A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement that protects the land by permanently limiting some uses that would compromise the conservation values or the landowners' goals for the property. A Permittee may enter into a conservation easement with a land trust, government agency, tribe, or other qualified organization to mitigate adverse impacts on natural resources. CDFW may agree to act as grantee for a conservation agreement or CDFW may, in its sole discretion, approve a non-profit entity, public entity, or Native American tribe to act as grantee for a conservation easement, provided that the entity, agency, or tribe meets the requirements of Civil Code section 815.3. CDFW must be named in the conservation easement as third-party beneficiary. See California Government Code section 65965 et seq. and California Civil Code section 813 et seq.
In some instances, if CDFW agrees, a Permittee may grant fee title to HM lands to CDFW. The Permittee must provide funding for perpetual management of HM lands and must reimburse CDFW for all reasonable costs incurred by CDFW during land acquisition. More commonly, CDFW, in its sole discretion, may authorize a governmental entity, special district, non-profit organization, for-profit entity, person, or another entity to hold title and to manage the property provided that the district, organization, entity, or person meets the requirements of Government Code sections 65965-65968, as amended. In these cases, CDFW serves as third-party beneficiary.
And endowment refers to financial assets that are structured so the initial amount invested (i.e., the principal capital, or corpus) remains intact, and only the interest or investment gains are withdrawn.
Yes. If CDFW requires a project proponent to purchase, transfer, or protect land to offset adverse impacts to fish and wildlife, state law requires the creation of a fund for the sole purpose of managing that land in perpetuity. That fund must meet the definition of an endowment (Gov. Code, § 65965, subd. (a)) and shall meet the following criteria:
- The endowment shall be held, managed, invested, and disbursed solely for, and permanently restricted to, the long-term stewardship of the specific property for which the funds were set aside.
- The endowment shall be calculated to include a principal amount that, when managed and invested, is reasonably anticipated to cover the annual stewardship costs of the property in perpetuity.
- The endowment shall be held, managed, invested, disbursed, and governed as described in subdivision (a) of Section 65965 consistent with the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (Part 7 (commencing with Section 18501) of Division 9 of the Probate Code).
In the context of mitigation lands, endowments are restricted and specifically defined in Government Code section 65956 as funds that are conveyed solely for the long-term stewardship of a mitigation property, and permanently restricted to paying the costs of long-term management and stewardship of the mitigation property for which the funds were set aside.