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" .. . f\028W1 . MISSOURI BkSIN INTER-AG~~CY CO~n1ITTEE lZ8th Hoeting Colorado Springs, Colorado "LAND EASEHENTS FOR RECREATION" - - - _ _ George T. O'Malley, Jr. An Easement is a limited right over land owned by somebody else. Obtaining land for outdoor recreation purposes, acquiring the land in fee simple, i. 0., in full ownership and retaining it in public ownership for public use, ",i_ll necessarily remain the basic method for developing outdoor recreation resources. The possibility of protecting open space by public acquisition of some type of legal interest in land which is less than a fee interest, has attracted substantial interest in recent years. There are various ways in which the rights involved in ownership of land may be divided between private land owners and public agencies with certain rights allocated to each. The principal advantages of obtaining rights less than a fee are, first, under such an arrangement the land is left in private ownership, normally continuing with the existing long- term land use. The land thus remains in productive use without either requiring considerable public maintenance or becoming scraggly. Second, the land remains on the local tax rolls, although at a reduced valuation. Third, in some situations the acquisition of oasement rights may be sub- stantially cheaper than acquisition of the fee. Several kinds of tra- ditional legal interests in land, loss than a fee, might be invoked--- easements, leaseholds, licenses, licenses coupled with an interest, covenants---and new variations and types of property interests are con- stantly being created. We have two types of situationo invo]~ing acquisition of land for reoreational use. Those involving rights that do not include a public right of entry and those that do. If the easements rights do not include a public right of entry, the areas may still qualify as outdoor recreation resources in certain types of situations, but the problems are quite different, legally and practicaHy. Decisions on acquisition of open areas for recreation should be made within a planning framework for deciding between open recreation areas and other competing demands for land. Such plans should set forth not only the total amount needed but the criteria for its selection and location, and the locations proposed for recreation open space, but the type of open space area which is appropriate in each instance;, i. e., park, wilderness, scenic areas, etc. The planning policy should also take into account all sorts of problems on the interrelationship between open areas and other land uses. Situations will arise where immedi.ate action is needed to preserve specific open areas from development long before any general planning framework is available. In such a situation, acquisition in fee or by easement may be justified as a holding operation pending the preparation of a plan. The