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a x 22 ted line. In many ways it is just the beginning. This is the start of a long relationship between AFT and every owner, present and future, of that protected property." How is it maintained? As one can imagine, this type of pro- gram requires a lot of time and finan- cial resources. Monitoring easement- protected properties across the country is expensive, and reviewing landowners' plans for their proper- ties can be time consuming. To finance the cost of this program, AFT has established a conservation easement stewardship endowment fund, to which anyone can donate. Typically, when AFT receives an easement, it is accompanied by a contribution to the endowment fined. These contributions are pooled and invested. The stewardship program is run on a percentage of the returns from the investment. "It seems like a lot to ask of landowners, to grant an easement and then give us money to enforce it," says Ely. `But an ease- ment on paper doesn't mean much if we don't have the resources to uphold its terms. These easements are intended to last forever." Whenever an easement is added to the AFT program, it is mapped, inventoried and described in a "Present Condition Report" The report includes information about the property's topography, existing structures and natural resources like soil types, wetlands and streams. This becomes the standard against which future decisions about the property are made. At least every two years, AFT's stewardship manager or another AFT staffinember visits or flies over the property and measures it against the Present Condition Report to ascertain whether its condition lives up to the intent of the easement. Regular monitoring ensures that there are no misunderstandings of the easement's terms. In its 19 -year history as a holder of easements, AFT has not found a problem that couldn't be resolved relatively easily. Other land trusts have ended up in court to resolve easement issues, but AFT has been fortunate. "So far, there hasn't been a problem that a letter or phone call couldn't solve," says Tim Storrow, AFT's land pro- tection program manager. "Monitoring is the most enjoyable part of the job," says Ely. "I travel all over the country to visit some of the most beautiful places you can imagine, and I meet Sam Gary gives a four on horse- back during an AFT stewardship visit last year. great people who are committed to protecting these places." And it's a good thing Ely enjoys traveling; this year she will be visiting Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Colorado, Montana, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Oregon. These visits will be spent with landowners, answering questions and listening to landown- ers' plans for their properties. "If monitoring is the most enjoyable part of my job, then listening is the most important part," says Ely. How do you live with one? Sam Gary donated an easement on his Colorado ranch to The Nature Conservancy in 1981.One year later, TNC, which focuses on preserving threatened habitats or ecosystems, transferred the Gary easement to AFT, and it became AFT's first stew- ardship responsibility. One of the first Coloradans to place an easement on an agricultural property, Gary was determined to stem the tide of development that was sweeping through Summit County, home to popular ski areas. "We're more convinced than ever that we needed to do it, and we're proud of what we did," says Gary, who runs 440 head of cattle on the ranch. "All you have to do is look at the development that comes down the valley towards us, then starts again on the other side of our prop- erty, to see proof that we needed to do what we did." Since the easement was trans- ferred, Gary has heard from an AFT stewardship manager every year. Stewardship visits afford easement holders the opportunity to plumb A M E R I C A N F A R M L A N D S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 19