Conservation Easement Assessment and Valuation System Development

$250,000 the first year is from the trust fund to the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota to assess the effectiveness of existing conservation easements acquired through state expenditures at achieving their intended outcomes of public value and ecological benefits and to develop a standardized, objective conservation easement valuation system for guiding future state investments in conservation easements to ensure the proposed environmental benefits are being achieved in a cost-effective manner. This appropriation is available until June 30, 2018, by which time the project must be completed and final products delivered.