Select properties

Land trusts should give careful thought to what properties are appropriate for remote monitoring. Properties appropriate for remote monitoring include:

• Properties where terrain is difficult or dangerous for a steward to monitor in-person

• Properties where the travel time, gas costs and carbon emissions associated with in-person monitoring are high

• Image quality is sufficient to fully view the entire area being remotely monitored at a close-enough resolution to discern details

• Imagery will be available during the monitoring year and, if applicable, the Terrafirma policy year

• In many areas, imagery taken during leaf-off conditions, without snow, can be critical to ensuring proper remote inspection of properties.

• Properties with potential safety risks for in-person monitors.

The following qualities indicate a property may not be suitable for remote monitoring.

• The property monitor is a new land steward who has not walked the property and is not familiar with the boundaries and on-the-ground conditions

• The property has a history of violations

• The property has had a recent change in ownership

• The landowner has expressed an intent to exercise a reserved right

• The landowner has expressed a preference for in-person monitoring

• A neighbor is challenging or has challenged the boundary or ownership of the easement or preserve

• Image availability is not likely for the monitoring year or Terrafirma policy year

• Image quality is insufficient to fully view the entire property at a close resolution to discern details

• The adjacent property is undergoing development, changing use from forest to agriculture or the landowner is engaging in a forest harvest

• The conservation easement’s restricted uses are difficult to detect with remote monitoring

Issues that are unlikely to be caught using remote monitoring include small pile dumping, mowing, stream crossing violations, alterations of water flow, trails under a thick canopy, unauthorized third-party camping, trash dumping, certain agricultural activities, tree stands for hunting or wildlife viewing or structures smaller than 10-feet by 10-feet. Because of these limitations, hybrid monitoring has proved to be a useful solution for many land trusts.

See also Limitations of remote monitoring.

While remote monitoring can be used to track new landowners, new buildings or building permits on conserved or abutting land, these tasks can also be accomplished by:

• An annual communication to landowners

• An annual review of property changes in and around conservation lands

• Monitoring the requests to the local building department.