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000375 . . appraiser to present .-the agency with his own 'appraisal. If it is not accepted, he can fight condemnation; a judge or jury then determines the value of the easement~ To state a value, or even percent of fee title value, for easements is not possible here, since their value is contingent on the possible future uses of the land and on the rights sold. Easements on other rivers that have been in the system up to eleven years have ranged as high as 90 percent of the fee title value of the land, in areas where extensive commercial development was possible. On the other hand, if the land's potential use is only a little more valuable than its present use, the value of the rights sold would be much smaller. What do scenic easements do to property values and taxes? In theory, the value of a landowner's property is lowered by having an easement written on it, since he has given up some of the rights on that land. Whether this results in practice in a lowered valuation and lowered property taxes is a matter decided by the county assessor. Research on what has actually happened along designated rivers has produced mixed information. Generally, property values have risen as buyers have realized that an area's beauty has been, so to speak, stabilized by easements. The possibility of buying land with the certainty that the view will not be degraded has attracted buyers. This effect is pronounced when the designated river is relatively near a source of urban buyers; the Rogue in Oregon has registered substantial price rises that are attributable to ease- ments and stringent zoning. Another result reported is that easements halt the domino effect of property taxes. In many areas, if one landowner subdi- vides, taxes on adjacent lands are then assessed as if those parcels had already been subdivided, which in turn forces the landowner to subdivide. This does not happen on land whose subdivision rights have been sold in an easement, thus perpetuating the land use and life style of the present owners. What about public access easements? These are corridors of land either leading to a river or along its shore that give the public a limited right access. The land- owner, as with a scenic easement, retains title to the land,but is relieved of liability on the land covered by the access easement. On the studies in Colorado, the teams have generally recommended access easements as being unnecessary or have recommended they be "as narrow as terrain and convenience permit." In most cases on the Colorado studies, access. easements, 'if recommended at'all, would be a narrow strip or shoreline wide enough to land a boat on in an emergency; in a few cases, a strip wide enough for a hiking trail was recommended. In all cases where these access easements are obtained, the managing agency will be responsible for any fence -4-