Tax incentive for conservation protections

Congress just renewed a tax incentive for private landowners who protect their land with a voluntary conservation agreement. The incentive, which had expired at the end of 2009, helped local land trusts to work with willing landowners in our community to conserve thousands of acres of productive agricultural lands and natural areas between 2006 and 2009.

Conservation-minded landowners now have until Dec. 31, 2011, to take advantage of a significant tax deduction for donating a voluntary conservation agreement to permanently protect important natural or historic resources on their land. When landowners donate a conservation easement they maintain ownership and management of their land and can sell or pass the land on to their heirs, while foregoing future development rights.

The enhanced incentive applies to a landowner’s federal income tax.

• It raises the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement from 30 percent of their income in any year to 50 percent.

• It allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of their income.

• It increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from six to 16 years.

Conservation agreements have become an important tool nationally for protecting watersheds, farms and forests, increasing the pace of private land conservation by a third — to more than a million acres a year.

Bills to make this incentive permanent had 274 House and 41 Senate cosponsors from all 50 states, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans in the House. This legislation was supported by more than 60 national agricultural, sportsmen’s and conservation organizations.

Lawrence Power is president of the Sharon Land Trust.

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