| | | Sec. 1. Convening working group. Resolved: That the Director of the | | State Planning Office, within the Executive Department, shall | | convene a working group to develop a set of principles to be | | addressed when any agency of the State is considering a | | conservation easement to be acquired in whole or in part with | | state funding. The director shall invite the Department of | | Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources, the Department of | | Conservation, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, | | the Office of the Attorney General, the Atlantic Salmon | | Commission and members of the Joint Standing Committee on | | Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to participate in the | | working group; and be it further |
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| | | Sec. 2. Process to be developed by working group. Resolved: That the working | | group created pursuant to section 1 shall develop a process to be | | used by state agencies involved in negotiating any conservation | | easement to be acquired with state funds. The process must | | include provisions for: |
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| | | 1. Legal review by the Attorney General or the Attorney | | General's designee; and |
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| | | 2. Public comment on a proposed easement. The working group | | shall identify a process for the release of information to the | | public, including a description of the proposed project, a | | summary of provisions to be included in the easement, a draft of | | the proposed easement, a public hearing on the draft to be held | | at a location to encourage participation by residents in the area | | of the project, and public notice with an address and deadline | | for submitting comments on the proposed easement. In developing | | this process, the working group shall make recommendations | | regarding the protection of information to preserve the State's | | negotiating position; and be it further |
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| | | Sec. 3. Criteria for easements to be developed by working group. Resolved: That the | | working group created pursuant to section 1 shall develop | | criteria for acquiring public access rights when acquiring | | interest in a property using state funds. For easements in which | | the right to harvest timber is retained by the landowner, the | | criteria must include, at a minimum, the right of the public to | | use the property for traditional, nonmotorized recreation | | including fishing, hiking, hunting, snowshoeing and nature | | observation. |
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| | | The working group shall develop model language to be used for | | negotiating a major conservation easement when state funds are | | used to acquire the easement. When the right to harvest timber | | is retained by the landowner, the model language must provide | | that the forest be managed to maintain the property's potential | | to provide fiber and timber and that forest management |
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