5 Questions About Land Trusts

5 Questions About LAND TRUSTS

A Q&A with ERIN HESKETT

STORY BY LORIE A. WOODWARD

Fragmentation, dividing large tracts of land into smaller pieces, is one of the nation’s most urgent conservation challenges. As land is sub-divided so are the visible and invisible natural resources that supply the essentials of life—clean air, clean water, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat, biodiversity and more. Smaller units become progressively less productive until they finally lose their connectivity to the larger ecosystem and cease to function.

Fragmentation also negatively impacts production of food, fiber and forest products. While not invisible, they, too, are essential to life.

Land trusts, non-profit organizations created to promote and sustain private land conservation, use voluntary agreements known as conservation easements to provide private landowners an avenue for keeping their land intact in perpetuity.

I sat down with Erin Heskett, Vice President of Conservation Initiatives for the Land Trust Alliance (LTA). LTA is the national strategist, advocate, think tank and trainer for its 950 land trust members that serve 93 percent of the counties in the United States. Over the past 40 years, LTA’s member land trusts have privately conserved more than 61 million acres, more land than all our national parks combined.

1. As the primary tool for land trusts, what are the benefits of a conservation easement for landowners and the nation?

EH: A conservation easement, also called a conservation agreement, is a voluntary and legally binding agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency. When landowners donate an easement to a land trust or public agency, they are giving away some of the rights associated with the land. The easement permanently limits uses of the donated parcel to protect its conservation values.

As a nation, we benefit from private, voluntary land conservation by keeping landscapes and natural systems and their ecological infrastructure intact. We also benefit from having food, fiber and forest products and the jobs and economic impact that nature provides.

Landowners receive tangible and intangible benefits from donating or selling conservation easements. In 2015, LTA championed the enactment into law of the permanent conservation easement tax incentive. This tax incentive helps landowners offset the loss of market value that occurs with the loss of development rights, but legally protects the character and conservation values of the land forever.

To determine the value of the donated conservation easement, two appraisals are conducted. The first appraisal is a fair market value appraisal of the property before you put the easement on it. The second appraisal is a fair market value appraisal of the property after you put the easement on it. The difference between the two is the value of the easement deduction.

Under the law, qualifying conservation easement donors can deduct 50 percent of their annual income for up to 15 years, and qualifying farmers and ranchers can deduct up to 100 percent of their adjusted gross income for up to 15 years until the total value of the tax deduction is used.

Some states offer additional incentives, such as tax credits for conservation easement donations.

On top of potential financial benefits, conservation easements memorialize the stewardship ethic and passion of the landowner. They also memorialize the landowner’s conservation wishes and set them out as guideposts for the future.

2. What is the role of land trusts in helping landowners place a conservation easement on their land?

EH: As a qualified organization under IRS rules, a land trust can negotiate and hold a conservation easement that landowners may donate or sell. A land trust that holds conservation easements is ultimately responsible for upholding the easements’ legally binding terms, and the landowners’ obligations to protect the land’s conservation values. In doing so, land trusts conduct a site visit with the landowner each calendar year.

3. Are all land trusts created equally?

EH: While all land trusts exist to protect and steward land in perpetuity, they come in different sizes with different missions and different focuses.

More than 50 percent of our member land trusts are volunteers, while the other half of our community has professional staff. Some focus their attention on specific townships, counties or regions, but others span entire states, or in the case of The Nature Conservancy, the entire nation.

Some land trusts exist to protect the character of a village, while others protect viewsheds or water resources or wildlife habitat. Still others strive to keep working lands working for food and fiber.

Land trusts are as diverse as the land and the landowners they align with.

4. What do landowners need to consider as they select a land trust?

EH: The relationship between landowners and the land trust they choose to hold the conservation easement on their property is permanent, so it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.

First, I’d suggest that landowners ensure that the land trust they choose demonstrates sound technical, ethical and legal practices and is financially strong. If a land trust is accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, landowners can have confidence that the land trust is operating with high standards and financial acumen.

If a land trust is not accredited, it is important for landowners to perform very thorough due diligence to ensure the land trust is technically, legally and financially sound. Perpetuity is a very long time, so the land trust a landowner ultimately works with must also be able to stand the test of time.

In addition, landowners should be confident the land trust’s focus aligns with their vision and their land use goals.

To further determine compatibility, the landowner should examine the land trust’s track record: what it has protected, how it has protected it and how effectively it has leveraged available resources to protect land where it operates.

Finally, I’d suggest that landowners talk with other landowners who have partnered with the land trust to gain the first-hand perspective that comes from experience.

While all land trusts exist to protect and steward land in perpetuity, they come in different sizes with different missions and different focuses.

5. Tell me about LTA’s “timely and audacious” goal.

EH: In the face of a changing climate and increasing human and natural system demands, we’ve challenged ourselves as part of our Gaining Ground campaign to conserve an additional 60 million acres by the end of 2030. This will contribute to the goal of protecting an additional 440 million acres of public and private land by 2030 to provide the climate and ecological benefits that sustain us.

The clock is ticking. Every day, the United States loses about 3,600 acres of natural land and 2,000 acres of working land every day.

To conserve land at the pace necessary to meet the urgent need, we require additional investment, not only for land acquisition, but for additional staffing and training to scale up existing land trusts. Furthermore, we need to broaden the reach of private conservation, so it engages Americans from every walk of life in every community. It will take a diverse, inclusive movement to conserve America.