Jennifer Bahnfleth, Elk Foundation lands program coordinator, marks the location of a raptor nest while monitoring the 230-acre Sargent's Mutiny Point conservation easement in the Idaho panhandle.

“Along with on-the-ground management practices performed by landowners, such as weed control, grazing and forest management, monitoring is one of the most important aspects of land stewardship,“ says Anne Dalton, the Elk Foundation’s conservation easement program manager.

The foundation currently holds more than 100 conservation easements in 11 states and one Canadian province. A 12-person field staff monitors all easements annually and, depending on use and size, sometimes two or three times a year.

“The first thing land program managers (LPMs) do is contact landowners to schedule a property visit and encourage them or their managers to come along,“ says Dalton.

Touring the land together is a critical component of the monitoring program. After all, most landowners live on the land and are usually the first to identify unusual or adverse influences such as trespassing, poaching, weed infestations and habitat conversion.

On foot, horseback or by vehicle, LPMs note any new roads or structures, as well as the general conditions on the property. They also record timber and grazing practices and wildlife use. The goal is to work with the landowners to prevent any changes outside the terms of the easement deed, which is reviewed each year by both the monitor and the landowner. Monitors cover as much of the property as practical: for an easement like 1,032-acre Modesty Creek in Montana, one fell swoop is practical; for larger easements, like the 27,862-acre Culebra Ranch in southern Colorado, it isn’t. In these cases, monitors prioritize structures and areas with special restrictions, such as roads and management activities like timber harvest and mining.

Because of time and financial constraints, Dalton says satellite and aerial photography may become part of the monitoring process in the future. Still, she emphasizes that photos will never replace on-the-ground surveillance or interaction between landowners and LPMs.

Mike Mueller, the foundation’s lands program manager for western Montana and Idaho, agrees. Before transferring to the headquarters office in Missoula last year, he lived in South Dakota for 16 years working as, among other things, an LPM in the Black Hills. To Mueller, monitoring is at least as much about people as it is the land.

“It is not just about protecting the property. It’s also about the stewardship of a relationship with the landowner,“ Mueller says. And these relationships, he says, help quell the number of enforcement problems. Any violations that do occur usually come after the land is sold or bequeathed to new owners, who may not fully understand the restrictions of an easement. As soon as potential problems arise, LPMs consult with the foundation’s lands and legal staff.

“The landowners voluntarily grant the terms of the easement, and the Elk Foundation has the responsibility to enforce those terms, Mueller says. “The easement deed has teeth, and we will use those teeth if we have to.“ He says people donate land with the expectation that the foundation will get tough if future landowners violate the terms of the agreement.

Monitoring also encourages land stewardship by serving as a time for resource and wildlife experts to assist with habitat and wildlife management plans. And it provides a chance to discuss possible sources of funding for habitat restoration projects, which can lead to opportunities for Elk Foundation volunteers to get their hands dirty building fences or pulling weeds.

Careful, consistent monitoring, Mueller concludes, may very well be the lynchpin of the foundation’s easement program.

“In today’s world of land conservation,“ he adds, “land trusts are expected to live up to their commitment to protect the land’s conservation values, wildlife habitat and open space.“

And with tried-and-true monitoring protocols and a stream of solid relationships between landowners and LPMs, the Elk Foundation is doing just that.