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Legal Agreements for Trails

Sample easements, licenses, and other agreements for trail rights-of-way

From users of the Trails and Greenways Forum (December 2006)

Following are some sample agreements that you can download. They are provided by a variety of agencies and organizations. These documents are for information only; consult your legal advisor to create an appropriate document for your specific circumstances.

• TRAIL RIGHT OF WAY EASEMENT for "pedestrian non-motorized, passive recreational trail purposes, such as walking, hiking, jogging, running, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing" from STATE OF WISCONSIN Department of Natural Resources - download Word Document (105 kb)

• TRAIL EASEMENT for "a perpetual, non-exclusive easement for the purpose of construction and maintenance of a public pedestrian and bicycling trail" from Collier County, Florida - download Word Document (32 kb)

• JOINT TRAIL PROJECT AGREEMENT for the "planning, development and operation of joint trail-related projects," namely the Guadalupe River Trail; from the City of San Jose and Santa Clara Valley Water - download PDF document (892 kb)

• Model easement for the state of Pennsylvania can be found at: http://conserveland.org/model_documents/#trail

• Sample agreement among land manager, landowner, and trail organization to address all issues and responsibilities of the parties to allow for trail use, from the City of Austin's Water Quality Protection Lands

Related topics:

Building trails
Accessible trails
Rails to trails
Urban trails
Management and Maintenance
Wildlife and the environment
Federal funding

More resources:

Bibliography
Quotations
Glossary
Acronyms
Tools
Products & services

For more opportunities for training on trail design, construction, and management see the National Trails Training Partnership area.