Conservation tax incentive extended by Congress: Benefits apply to landowners who donate toward easement on property

One of the lesser-known elements of the recently passed federal tax package is a provision that allows landowners to get substantial benefits for protecting their land under conservation easements. The incentive has been key in the past for North Coast landowners who have opted to sell development rights on their land and often undertake different management strategies. The provision applies to donations landowners make toward the value of the conservation easement, and local land trust representatives say it's vital for projects going forward. The bill -- which was authored by Rep. Mike Thompson but rolled into the larger tax package -- allows landowners to take a 50 percent income tax deduction for donating a conservation easement. It allows farmers and ranchers to deduct all of their income for such a donation, and it increases the number of years in which a landowner can take deductions from six to 16 years, according to the Land Trust Alliance. The extended incentive applies to donations in 2010 and 2011. Thompson said the conservation easement incentives are vital and have gone toward helping put 500,000 acres of land across the country under development protection...more