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The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy accepted its first conservation easement in its history in 1976 on lands located in Montana's beautiful Blackfoot River Valley. Since that time, conservation easements have proved to be one of the most powerful, effective tools available for the conservation of private land. Private landowners have successfully used these voluntary conservation agreements to protect millions of acres of wildlife habitat, farm and ranchlands, and river corridors, all while keeping property in private hands and generating significant public benefit.
These private, voluntary actions to preserve our natural heritage are critical, because throughout the West, lower-elevation and valley-bottom private lands primarily provide the best wildlife habitat and corridors for migration. For many private property owners, conservation easements are the conservation tool of choice because they can be specifically tailored to meet the needs and long-term vision of individual landowners.
The growth in the use of easements across the West is paralleled by the growth in the number of partnerships among rancher-led groups and conservation organizations. Together, committed landowners, conservationists, and others who care about the land are coming together to share expertise in caring for ranchlands, enhancing wildlife habitat, and making use of innovative conservation tools, such as conservation easements.
Just this month, for example, the Conservancy and the Kanarra Mountain ranchers, a group of 17 sheep and cattle operators in Utah, announced they would work together to utilize easements to conserve wildlife habitat and ranchlands near Zion National Park. At stake is a portion of rural Utah with a long ranching heritage that has become a hotspot for Wasatch Front retirees, with summer home development on the rise. Like other rancher-led groups that are collaborating with the Conservancy, such as the Blackfoot Challenge in Montana and the Malpai Borderlands Group in Arizona, these ranchers see conservation easements as a cost-effective and highly efficient conservation tool for private land.
Conservation easements also have also become a catalyst for other community-based, multi-landowner, large-landscape conservation efforts that bring together a variety of stakeholders for the good of the land. Often the common vision created by neighbors is echoed by public agency staff working in the area. The recent White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation showcased hundreds of these examples. These community partnerships have taken conservation in the West to a new level, and we are honored to be a part of them.
Conservation easements, while so important and so valuable, must never be taken for granted or handled lightly. They are, at heart, a legal tool designed to foster long-term public benefits in the form of conservation and open space. The land trust community and private landowners must be vigilant to ensure each conservation easement is designed to provide substantial public benefit and follow the letter and spirit of applicable laws and regulations. As a recent IRS speaker at the Land Trust Alliance rally warned, his agency has "uncovered instances where the tax benefits of preserving open space and historic buildings have been twisted for inappropriate individual benefit."
Increased focus by the IRS on organizations and individuals pursuing conservation easements that have no conservation value is a good thing for the conservation community. Weeding out the few bad apples will strengthen all land trusts and help ensure that conservation easements and the tax incentives designed to encourage their use remain a viable and vital conservation tool for years to come.
Tax incentives granted by Congress 30 years ago to encourage the donation of conservation easements have been incredibly successful in helping preserve our natural heritage. Today, Congress is again taking a look at conservation easements and considering new tax incentives to encourage their use and reviewing ideas for strengthening the laws that govern easements. This scrutiny is appropriate. Responsible legislative reform designed to end abuses will help ensure that easements and related tax incentives continue to enjoy wide support and remain available to help preserve open spaces, key agricultural lands, and critical wildlife habitat.
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