Conservation Easement | Land Donation | Bargain Sale of Land | Your Next Step | Conservation Buyers

* Please note, Congress passed legislation that provides landowners with exceptional financial benefits for donating conservation easements and/or land to a land trust. These new tax regulations will be in effect until December 2007, so there is a short, but significant window of opportunity to preserve your land while enjoying a financial benefit. Please contact the Northeast Wilderness Trust today.

For more information on the new conservation tax laws, please see the following sources:

Fact Sheet: 2006 Federal Land Conservation Tax Code

Wall Street Journal Article: Tax Break With a View

Conservation Easement
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. A conservation easement allows you to continue to own and use your land and to sell it or pass it on to heirs, while preserving it. This is a great option for landowners who want to preserve wildlife habitat and the wild character of their land, while maintaining ownership.

When you donate a conservation easement to a land trust, such as NWT, you give up some of the rights associated with the land. For example, you might give up the right to build structures, while retaining the right to recreate on your land. Future owners also will be bound by the easement's terms. The land trust is responsible for making sure the easement's terms are followed.

Conservation easements offer flexibility for landowners and NWT works closely with landowners to draft an easement that best suits the land and the landowner's goals. An easement may apply to just a portion of the property and need not require public access.

If the donation meets the federal tax code requirements--it may qualify as a tax-deductible donation. The amount of the donation is the difference between the land's value with the easement and its value without the easement. Placing an easement on your property may also result in property tax savings.

A conservation easement can be essential for passing land on to the next generation. By removing the land's development potential, the easement lowers its market value, which may in turn lowers estate tax. Whether the easement is donated during life or by will, it can make a critical difference in the heirs' ability to keep the land intact.

NWT works with landowners interested in preserving thier land as wilderness. Wilderness is land where natural processes direct the ebb and flow of life. Wilderness is free from roads, logging, development and motorized recreation. Most land is the Northeast is recovering land. NWT is committed to ensuring the restoration of land as wild.

The greatest value of a conservation easement is the preservation of wild nature for future generations of all species. Because all landowners and properties are different, conservation easements vary greatly. Contact NWT for more information about conservation easements.

Land Donation
Donating land to be preserved as wilderness is truly one of the finest legacies a person can leave to future generations. It may be the best conservation strategy for you if you: want to preserve your land as wild; do not wish to pass the land on to heirs; own property you no longer use; own highly appreciated property; have substantial real estate holdings and wish to reduce estate tax burdens; or would like to be relieved of the responsibility of managing and caring for land.

Donating land releases you from the responsibility of managing the land and can provide substantial income tax deductions and estate tax benefits, while avoiding any capital gains taxes that would have resulted from selling the property. Most important, if the land is donated to the NWT because of its conservation value, it will be protected as forever wild.

Donating a Remainder Interest in Land
An outright donation is not the only way to give land. You can continue to live on the land by donating a remainder interest and retaining a reserved life estate. In this arrangement, you donate the property during your lifetime, but continue to live on and use the property. When you pass away, or sooner if you choose, the land trust gains full title and control over the property.

By donating a remainder interest, you can continue to enjoy your land and may be eligible for an income tax deduction when the gift is made. The deduction is based on the fair market value of the donated property less the expected value of the reserved life estate.

Donating Land by Will
If you want to own and control your land during your lifetime, but assure its protection as forever wild after your death, you can donate it by will to NWT.

Land Donations that Establish a Life Income
If you have land you would like to protect by donating it to a land trust, but need to receive income during your lifetime, you might use a charitable gift annuity. In a charitable gift annuity, you agree to transfer certain property to a charity, such as NWT, and the charity agrees to make regular annuity payments to one or two beneficiaries you specify for life. Your gift of land usually qualifies for a charitable income tax deduction at the time of the gift, based on the value of the land less the expected value of the annuity payments.

Another option for donating property and receiving regular income is a charitable remainder unitrust. You place the land in a trust, first putting a conservation easement on it if it is to be protected. Then the trustee sells the land and invests the net proceeds from the sale. One or more beneficiaries you specify receive payments each year for a fixed term or for life, then the trustee turns the remaining funds in the trust over to the land trust.

The gift qualifies for a charitable income tax deduction when the land is put in the trust, based on the value of the land less the expected value of the payments. Charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder unitrusts are most useful for highly appreciated land, the sale of which would incur high capital gains tax.

Bargain Sale of Land
If you need to realize some immediate income from selling your land, yet would like the property to go to NWT to be preserved as forever wild, a bargain sale might be the answer. In a bargain sale, you sell the land to NWT for less than its fair market value. This not only makes it more affordable for the land trust, but offers several benefits to you: it provides cash, avoids some capital gains tax, and entitles you to a charitable income tax deduction based on the difference between the land's fair market value and its sale price.

Your Next Step
NWT can help you arrive at a conservation plan that makes the most sense for you, and can put you in touch with appraisers, accountants, and land planners familiar with conservation techniques. Talk with your own legal and financial advisors and contact the Northeast Wilderness Trust for more information.

Conservation Buyer Option
Becoming a conservation buyer is a wonderful way to preserve land and enjoy ownership. If you wish to purchase protected land, becoming a conservation buyer may be an ideal option. Conservation buyers fill a unique niche by enabling land trusts to protect exceptional properties for which funding is difficult to secure. In these cases, the buyer agrees to purchase a property and protect it permanently with a conservation easement by working in partnership with a conservation organization. In some instances, the buyer may purchase a property that a land trust recently acquired and placed under a conservation easement.

Transactions involving conservation buyers can be beneficial for everyone involved: the sellers obtain a fair price for their land, the land trust furthers its conservation efforts, and the buyers gain tax advantages (from the easement gift), a beautiful property, and the satisfaction of knowing they have helped to save an important natural setting. In each case, the land trust provides support and technical guidance in facilitating the property's long-term protection.

Some conservation buyers choose not to retain the property they help to protect. These conservation investors can help land trusts by moving quickly to acquire a threatened property and then allowing the trust the time needed to raise funds for a subsequent land trust purchase. Although this is just one of the conservation tools land trusts can employ, it is an especially important one as property values increase and funding for land conservation is limited.

NWT is currently looking for a conservation buyer for a small parcel and cabin in central Maine. Located on a river, this parcel is a perfect rustic getaway for hiking, fishing and relaxing!

If you are interested in becoming a conservation buyer, please contact Kathleen Fitzgerald: kathleen@newildernesstrust.org