How do you make sure that if the person responsible for a deadline gets sick or goes on vacation, someone else will complete critical tasks? Rather than store deadlines and advance schedules to give preparation time in someone’s head (or a file that no one else has regular access too), plan ahead for all filing dates and the lead time to prepare. Keep it current with an electronic shared organizational calendar. A paper calendar stored electronically can work with extra diligence.

Find more suggestions on which dates to track, such as monitoring schedules, state filing deadlines, annual insurance policy review and more practical risk management suggestions »

See IRS dates that may apply to your organization »

Remember that the 2014 policy re-enrollment starts December 1, 2013 and ends February 3, 2014. Terrafirma currently has six claims in process from member land trusts. Please don’t let your coverage lapse. We’re here to help! If you have any questions, please let us know. You can reply to this email, email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.

Buildings, roads and fences are not camera shy. Yet many baselines don’t include pictures or descriptions of constructed conditions on the property – such as houses, barns, riding rings, garages, amenities, driveways, fences, walls, docks and service buildings.

Changes to constructed conditions may change the intensity of use, the kind of use, the location or the impact of reserved rights on the conservation values. When a landowner starts making changes to structures on the property, you want to have a record of what the property looked like before. Baseline documentation establishes the original conditions of the property. So you want to include documentation of constructed conditions as well as natural conditions. If your land trust has to go to court, this could make all the difference in the world. And it will help with successor owners who may claim that this structure was there all the time. What a relief to have that attested baseline showing what was really there!

Remember that the 2014 policy reenrollment starts December 1, 2013 and ends February 3, 2014. Terrafirma currently has six claims in process from member land trusts. Please don’t let your coverage lapse.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about baselines or anything else, please let us know. You can reply to this email, email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.

Remember that any approval letter or form that you write for a landowner creates an important permanent record.

If the landowner later disputes it or acts contrary to it, attorneys on both sides of the dispute will be carefully scrutinizing every word of your letter or form for ambiguities and nuanced interpretations that could help them. So you want it to be both friendly and firm for the landowner, while clearly and completely documenting all conditions of the approval.

Be sure to attach all relevant maps, photos, diagrams or other depictions of limitations and conditions to avoid any confusion later on. If you requested maps, proposals, or other documentation to approve the landowner action, then attach those documents and incorporate them into the approval!

For many land trusts, budget season is here for 2014, so you may want to start planning for next year’s Terrafirma premium payment. Next year’s payment will be due no later than February 3, 2014. Since your registration fee is already paid, your next payment will only be for the annual premium. To refresh your memory, the base premium before any discounts is $60 per property. Accredited land trusts automatically receive an $11 discount. Discounts are also available for land trusts that meet certain good practices. Check the Terms and Conditions for more details or call or write to me.  

Spring is here and monitoring is underway. While monitoring, you may find possible violations or trespass on your insured property. Remember to notify Terrafirma immediately when you first discover any problem that might become a claim under your Terrafirma policy (and tell your other insurers too just in case). We will help you sort out the details and are always available to assist you. If you want to have a preliminary chat first, feel free to call or write us by email. Here’s how to notify Terrafirma:

1. Log on to your account.
2. Update contact information, if necessary. If you want to add another contact to your account, you can add the contact by clicking on the option to update contact information on the left side of the screen.
3. Click on the option to notify of a possible claim in the menu. Enter in all of the available information on the claim, including a description of the claim, the damages, the name and contact info of the party involved, etc.
4. If the information requested on the form is not available (i.e. there is no additional insurance coverage or the other party does not currently have an attorney), enter “n/a.”
5. Terrafirma staff get an automatic copy as do all contacts listed on your account.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions about submitting a claim or anything else, please let us know. You can reply to this email, email us directly or call 202-800-2219 for Lorri or 802-262-6051 for Leslie.