The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently estimated that this nation loses more than 3 acres of farmland a minute to development. Have you ever looked around and wondered where we'll grow our food, where our children will play and where our clean water will come from a hundred years from now?
There are many ways to protect land for future use, but one of the most widely used and cost-effective means is called a conservation easement. Conservation easements are the new face of conservation, allowing private landowners to set aside woodlands, farmlands or watersheds in exchange for a limited tax credit.
In 2006, that tax credit was enhanced by Congress to better attract farmers, ranchers and foresters, which greatly increased the number of acres being donated into easements to roughly one million acres per year. That law expired last year and has left many of us compelled to help make that important and successful conservation tax credit permanent.
Donations of such easements have allowed family farmers and other moderate-income landowners to get a significant tax benefit for conserving the land in perpetuity while still being able to farm. We have many working farms here in Arkansas that have been donated into easements.
Farmers can stay on their land and continue to work their land, generating tax revenue for local coffers and jobs for local workers. The land remains private, and can be sold, or passed down to heirs. The only thing that sets easements aside from other parcels of land is that there are restrictions on future development, thus ensuring a legacy for our children.
These easements are most often managed by nonprofit, local conservation groups to ensure that the protected lands are cared for into perpetuity, without additional taxpayer cost incurred through government management or ownership. There are four of these organizations in Arkansas helping to oversee the state's nearly 14,000 conserved acres. Nationally, there are 1,700 land trusts helping to conserve the nation's 16 million acres set aside for conservation.
The Hutcheson family in Saline County has chosen to preserve their family farm through a conservation easement. This fifth-generation farm includes cropland, open space, streams and forest, as well as a healthy wildlife population. Three generations currently live on the property and are actively working to preserve the nature of this beloved farm through proper conservation practices.
The heritage of this valued resource is important to this family, as it is to all of us who wish to preserve family farm life in Arkansas.
Conservation easements vary from location to location. In other parts of Arkansas, easements are comprised primarily of forests that are near urban and developed areas and thus are important wildlife corridors, or near watersheds that are critical to both wildlife and humans.
When the enhanced incentive expired in 2013, it wasn't the first time it had expired. Understanding that it is almost impossible to plan for making large gifts--like a major land donation--with an on-again, off-again tax incentive, members of Congress like our own Tim Griffin helped move this measure out of committee by building a bipartisan bill to make the enhanced incentive permanent.
The Conservation Easement Incentive Act, HR2807, now has enough co-sponsors--including the entire Arkansas U.S. House delegation--to pass the House of Representatives if it is brought up for a vote. But time is of the essence, as the number of legislative days left for this year are very limited.
Arkansas was part of the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, becoming a separate territory in 1819 and achieving statehood in 1836. The natural beauty and quality of living that has drawn people here to visit and to live for generations is worth saving.
By making the enhanced conservation easement incentive permanent, we will ensure that the farmland and woodlands that benefit us all will be there for them too.
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Carol Williams, executive director of the Land Trust of Arkansas, is based in Little Rock.
Editorial on 06/26/2014