Land Conservation & Land Trusts
At Elyse Harney Real Estate, we understand the importance of land conservation.
By Aaron Arlyn
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2/24/2003
At Elyse Harney Real Estate, we understand the importance of land conservation and the role that land trusts play in pursuit of this goal. 3,000 acres of land are being lost to development every day! Fortunately, land trusts (nonprofit organizations dedicated to protecting important resources through voluntary land conservation) operate in every state in the nation, working to preserve land that is valued for its recreational, natural, agricultural, scientific, historic, cultural, or educational characteristics.
Land trusts protect land resources in the following ways:
1) They purchase land. 63% of land trusts purchase land for conservation; they purchase land directly, using funds from the contributions of members and individual donors in the community, government agencies, foundations, and corporations. Land trusts also borrow money from banks, foundations, and individuals to buy land.
Larger land trusts may broker purchases (e.g., they buy and then sell private land to a city or county for a local park), pooling funds from public and private entities for land purchases, or ensuring that a conservation-oriented buyer purchases private property with the intention to sell it back to a conservation organization that has funds enough to manage it.
2) They acquire land through donations. 84% of all land trusts accept land donations. People who love their land donate it to a land trust as a way to protect its characteristics. The donation of land does not necessarily have to result in its immediate transfer. For example, a landowner can arrange a life estate, a legal instrument through which a property owner donates land to a land trust after they die, while retaining the right to live on the property for the remainder of their life.
Donors can receive significant tax benefits based on the value of the donated land.
3) They secure conservation easements. 75% of land trusts accept conservation easements. A conservation easement is the placement of restrictions on a tract of land by its landowner as a means of preserving and protecting it from exploitation, destruction, or neglect. For example, the owner may restrict the subdivision of the property and tree harvesting. The conservation easement can be tailored so that the landowners reserve the right to certain activities (e.g., limited development, farming part of the land), so long as it does not detrimentally affect the land’s overall conservation. The land trust monitors the terms of the easement.
Donors can receive significant tax benefits based on the value of the donated land.
It is vital that we act now to protect our resources! Elyse Harney Real Estate can help; we can refer you to an appropriate land trust, answer your questions about land conservation, help you find a property in need of your protection, and/or guide you in your effort to protect land you already own.
For more information visit Litchfield County Soil & Water Conservation District
Soil & Water Conservation web site, or contact the following:
Litchfield County Soil & Water Conservation District
Soil & Water Conservation
1185 New Litchfield Street
Torrington, CT 06790
860-626-8258
This article was written exclusively for Elyse Harney Real Estate customers by the good people at AaronArlyn.
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