TerraBites
A short newsletter of bite-size ideas to chew on for Terrafirma owner-member land trusts, released March, May, July, and September.
The pandemic presents unprecedented challenges for monitoring and enforcement. Terrafirma takes these special circumstances into account so that you can focus on staying safe. Please document any deviations from standard procedures and anything that might affect your eligibility requirements for Terrafirma this year.
We highly recommend that you read Conservation Stewardship in the Time of COVID-19 on the Land Trust Alliance Learning Center for tips on proceeding with essential work while managing risk.
Most importantly for your Terrafirma coverage, remember to file a claim for any issues discovered during the 2019 policy period (March 1, 2019 to March 1, 2020) by April 30, 2020. The grace period end date of April 30 never changes, so you can add a recurring calendar item for each year so you don’t forget!
Have questions? Please let us know. You can email us directly or call 802-262-6051 for Leslie, or 202-800-2248 for myself.
Thanks,
Hannah
Conservation Defense Coordinator
ALLIANCE RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES LLC
(202) 800-2248 | 
People who love land also tend to be optimists who see the best in people. We believe in settling disputes through courtesy, perseverance, and rational thought – keeping interactions sweet, not salty.
You can work through issues together and file a claim with Terrafirma immediately, at the very first hint of a disagreement or problem. Filing a claim with your conservation defense liability insurance might feel like an aggressive last resort, but it should be one of your first moves. Terrafirma does not notify the other party that a claim was filed, and you can keep the claim on hold while you try to reach an amicable resolution. This way, if you need assistance later on, you don’t need to worry about a claim not qualifying for coverage because it was filed too late.
You can have your cake and eat it too! Hold your place in line by filing a Terrafirma claim, then move ahead confidently knowing that you have a backup plan in place. Wondering when sweet as sugar language needs some salt? See our newly revised When to Shift Gears.
Lastly, please remember that the grace period for the 2019 Terrafirma policy period ends on April 30. File any claims for lingering issues that were first discovered between March 1, 2019 and March 1, 2020 by that day.
Have questions? Please let us know. You can email us directly or call 802-262-6051 for Leslie, or 202-800-2248 for myself.
When was the last time your organization reviewed your stewardship policy? If it was pre-Terrafirma, it may be time to take another look.
Your policy likely describes how stewardship reserves are set, and it may advise landowners that the funds will be segregated and used only for monitoring and enforcement, not for daily operations of the land trust.
If you have Terrafirma coverage, you might consider adding language that makes it clear if:
- Reserves may include a contribution of premium for the Terrafirma policy as part of the initial funding
- Some of the stewardship funds will be used to pay for Terrafirma policies covering not only easements, but the land trust’s own fee properties
Have questions about policy drafting or anything else? Please let us know. You can email us directly or call 802-262-6051 for Leslie, or 202-800-2248 for myself.
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We are excited to announce a pair of new features that should make life a little easier for Terrafirma member-owners – two steps at a time.
- There is a new quick and easy way to update claims on the Terrafirma website. After you submit a claim we ask that you send us updates every three months, up until now via e-mail. You can now just click the handy blue “Add Update” bottom at the bottom of each claim instead. This will make past updates easier to track, so you can see at a glance what you last wrote and when.
- There is a new payment option! In addition to the ACH transfer option that we announced in November, you can pay via online bill pay. See details here: https://terrafirma.org/payments
Please remember that Terrafirma applications and payments are due February 3, 2020. Land trusts awaiting a February Accreditation decision receive an automatic extension to February 24.
Have questions? Please let us know. You can email us directly or call 802-262-6051 for Leslie, or 202-800-2248 for myself.
Thanks,
Hannah
Conservation Defense Coordinator
ALLIANCE RISK MANAGEMENT SERVICES LLC
(202) 800-2248 |
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P.S. As we start the new year, you might want to sit down with your attorney to review your easement template. They should understand what it takes to implement stewardship, and your on the ground feedback is invaluable.
You may be under the impression that you have to “think like a lawyer” when confronting legal challenges. But according to Michael Dorf, Professor of Law at Cornell University, there is no such thing – only “clear thinking and confusion.” That said, lawyers do have training to recognize three general types of legal questions:
• Easy questions: These have straightforward, simple answers that you can look up in a book or on a website.
• Complicated questions: These may have determinate answers, but to arrive at them one must first navigate considerable complexity, possibly from various sources of law.
• Indeterminate questions: These questions – whether abstract or applied to a specific situation – have no one right answer, but a range of possibilities.
There is overlap between the categories, with some issues being partially indeterminate, and your question may not have a right answer. That does not mean, however, that there are no clearly wrong answers – because there are some very wrong answers. You can find a range of possibilities within legal materials, but correct answers must be within that range.
Adapted from Michael Dorf’s article, “Distinguishing Among Easy, Complicated, and Indeterminate Legal Questions”
