Using Conservation Easements to Achieve Regulatory Objectives

Using Conservation Easements to Achieve Regulatory Objectives PDF Author: Darla Lynn Guenzler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 394

Get Book Here

Book Description


Reinventing Conservation Easements

Reinventing Conservation Easements PDF Author: Jeff Pidot
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 46

Get Book Here

Book Description
No recent happening in land conservation rivals the rapid expansion of conservation easements and the related growth in the number of land trusts over the past 15 years. Among the forces driving this phenomenon are tax and other public subsidies and the view that the conservation easement is a win-win strategy in land protection. The thesis of this policy focus report is that conservation easements are a valuable land protection tool, complementing regulation, land acquisition, and tax policies, but that reforms are needed in tax and other laws and conventions governing easements, lest we risk losing the public benefits for which the easements were established.

A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements

A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements PDF Author: C. Timothy Lindstrom
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610910540
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 301

Get Book Here

Book Description
Voluntary land conservation, resulting from increasingly alluring tax benefits, has significantly changed the face of land use in the United States and promises to have an even more significant influence in the future. There are more than 1,500 land trusts in the U.S. today, involving millions of acres of land that have been permanently protected by conservation easements. Most of these land trusts depend heavily upon the significant income or estate tax benefits offered by the federal tax code as an incentive for voluntary land conservation. However, only a very small percentage of land trust personnel, landowners or their advisors, or even government officials, fully understand the complexity of the requirements for these tax benefits. This is a comprehensive book on the tax benefits of the charitable contribution, or bargain sale, of a conservation easement. It provides a detailed explanation of the complex and extensive requirements of the federal tax code and related concepts, including the rules governing the operation of tax-exempt organizations such as land trusts. Clearly written, systematic in its coverage, it is intended to be of value for anyone who deals with land trust issues, including land trust staff and trustees, landowners, lawyers, accountants, government officials, and interested lay people. Structured for easy reference, A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements is designed to be used as a resource tool. Related topics are cross-referenced throughout. All principles in the book are illustrated with one or more useful examples. The tax benefits of contributing a conservation easement are unquestionably the heart of voluntary land conservation today. Knowledge of the tax law relating to land trusts and conservation easements is vital to properly establishing and managing land trusts and to insuring the tax deductibility of conservation easements. The future of voluntary land conservation is dependent on a clear understanding of tax policy. Complete, meticulous, and up to date, A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements is an essential handbook.

Code of Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Administrative law
Languages : en
Pages : 1186

Get Book Here

Book Description
Special edition of the Federal Register, containing a codification of documents of general applicability and future effect ... with ancillaries.

Conservation Easement Stewardship

Conservation Easement Stewardship PDF Author: Renee Bouplon
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780943915258
Category : Conservation easements
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Get Book Here

Book Description


Code of Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations PDF Author: United States. Department of Agriculture
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aeronautics
Languages : en
Pages : 1052

Get Book Here

Book Description
Special edition of the Federal register, containing a codification of documents of general applicability and future effect as of ... with ancillaries.

Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Protection of Environment, Pt. 190-259, Revised as of July 1, 2011

Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Protection of Environment, Pt. 190-259, Revised as of July 1, 2011 PDF Author: Office of the Federal Register (U.S.) Staff
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office
ISBN: 9780160889264
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 532

Get Book Here

Book Description


Conservation Covenants

Conservation Covenants PDF Author: Great Britain. Law Commission
Publisher: Stationery Office/Tso
ISBN: 9780102988321
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this report, the Law Commission make recommendations for the introduction of a new statutory scheme of conservation covenants in England and Wales. The recommendations to introduce such a scheme would create a new legal tool, enabling landowners to protect land in order to conserve and restore our natural and built environment. Conservation covenants would allow landowners voluntarily to create binding obligations on their own land to meet a conservation objective, such as preserving woodland, cultivating a particular species of plant or protecting a habitat for an animal, or farming land in a certain way. The proposed statutory scheme would give individual landowners the opportunity, using private agreements, to contribute to conservation efforts being made across England and Wales. The scheme will create a versatile, simple and cost-effective legal tool capable of: unlocking currently missed conservation opportunities by overcoming the legal difficulties faced when creating binding obligations; facilitating better ways to deliver existing conservation objectives; and providing assurance of long-term conservation benefits. The report includes a draft Conservation Covenants Bill, which would introduce the conservation covenant scheme into the law of England and Wales.

Riparian Areas

Riparian Areas PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309082951
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 449

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that wetlands be protected from degradation because of their important ecological functions including maintenance of high water quality and provision of fish and wildlife habitat. However, this protection generally does not encompass riparian areasâ€"the lands bordering rivers and lakesâ€"even though they often provide the same functions as wetlands. Growing recognition of the similarities in wetland and riparian area functioning and the differences in their legal protection led the NRC in 1999 to undertake a study of riparian areas, which has culminated in Riparian Areas: Functioning and Strategies for Management. The report is intended to heighten awareness of riparian areas commensurate with their ecological and societal values. The primary conclusion is that, because riparian areas perform a disproportionate number of biological and physical functions on a unit area basis, restoration of riparian functions along America's waterbodies should be a national goal.

Protecting the Land

Protecting the Land PDF Author: Julie Ann Gustanski
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 612

Get Book Here

Book Description
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a property owner and a conservation organization, generally a private nonprofit land trust, that restricts the type and amount of development that can be undertaken on that property. Conservation easements protect land for future generations while allowing owners to retain property rights, at the same time providing them with significant tax benefits. Conservation easements are among the fastest growing methods of land preservation in the United States today. Protecting the Land provides a thoughtful examination of land trusts and how they function, and a comprehensive look at the past and future of conservation easements. The book: provides a geographical and historical overview of the role of conservation easements analyzes relevant legislation and its role in achieving community conservation goals examines innovative ways in which conservation easements have been used around the country considers the links between social and economic values and land conservation Contributors, including noted tax attorney and land preservation expert Stephen Small, Colorado's leading land preservation attorney Bill Silberstein, and Maine Coast Heritage Trust's general counsel Karin Marchetti, describe and analyze the present status of easement law. Sharing their unique perspectives, experts including author and professor of geography Jack Wright, Dennis Collins of the Wildlands Conservancy, and Chuck Roe of the Conservation Trust of North Carolina offer case studies that demonstrate the flexibility and diversity of conservation easements. Protecting the Land offers a valuable overview of the history and use of conservation easements and the evolution of easement-enabling legislation for professionals and citizens working with local and national land trusts, legal advisors, planners, public officials, natural resource mangers, policymakers, and students of planning and conservation.