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CONSERVATION CORNER
(For the week of August 4, 2008)
Incentives For Conservation Easements Extended
by James L. Cummins

Recently, the U.S. Congress passed the Farm Bill, which also renews the increased tax incentive for donations of conservation easements that expired on December 31, 2007. By a vote of 81 to 15 in the Senate and 318 to 106 in the House, a 2-year extension of the enhanced incentive for conservation easements was approved in the new Farm Bill. The extension is retroactive to the beginning of this year.

Many organizations, including Wildlife Mississippi and the Mississippi Land Trust, worked hard for a permanent extension of the tax incentive. Daniel S. Coggin, director of the Mississippi Land Trust, states, “We are very excited about the extension of the incentives for conservation easements and we are very thankful for all those who worked very hard to ensure the extension was in the new Farm Bill.”

Rand Wentworth, president of the Land Trust Alliance, said “This renewed tax incentive for donations of conservation easements is one of the best things Congress could do this year to help landowners choose the conservation option over sprawl. Especially for family farmers and ranchers of modest income, this is a great way to help them keep productive land from being lost.”

Wildlife Mississippi, the Mississippi Land Trust and the Mississippi River Trust worked with Congress to ensure that the tax incentives were renewed. Also of importance was the major new funding for the Healthy Forests Reserve Program and the Grassland Reserve Program. The revising of the appraisal method for the Wetlands Reserve Program was also a major objective of Wildlife Mississippi.

The incentive, which applies to a landowner’s federal income tax, will: 1) raise the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation easement from 30 percent of their income in any year to 50 percent; 2) allow farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of their income; and 3) increase the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.

Conservation easements can assist landowners in protecting their land, wildlife habitat, scenic areas or historic buildings. Every conservation easement document is individually crafted and reflects the special qualities of the land protected and the needs of the landowner.

The Mississippi Land Trust (www.misslandtrust.org) is pleased to announce the release of its newest conservation easement publication Conservation Tax Law Update, 2008. The update is just another in a long line of educational tools that the Mississippi Land Trust has developed to help educate Mississippi’s private landowners about conservation easements and their use.

For a free copy of the update, as well as a conservation easement handbook, please call the Land Trust at (662) 686-3375.