Frenchman Bay Conservancy

“Summary of ORGANIZATION'S Easement Monitoring and Enforcement Policy and Practice. THE LEGAL LANGUAGE OF THE ORGANIZATION'S EASEMENTS COVERS THE ORGANIZATION'S RIGHTS TO MONITOR AND ENFORCE OUR EASEMENT CONVENANTS.--Signed and notarized easements are recorded in the Hancock County, Maine, Registry of Deeds. Originals copies and a flash drive with electronic copies are stored in a bank safe deposit box. Hard copies and electronic copies are filed in the office and at our attorney's office.--The Baselines are created by a professional contactor in a standard format containing all necessary and pertinent data, including the easement, and GPS and photographic documentation of the condition of the land at commencement of the easement.--FBC monitors each of our easements once a year. We send a report to the grantor and file a copy in the office. Monitoring is done by a professional contractor accompanied by volunteers and /or staff. Monitoring work is supported by a field file that contains all the necessary information about the easement and the condition of the property. --FBC files a report listing the date of the monitoring visit with the Maine Department of Conservation.--Any easement violations are listed in the report and sent to the grantor with recommendation for remedy. Generally, the violations are corrected in collaboration with the FBC Staff. FBC has not experienced easement violations that are violation of local, state or federal laws. If this occurs FBC will report the violation to the appropriate state, local or federal authorities for enforcement.--FBC follows up on violations with a return visit to verify that the violation has been remedied.--In the event of uncorrected violations and/or recalcitrant violators, FBC will draw from our easement stewardship fund to seek a legal remedy.”

“Organization does not record conservation easements on its balance sheet and donations of easements are not reflected as income. Monitoring and stewardship expenses are expensed as incurred.text of financial statement footnote:"easements are deemed to be without economic value to the organization and therefore are valued at zero for accounting purposes."”

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