Successful preservation of environmentally and historically significant property requires the utilization of various innovative land conservation strategies. The government has three alternative land conservation strategies, including (1) using the police power to issue environmental and land use regulations; (2) the use of the eminent domain power over environmentally sensitive lands; and (3) the use of conservation easement programs. The government's use of its inherent police power to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens extends to state and local governments the ability to use zoning and land-use regulations for environmental purposes. Typically, these regulations are used broadly as part of a comprehensive land use plan. The federal government has the power to make environmental laws based on its constitutional powers over commerce and treaty making. However, land use and environmental regulations are often politically difficult since such regulations interfere directly with a private landowners' use of his or her property. Land use and environmental regulations also have the potential to rise to the level of a Fifth Amendment regulatory taking, requiring the payment of just compensation for the loss of property rights by the government to the property owner. Federal, state, and/or local governments may use eminent domain to acquire fee simple title to lands it seeks to preserve. However, the government's use of the eminent domain power may be expensive relative to other alternatives, since just compensation for the land may be high and the eminent domain process may result in long and expensive litigation. Inadequate public funding for acquisitions and political unpopularity also may limit the use of eminent domain. Conservation easements often represent a more politically palatable alternative for land preservation. Despite the inherent incentive problems associated with conservation easement donations, the use of easements as a land conservation method is increasing at an incredible rate - mostly due to the Federal and state tax benefits associated with the donation of conservation easements. Landowners are typically motivated to donate conservation easements by the landowners' desire to forever preserve the character of the land and to receive tax breaks in the forms of state tax credits and/or federal deductions for “qualified conservation contributions”. While most currently created conservation easements are donated, many land trusts and governmental entities are also in the business of purchasing them. Conservation easements may also be created by the use of eminent domain, or by way of exaction. “Exacted” conservation easements generally arise where the government requires that a landowner donate a conservation easement in exchange for the government approving a permit or zoning variance application. While donations and sales of conservation easements are likely to avoid the requirement that the government pay the property holder just compensation, such compensation may need to be paid where the landowner brings an action for inverse condemnation following the creation of an exacted conservation easement. The use of conservation easements can raise constitutional issues where the government seeks to create the easement by way of regulation or exaction. In this article, the author: (1) provides an overview of the different systems of land control; (2) analyzes the ability of a landowner to argue that a regulatory taking has occurred where government land use and/or environmental regulations have greatly diminished the property's value; (3) specifically discusses the landowner's ability to grant or sell a conservation easement as a potential source of value to the landowner that could negate the finding of a sufficient diminution in value necessary to be considered a compensable Fifth Amendment taking; (4) addresses the government's ability to garner a conservation easement through the exercise of its powers of eminent domain; (5) discusses regulatory takings issues specific to conservation easements acquired by exaction and failed government attempts to acquire such conservation easements; and (6) discusses the question of whether the government may exercise its powers of eminent domain to condemn a pre-existing conservation easement held by another government entity.

"One of the most serious challenges to environmentalism that has emerged in the 1990s is the so-called Wise Use movement. While operating under the guise of an independent movement of small landowners, it is in reality a backlash against environmental protection measures, funded and organized by corporations with a vested interest in preventing further environmental gains. Let the People Judge collects the writings of a wide range of thinkers on the Wise Use movement and the controversies that fuel the Wise Use debate.

Planners and lawyers engaged in the formulation and implementation of plans affecting the environment should have a working knowledge of the legal principles affecting those plans. They should also be familiar with the principles of environmental law. However, environmental law has not been a traditional part of the curriculum of law schools. Many practicing lawyers have never taken a course in environmental law; nor have many of the judges charged with deciding cases whose outcome may have consequences for the environment. In the interest of counteracting this lack of knowledge, Legal Foundations of Environmental Planning integrates excerpts from more than seventy-five court case rulings to illustrate the system of environmental laws and the problems of enforcement. Dedicated specifically to discussions on legal theories and procedures, air pollution, water pollution, and control of population growth and distribution, this sourcebook also includes an extensive glossary of environmental terms. It is a valuable aid for students, legal specialists, public officials, environmental professionals, and urban planners.

As challenges to land use and environmental controls by landowners and the property-rights movement have become more frequent, the concept of "takings" -- government action that excessively limits a property-owner's use of private land -- has become both increasingly familiar to the public, and increasingly problematic for planners, local officials, and anyone involved with making day-to-day decisions about land use. A vast and diverse body of case law has come into existence over the past several decades, and the controversy generated by recent legal decisions has resulted in a significant level of ideological bias in much of what has been written on the topic.This volume is an objective and authoritative examination that considers all aspects of the takings issue. It is a much-needed guide and overview that introduces and explains issues surrounding regulatory takings on the local, state, and federal level for anyone involved with private land and government limitation of its permissible use. The authors describe where the law is now, predict where it might go in the future, and review conflict-reducing solutions to a variety of situations. They condense an immense amount of information into a clear and accesible format, making the book equally valuable for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.The Takings Issue addresses procedural hurdles involved in getting a takings issue heard by a court, examines what does and does not constitute a taking, and considers the remedies available to landowners involved in takings actions. It treats concerns such as zoning, dedications and exactions, subdivision platting, and other local issues in some detail, and also considers state and federal issues involving industrial site approval, endangered species and wetlands protection, restrictions on access to resources on federal lands, and other topics.The book is an essential reference for planners, land use lawyers, developers, and students of planning and law, as well as for policymakers and citizens involved with takings issues.