Conservation Easements - Donor Beware

By: Jennifer D. Mullen
Conservation easements have garnered significant attention and gained popularity over the last few years due in part to the availability of federal tax deductions and Virginia state tax credits associated with conservation easements.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Easements--Donor-Beware/160/

 

Conservation Easements and the 2010 Roth Conversion - A symbiotic relationship

By: Adam Miller
It may come as a shock, but there is a sort of symbiotic relationship at work between property owners with conservation easements and the IRS.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Easements-and-the-2010-Roth-Conversion--A-symbiotic-relationship-/111/

 

Using Conservation Easements to Protect Working Forests

By: Brenda Lind
For decades, conservation easements have protected open space values such as wildlife habitat, ecological diversity, recreational access and aesthetics.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Using-Conservation-Easements-to-Protect-Working-Forests/164/

 

Conservation Easements and Economic Incentives

By: Breana Behrens
The Mississippi Delta: Land Worth Conserving. The following is the speech given by the Resources First Foundation's Conservation Tax Center Director, Breana Behrens, given on Saturday, October 26 as a part of the inagural Tara Talks, at the Tara Wildlife in Mississippi.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Easements-and-Economic-Incentives/1600/

 

Farm and Forest Land Preservation With Conservation Easements

By: Christopher D. Clark, Larry Tankersley, George F. Smith, and Daniel Starnes
This publication is intended to provide basic information on conservation easements for landowners, community leaders, students and other interested individuals.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Farm-and-Forest-Land-Preservation-With-Conservation-Easements/1737/

 

Saving Open Space in Suburbia - The Application of the Governmental Policy Test

By: Stefan Nagel
This article explores the application of conservation easements in a suburban context of the "clearly delineated governmental policy' test under Section 170(h)(4)(A)(iii)(II) of the code in meeting the "conservation purposes" test of code Section 170(h)(1)(C).
https://www.landcan.org/article/Saving-Open-Space-in-Suburbia--The-Application-of-the-Governmental-Policy-Test/274/

 

Conservation Servitudes - a path to protection

By: Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
The Lousiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, through their Natural Areas Program, purchases conservation easements on private land to preserve Lousiana's natural heritage.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Servitudes--a-path-to-protection/1628/

 

Easements prove valuable in efforts to protect land

By: Lynne Langley
Practically no one had heard of conservation easements 15 years ago when Charleston native Herbert J. Butler began trying to protect his hundreds of acres of former rice fields.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Easements-prove-valuable-in-efforts-to-protect-land/163/

 

Legal Defense And Enforcement Of Conservation Easements

By: Jessica Jay
As the dawn of the next century approaches, the private land conservation movement in this country must prepare to face a daunting opponent—landowners and their challenges to the restrictions placed on their land.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Legal-Defense-And-Enforcement-Of-Conservation-Easements/202/

 

Could Coalbed Methane Be the Death of Conservation Easements?

By: Nancy McLaughlin
This article explains that a charitable gift of a perpetual conservation easement should be treated like any other gift of property made for a specific charitable purpose—i.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Could-Coalbed-Methane-Be-the-Death-of-Conservation-Easements-/182/

 

Conservation Easements, Supply Agreements, & Green Certification

By: Bret Vicary, Ph.D., MAI, CGA, LPF
Timberland transactions increasingly involve conservation easements, wood supply agreements, and green certification considerations. On the one hand, these features can reduce the price and total flexibility associated with timberland ownership.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Easements-Supply-Agreements-and-Green-Certification/128/

 

Land Preservation - An Essential Ingredient in Smart Growth

By: Thomas Daniels
The preservation of land for working rural landscapes, wildlife habitat, urban parks, recreational trails, and protecting water supplies and floodplains is emerging as an integral component of smart growth programs.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Land-Preservation--An-Essential-Ingredient-in-Smart-Growth/148/

 

A Constructive Reformist's Perspective on Voluntary Conservation Easements

By: Nancy McLaughlin
A Constructive Reformist's Perspective on Voluntary Conservation Easements by Nancy A. McLaughlin In an article written especially for the Ecosystem Marketplace, Nancy A.
https://www.landcan.org/article/A-Constructive-Reformists-Perspective-on-Voluntary-Conservation-Easements/162/

 

Amending Conservation Easements

By: Karin Marchetti Ponte
How to can a land trust official identify and comply with legal restraints to amendment? How can necessary flexibility be built into the easement document?  Can a conservation easement be terminated? This paper reflects the earnest desire of an ardent conservationist to take full advantage of opportunities for flexibility that can be found within the law, recognizing that the needs of land ownership and the land itself, are by their nature subject to continual change.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Amending-Conservation-Easements/166/

 

Protecting The Public Interest And Investment In Conservation - A Response To Professor Korngold’s Critique Of Conservation Easements

By: Nancy McLaughlin
The use of conservation easements as a land-protection tool has grown considerably over the past several decades, and with that growth has come criticism from a variety of sources.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Protecting-The-Public-Interest-And-Investment-In-Conservation---A-Response-To-Professor-Korngolds-Critique-Of-Conservation-Easements/200/

 

Conservation Easements - How Flexible Is Too Flexible?

To ensure the continued conservation of natural resources and habitats, it is important to ensure that easements are not simply undone by successors to the original parties after the tax benefits have been realized.& ...
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Easements--How-Flexible-Is-Too-Flexible/3162/

 

Conservation Easements on Land Need to be Thought Through

By: Curtis Seltzer
About 10.6 million privately owned acres -- an area about twice the size of Connecticut -- now carry conservation easements. This land base is growing by more than one million acres annually.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Easements-on-Land-Need-to-be-Thought-Through/129/

 

Developing Consensus on Conservation Easements on Managed Forestlands

By: Laurie A. Wayburn
Over the past few years, there have been panel discussions at the National Land Trust Rally putting forward ideas on guiding principles for conservation easements on working forestlands.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Developing-Consensus-on-Conservation-Easements-on-Managed-Forestlands/175/

 

Conservation Easements - Perpetuity and Beyond

By: Nancy McLaughlin
Perpetual conservation easements are intended to protect the particular land they encumber for the conservation purposes specified in the deed of conveyance “in perpetuity”—or at least until circumstances have changed so profoundly that continued protection of the land for those purposes is no longer feasible.
https://www.landcan.org/article/Conservation-Easements--Perpetuity-and-Beyond/176/

 

A fierce, expensive fight erupts over conservation easements

By: Timothy Cama, E&E News reporter
An ongoing fight over tax breaks for conserving privately owned land — and accusations that some people are using them as a tax shelter — is spurring an expensive lobbying battle involving landowners and conservationists.
https://www.landcan.org/article/A-fierce-expensive-fight-erupts-over-conservation-easements/3524/