum is in response to a question raised by a Commissioner on the Keith <br />Arboretum Conservation Easement amendment, which was originally on the March 8, 2018 <br />BOCC agenda and was tabled. The question related to whether the Keith Arboretum <br />Conservation Easement or its amendment protected the rare and specimen trees within the <br />arboretum. <br /> <br />One protection that does exist is a provision in the amendment that requires the landowner to <br />submit the proposed forest management plan to Orange County for approval prior to <br />performing the forestry activities. <br /> <br />Aside from this, there is no specific language in the easement to protect the rare and <br />specimen species. The original conservation easement did not specifically name this element <br />as part of the conservation values of the property. Normally, conservation easements do not <br />obligate the owners to maintain or retain specific types of agriculture or silviculture. The <br />conservation of the land for future protection or preservation of the desired purpose is the <br />primary goal. Changing the conservation values of the easement would be a major change to <br />the original document and the understanding of the restrictions on the property by the current <br />landowner. <br /> <br />Additionally, if the County did alter the easement to require the protection of the arboretum <br />species, the County would essentially be requiring the landowner to always maintain this area <br />as an arboretum, thus requiring a specific management practice on the property. This would <br />be the same as requiring our Agricultural Conservation Easement holders to keep their lands <br />in active agricultural use. While we hope and encourage these practices to continue, <br />conservation easements typically do not require this. The question is however an <br />understandable one – protecting the attributes of the property that make it unique. The <br />concept of requiring certain management activities on conservation easements has been <br />discussed previously and within other conservation organizations across the country. In many <br />5