Land Conservancy News Articles:
- Land Stories What we give is returned in abundance March-2011
- Mill Road 1-31-2011
- OSC Open Space Benefits Report 3-25-2010
- NYSAC Blue Ribbon Task Force Farming 9-2010
- Environmental Funding in New York Overview 10-2010
- Conservation Easement Tax Credit for Land Owners
- Land Conservancy Receives Open Space Grants
- My View
- Kenneglenn
Conservation Easement Tax Credit for Land Owners
After six years of effort by the Land Trust Alliance and New York’s 80 land trusts, New York State recently passed a Conservation Easement Tax Credit for land owners. This innovative credit is the first of its type in the nation. The Conservation Credit is expected to enhance open space protection efforts throughout the state.
Patricia Szarpa, Western New York Land Conservancy Executive Director predicts that, “The new law will be a powerful incentive for land conservation across the state and in our Western New York region.” Terry Yarnall, Town of Aurora Supervisor hopes that this will have an impact in Aurora. “We are forming an open space committee to look at ways to preserve more green space. This incentive may encourage landowners to consider protecting their land with a conservation easement.”
The Conservation Credit gives New York State landowners, whose land is restricted by a permanent conservation easement, an annual rebate of 25% of the property taxes paid on that land, up to $5,000 per year. Landowners can claim this rebate when they file their 2006 state income tax returns. It is available to all owners of easement-restricted land regardless of when the easement was created, provided that the easement was wholly or partially donated to a land trust or a governmental agency. Eligible landowners will receive the rebate regardless of how much income tax they owe.
The Conservation Credit is expected to increase conservation across the state because it:
- Removes one of the most significant barriers to easement donation in New York — the lack of property tax relief on easement restricted land;
- Enables landowners with modest incomes, such as retirees and farmers, to conserve their land without sacrificing financial security;
- Continues with the land so that successive owners, as well as the original easement donor, benefit from it;
- Provides a powerful motivator for landowners to abide by the terms of their easements.
The Conservation Credit does not reduce local property tax revenues, so there is no negative impact on town and county budgets.
The Department of Taxation and Finance has begun drafting regulations to implement the new tax credit.
Individuals that currently have property that is protected by a conservation easement or are considering placing an easement on your land, should share this information with their tax preparer and their financial advisor.
The Western New York Land Conservancy is a not-for-profit land trust that protects over 3,900 acres of land including scenic vistas, forested lands, wetlands, fragile natural ecosystems, lakefront shorelines and working farms across the eight counties of Western New York. For more information contact Land Conservancy Executive Director, Patricia Szarpa at pszarpa@wnylc.org or (716) 687-1225.
Western New York Land Conservancy Receives two Grants for Open Space Protection
Former Governor George E. Pataki announced $450,000 in grants and technical assistance to land trusts to enhance open space conservation in New York State. The Western New York Land Conservancy was the recipient of two grants, one in partnership with American Farmland Trust. The funding is provided by the New York State Conservation Partnership Program, a pioneering public-private partnership designed to build strong local and regional open space programs and develop new land conservation partnerships in the state. The state funds are matched by $2.25 million in non-state funds.
“New York is leading the nation in efforts to conserve open space, and land trusts can play a vital role in protecting the important resources of communities across the State,” Governor George E. Pataki said. “This grant program, unique in the country, underscores our commitment to working in partnership with non-profit conservation groups and local governments to preserve our natural resources, from farm and forest land, to wetlands, critical environmental areas and outdoor recreational facilities.”
The Western New York Land Conservancy received a $16,800 grant for the Niagara Escarpment Legacy Project, an initiative to protect high-conservation value areas in the Niagara Escarpment landscape and its vicinity as a contiguous natural environment. The project will help protect the last remaining undeveloped parcels of the Escarpment in the Lockport area and will further ecological restoration of oak savannah forests and native grasslands in this priority conservation area.
The Land Conservancy received a $14,500 collaborative grant with American Farmland Trust to work with local governments and an expanded range of constituents to accelerate the pace of farmland protection in Western New York. The grant will aid in funding a farmland protection conference on November 9, 2006 and will expand the technical assistance that these organizations provide for communities engaged in farmland protection in the region. Diane Held from American Farmland Trust said, “We are pleased to have this partnership with the Land Conservancy to focus on working with local governments on planning for agriculture.”
Patrician Szarpa, Executive Director for the Western New York Land Conservancy applauded the State’s investment in land conservation: “New York State has been extremely creative and proactive in fostering public-private partnerships that use a limited amount of State funding to leverage millions of dollars in matching funds. This grant will help Western New York identify and protect the special natural places and working farms that define our community.”
The Western New York Land Conservancy is a membership supported, not-for-profit land trust dedicated to preserving our region’s irreplaceable natural environments, farms, forests, wetlands and open space. Founded in 1991, the Land Conservancy permanently protects over 3,700 acres land in the eight counties of Western New York. For additional information, visit the Western New York Land Conservancy’s web site at www.wnylc.org or call (716) 687-1225.
MY VIEW - Buffalo News, March 18, 2005
Maybe you're too old to ski, TV is boring or the county budget problems are producing a never-ending riddle of unsolved problems. For a wonderful change, why not try a ride around rural Western New York? There are no traffic problems, unless you venture too close to a ski resort. If it's a sunny day, your whole attitude will improve.
The Sunday we chose for our ride was ideal, with fresh snow that was a dazzling white. The old barns from another era, houses that matched the barns' plain simplicity, or rusted and worn farm equipment left out in the fields each cast a distinctive black abstract shadow on the gently rolling, snow-covered fields.
Anything that protruded out of the whiteness created a different set of patterns. Rows of corn stubble, in straight soldier-like columns, appeared to be marching across a field only to be interrupted by a hedgerow of trees or to bend and settle into the little gully of a frozen stream.
Snow fences create a series of drifts, much like miniature sand dunes, their surface covered with wavy-ripple patterns on the soft blanket of snow. A clump of pine trees, branches bowed down with fresh snow, had a lacy appearance when viewed across a meadow.
There was still more to see. Rural hamlets were marked by a cluster of buildings, time and weather aging them into a simple sameness.
We passed a farm with a small herd of black horses that only an artist could appreciate. On a distant pasture, one lone deer wandered slowly across an unmarked field of snow.
Driving past another farm, we spotted a row of Canada geese waddling single file toward a pond and its tiny patch of open water. Around a corner, a startled deer sprinted across the road. A slight touch on the brakes gave us both time to enjoy the rest of the day.
Another turn, and the road narrowed through a clump of trees that provided a trail for five wild turkeys to walk solemnly, heads down, like a row of dark-robed college professors. The occasional hawk glided silently overhead, all enhanced by the spotlight provided by the sun.
Farther away from the small towns or hamlets, you may drive past vast fields of fresh white snow. This serenity will be interrupted only by the crisscross tracks of the ever-present snowmobile riders.
Singly or in groups, the tracks weave their way down trails known only to these modern-day wanderers. A single track, left by a lone rider, will cut across a field and disappear over a hill. Then again, you might see broad ribbons of tracks, left by a posse of riders who charge down these rural highways. The patterns engraved in the snow make a ride in the country so fascinating.
As we headed toward home, we were treated to still more views that seemed as if they were composed by an artist. The now familiar trees, barns, houses, fences and farm equipment appear to constantly change as the shadows lengthen and the day ends.
If you look beyond the ordinary, on a bright late-winter day in Western New York, you'll see sights that will improve your outlook on life.