Concern about eminent domain has traditionally been a concern of property rights activists, not the environmental community. But that may be changing as conservation easements and voluntarily preserved lands proliferate. Those lands are uniquely vulnerable to the grasping hand of government because conservation lands may contribute little to the local tax base and their lack of development means they can be acquired more cheaply.
This weekend, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported on a Pennsylvania conservation organization that, even as it unveils its newest preserved property, must deal with it being eyed for government seizure.
The steward of a natural preserve in the tony suburb of Villanova is preparing for its public debut this Mother’s Day weekend. Yet in a few years time, visitors to the meadow-like grounds could stroll from the pergola to the sidelines of a soccer field on a seven-acre chunk of land the Lower Merion School District is…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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