THE INVISIBLE FOREST: CONSERVATION EASEMENT DATABASES AND THE END OF THE CLANDESTINE CONSERVATION OF NATURAL LANDS

For purposes of this article, the phrase "invisible forest" refers to forest lands -- and for that matter, any other land types -- protected by a perpetual conservation easement, the location and existence of which are concealed from the public, whether deliberately or because of the opaque nature of the easement process. After addressing the question of whether the existence, location and other information related to conservation easements should be concealed or disclosed to the public through databases, this article provides updates on recent, ambitious efforts to gather, organize, and make available to the public conservation easement data on a state-by-state basis and, ultimately, national basis through the use of databases and datasets. Adapted from the source document.