What is Eminent Domain? 

   Eminent domain is a power granted by the 5th amendment of the US Constitution, which allows for any level of government to purchase or condemn private land for public use in exchange for "just compensation." The term "just compensation" is the fair market value the government must pay the landowner in order to take their private property for public use.

    The Appalachian Trail Bill of 1978 stipulated that eminent domain must only be used as a last resort. The controversies and the dissenting arguments that came out of eminent domain was the reason it is used as last resort, so instead they used volunteers and community outreach for another alternative, such as an easement. 

   Arguments against eminent domain: expensive, time consuming, informal like the 1930s, unwarranted threats, aggressive government officials. 

      Property rights advocate and landowner, Charles Cushman, argued that there were no “checks and balances”, where the park service did everything to work in the interests of environmentalists (people who supported acquisition).[1]

      Also in 1978, Herb Van Deven, a landowner in the Buffalo portion of the trail, would argue that the Park Service would call his phone incessantly and stop by his house late night.[2]

Mittlefehldt, Sarah. “The People’s Path: Conflict and Cooperation in the Acquisition of the Appalachian Trail.” Environmental History 15, no. 4 (October 1, 2010): 649. https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/emq087.

  Eminent domain was a risk since it was time consuming and expensive where they had to wait years until a condemnation settlement has been made; the government had 3 years to acquire land (1978 AT Bill). If one landowner did not want the trail on their property, then there would be more willing neighbors who would want that, thus shifting to another property; the acquisition of property was heavily dependent on the negotiation of the neighbor's property. The reason it was time consuming was because courts would not reach a condemnation settlement until 5 years time, and that would be enough time to make acquired land null and void in circumstances of that landowner selling their land. In instances like that, the route of the trail would be messy.