Jessica Jay (Vermont), Opportunities for Reform and Reimagining in Conservation Easement and Land Use Law: A To-Do List for Sustainable, Perpetual Land Conservation, 46 Vt. L. Rev. 387 (2022):

From the most urgent and obtainable in the short term to the most sea-changing and aspirational in the long term, presented here is a view of the immediate, ongoing, and future needs for reform or reimagining in land conservation law. These reforms and reimagining include bolstering and expanding conservation incentives in the face of extensive abuse, integrating private land protection within communities, adjusting land monetization and valuation approaches, unbundling land ownership notions, and re-democratizing and restoring land access and use. Such reforms and reimagining are intended to sustain and secure perpetual land conservation as a continuing, dynamic, and flexible source for critical resource management and protection at the local, state, federal, and global levels, while ensuring equitable, inclusive, diverse, and just land protection in the context of past, current, and future generations of land use and users.

Molly Teague (J.D. 2023, Vanderbilt), Note, Conservation Options: Conservation Easements, Flexibility, and the "In Perpetuity" Requirement of IRC § 170(h), 75 Vand. L. Rev. 1573 (2022):

Conservation easements have been closely tied to tax incentives since the 1970s, when Congress passed legislation to encourage land preservation. In an attempt to balance the desire to conserve more land with the desire to prevent tax abuses, Congress later passed § 170(h) of the Internal Revenue Code, which requires that conservation easements be donated “in perpetuity” to be eligible for the federal tax deduction.

As climate change increases global temperatures, shifts migratory patterns, and causes sea levels to rise, conservation easements’ ability to adapt to changing circumstances must also become part of Congress’s balancing equation. This Note evaluates the “in perpetuity” requirement and proposed alternatives as avenues for promoting the preservation of land for conservation purposes in light of climate change. Ultimately, this Note argues that by extending the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax deduction for donors who gift an option to purchase a conservation easement coterminous with a fixedterm conservation easement, Congress can promote meaningful land conservation in the face of a rapidly changing world.