Can a private land owner only sell an easement to the Corps and maintain title to the land?
The Corps has approval to obtain fee title to lands from willing private land owners. This will transfer the title and all interest in the land to the Federal Government. The Corps also has approval to obtain sloughing easements for those lands generally within 250 feet of the river from willing private land owners. A sloughing easement allows the owner to maintain title to the land, however, the intent of this easement is to erode the lands away. Additionally, the sloughing easement is newly approved and the Corps does not have any experience with it yet. Therefore, ramifications due to things like shifting high and low water marks that demark the boundary of the property have not been fully encountered. Therefore, willing sellers should fully discuss entering into a sloughing easement with the Corps prior to doing so. There are other similar Federal programs that have approval to enter into easements with willing sellers. If you are not interested in selling fee title to your land, t
