Artist Suzanne Poursine Massion with one of the old-growth trees on land protected for development.
Photo: Jack Shouba
December 2005
Conserving A Way of Life
As sprawl threatens to overtake more natural areas, private landowners have been playing an increasing role in preservation through conservation easements. However, now some worry that proposed changes designed to weed out problems may instead destroy the program
By Mary Boldan
When the early pioneers settled in the Fox River valley, a wealth of natural resources such as fertile prairie soils and scenic splendor provided a quality of life enjoyed by many. Today, even though urban growth has radically altered the landscape, Fox Valley residents have made it clear that they want natural areas preserved in the area they call home.
And thanks to the generous donation of Ray Massion and his wife, Suzanne, the couple’s seven-acre oak savanna, complete with deer, coyotes, hawks and fox, will never be developed. In exchange for some tax breaks, the Massions have donated a conservation easement on their property to the Fox Valley Land Foundation, a land trust in Kane County. While they can still sell the property, the easement remains, guaranteeing the land will never suffer the fate of urban growth.
As development and sprawl threaten much of what makes our communities livable — clean air and water, open space, parks, and wildlife habitat — private landowners are playing a critical role in conservation. This is especially true in the East and Midwest, where private property comprises the great majority of land ownership. In Illinois, for example, over 90 percent of the state is privately owned. Roughly three-quarters of all threatened and endangered species spend at least part of their time on private land.
Unfortunately, this useful, cost-effective method of conserving land in America is facing serious crisis. A series of scandals has revealed major abuses of this legal tool, and Congress is ready to crack down. But some conservationists and landowners are worried that the measures being debated may destroy this legal tool rather than fix the problem.
History of Conservation Easements
Twenty-five years ago, Congress enacted a law governing tax deductions for donations of conservation easements. To date, landowners can donate the development rights to their land to protect resources important to the public, through a legal tool known as a conservation easement. In addition, they receive a tax deduction for the value of the development rights they give up.
A conservation easement is a permanent commitment by landowners to keep their property undeveloped. In a conservation easement, the limited rights are transferred from the private landowners to a second party known as a land trust, a nonprofit organization that has no ownership interest, but instead has the responsibility to enforce the terms of the easement.
There are approximately 1,200 grassroots land trusts nationwide, 26 of them in Illinois. “These groups, many of them all volunteer, represent the best of community spirit in America, bringing people together to protect some unique piece of land that, for them, helps define what makes their community unique,” said Rand Wentworth, president of the Land Trust Alliance, a national association representing land trusts since 1982. Wentworth stressed that land trusts work solely through voluntary private transactions, often fulfilling a landowner’s wish to keep their land as it is for their children and future generations.
Given the national debates over oil drilling and clear-cutting and the current administration’s support for such moves, many landowners cite a lack of faith in government to preserve land.
“We as private landowners simply should be given equal protection under the law by the government,” Massion said. “Any landowner should have the right to use their land any way they choose. If we choose to conserve our land, then we should be given the same benefits as a developer or business.”
Because they are private organizations, land trusts can be more flexible and creative than public agencies, and can act more quickly in saving land.
Since Congress enabled tax deductions for those donations, land trusts have protected more than nine million acres of important wildlife habitat, farms, ranches, and forests. In Chicago alone, there are over 3,000 acres.
Yet it’s not just the rural areas that are of concern, says Gerald W. Adelmann, executive director of Corlands, a Chicago land trust that help communities in northeastern Illinois. He cited North Park Village, an urban oasis amidst shopping centers and busy streets on the Northwest Side of Chicago. Owned by the city, the 155-acre site hosts a nature preserve, community gardens, housing and more. To protect the land from looming development, the city used a conservation easement, tailoring it to address the varied land uses.
A conservation easement exists even within the manicured suburban neighborhood of Naperville. After loving their land for more than 45 years, Gerry and Sarah Ward put a conservation easement in place to protect their trees and their carpet of wildflowers, as well as the creek that runs through their property. The Conservation Foundation, a land trust in Naperville, helped the Wards fulfill their vision.
Legislative Changes
But because of a series of scandals regarding the program, including charges that some landowners have inflated appraisals, some changes to the program are now being considered.
While it is true that some landowners inflated appraisals to take huge tax write-offs and maximize personal gain, many of the problems stem from people with good intentions but limited resources and knowledge. Some try to do as much as they can for a good cause but do not pay careful enough attention to the rules as they go. With two new land trusts being formed every week in the U.S., some land trusts have not yet instituted strong policies and ethical safeguards.
To combat these abuses, Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation is proposing to forbid any deduction for voluntary conservation agreements if the landowner continues to live on the land. If the landowner does not live on the property, they will only be able to deduct one-third the value of their donation.
Landowners currently qualify for a tax deduction if they choose to donate their land or sell it for less than its value. The Joint Committee has proposed to slash this incentive by limiting deductions to the price the landowner originally paid for the property. This would make it extremely difficult for farmers, ranchers and other residents who have owned their lands for decades to be able to afford the donation.
Conservationists and landowners say such changes may wind up throwing out the proverbial land baby with the bath water. In the first place, reducing tax deductions would effectively eliminate the tax incentives for charitable land donations and discourage some of the most valuable conservation easements, they argue. If the goal is stopping inflated easement valuations, then the Internal Revenue Service, state tax departments, county tax assessors and appraisers must police the appraisal process. Appraisers should be held accountable for their determinations. Unfortunately, the industry has no standards for appraising conservation easements.
“Developers are businesses. Businesses get special tax treatment and deductions on their income, et cetera,” said landowner Massion. “To truly have a level playing field and allow private landowners a fighting chance to conserve our natural resources and water supplies, we too should be granted the same incentives. If private conservation easement deductions are to be denied, developers need to pay their own way. They should fully bear the burden for additional roads, schools, police and fire protection, et cetera. As it stands now, private property owners must pay the increased costs and additionally lose open space and water resources. In short, take away my deduction, take away everybody’s deductions — go to a truly flat income tax!”
At a June 8 hearing on tax codes and land conservation held by the Senate Finance Committee, nearly all of the 11 U.S. senators in attendance made strong statements supporting conservation in their state. Wentworth stressed the good work of land trusts across the country and called for reasonable reforms that target abusers without preventing good conservation.
“The mission of land trusts is not just to save land, but to protect the traditional lifestyles of a community, a way of life that remains connected to that land,” Wentworth said. “The dramatic growth of land trusts and acres protected show that private conservation initiatives are successful at the local level. We are doubling the pace of conservation and we are doing it in a non-regulatory way that respects private property and is supported by local communities. Land trusts are the vanguard of land conservation in the 21st century.”
Despite this progress, Wentworth said, there is reason to be concerned.
“The current rate of development essentially means that we have at most 20 years to protect our most cherished landscapes before they are lost forever,” said Wentworth. “Private land trusts are our last best hope, particularly now that deficits will severely limit the ability of the federal government to conserve new lands. Land trusts are vitally needed to do this work.”
For more information on conservation easements and the potential reforms that may affect them, visit the Land Trust Alliance.
Mary Boldan is a freelance writer who specializes in environmental and organic gardening issues.
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