Press Release
March 20, 2007

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - March 20, 2007 – Congressmen Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Dave Camp (R-MI) introduced legislation late yesterday (H.R. 1576), to ensure that a temporary tax incentive for conservation by family farmers and ranchers keeps on working. The 2006 law, which allowed modest-income landowners to benefit from voluntarily protecting important natural, historic and agricultural resources on their land, was set to expire at the end of this year. Representatives Thompson and Camp’s bill would make the law permanent and parallels similar Senate legislation (S. 469) introduced by Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus on January 31st.

"Conservation easements work," said Rep. Camp. "Without this land preservation tool, some of the nation's most pristine environmental and agricultural properties would have been lost to commercial development. For the sake of future generations, we need to make this law permanent and continue to encourage land conservation."

The 2006 law extends the carry-forward period for tax deductions for voluntary conservation agreements from 5 to 15 years and raises the cap on those deductions from 30 percent of a donor's adjusted gross income to 50 percent – and to 100 percent for qualifying farmers and ranchers. This allows ranchers, farmers and other modest-income landowners to get a much larger benefit for donating very valuable development rights to their land.

"America's agricultural lands and open spaces are being swallowed up by development at an alarming rate," said Rep. Thompson. "Conservation easements are slowing that trend, but it can take time for landowners to implement them. By making this law permanent, we are ensuring a consistent and stable tax policy for landowners who protect their property from development. It will keep farmers in agriculture, preserve open spaces, and enhance the quality of our air and water."

“As a long-time Californian, I salute Congressman Thompson’s leadership to help farmers and ranchers conserve their lands. Nothing is more important to California than sustaining our agricultural heritage,” noted Blake Alexandre, Northcoast Regional Land Trust Board President and owner and operator of Alexandre Dairy and EcoDairy Organic Farm on 2,500 acres in Del Norte County, California. “A conservation easement helped me keep my ranch intact. Range and pasture fragmented by subdivisions do not prosper.”

“Congressmen Thompson and Camp’s bill, by providing real incentives for land conservation, will help farmers and ranchers protect the best, not only in California and Michigan, but across the country,” said Rand Wentworth, President of the Land Trust Alliance, a national organization based in Washington DC that works with local land trusts across America. “The Alliance looks forward to working with the land trusts, sportsmen’s groups and land conservation organizations from coast to coast to champion passage of this important bill."

Voluntary conservation agreements, also known as conservation easements, are an important tool for land conservation. When landowners donate voluntary conservation agreements, they protect resources important to the public by giving up future development rights, while retaining ownership and management of the land.

“I know many farmers and ranchers who want to protect the land that they have lived and worked on for generations, but need some help to make it happen,” said Alexandre. “Better conservation tax incentives will help my friends and neighbors preserve their land without putting their family’s economic future at risk.”

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About the Northcoast Regional Land Trust (NRLT): NRLT is a regional organization with a large, tri-county area of interest – Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity Counties – which together make up nearly five million acres of land. NRLT was established to create a central organization representing our regional land conservation interests and efforts at the state and national levels. Since our incorporation in 2000, NRLT has protected over 6,000 acres of ranch and timberlands with conservation easements; 320 acres of salmon-spawning tributaries in the Mattole River watershed; acquired a 54-acre property now managed for sustainable agriculture, wildlife, wetlands protection, recreation and education; and is currently assisting private landowners in placing conservation easements on over 17,000 acres of working ranches in Humboldt County. For more information, please visit www.ncrlt.org.

About the Land Trust Alliance: The mission of the Land Trust Alliance is to promote voluntary land conservation by providing the strategic leadership, training, and resources needed by the nation’s 1,637 local and regional land trusts to succeed in conserving land for the benefit of communities and natural systems. Land trusts are volunteer-led, local charities that accept private, voluntary donations of land, fulfilling landowners’ wishes to keep their land as it is for their children and future generations. For more information, please visit www.lta.org.

posted 3/20/07

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