Summary of Proposals (summary.pdf) Full Description of Proposals (description.pdf) Nature Conservancy News Room Press Releases Search All Press Releases Jordan Peavey (703) 841-5980 jpeavey@tnc.org

Nature Conservancy Releases Legislative Proposals to Strengthen Conservation Easements

Organization Pledges to Work with Congress to Pass Legislation

Arlington, Virginia—April 6, 2005—The Nature Conservancy today released a set of legislative proposals designed to strengthen the laws and regulations governing conservation easements and help end abuses of this critically important conservation tool.

The Conservancy’s proposals aim to strengthen existing laws and regulations by:

• Improving conservation easement appraisal practices and standards.
• Providing additional financial resources to the Internal Revenue Service to enable appropriate review and oversight of the easement valuation substantiation process.
• Ensuring that conservation easements have a clear conservation benefit and serve important public purposes.
• Limiting modifications to conservation easements.
• Instituting tax penalties for the violation of the terms of a conservation easement.
• Ensuring conservation easements are enforced by qualified and financially-secure conservation organizations.

“Conservation easements are one of the most powerful and cost-effective voluntary tools available for the conservation of private lands,” said Jimmie Powell, the Conservancy’s director of government relations. “Although the vast majority of conservation easements protect important natural areas and produce significant public benefits, as with any charitable endeavor, there have been limited, but clear, cases of abuse.  This legislative package, if enacted, would go a long way toward eliminating those abuses without adversely affecting sound conservation transactions and donations that serve the public good.”

Powell said the legislative proposals were based, in part, on a set of recommendations from the Conservancy’s Conservation Easement Working Group, a team of 12 senior internal staff members that conducted a year-long review of the Conservancy’s easement practices.  Based on this review, the Conservancy adopted a number of changes to improve its own easement program.

Powell said the Conservancy now is actively sharing its legislative proposals with key members of Congress, including members of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, as they consider changes to the tax code affecting deductions for conservation easements.

“We originally shared a version of these proposals with the Finance Committee in January of last year,” Powell said.  “The Conservancy supports reforms and is eager to work with members to develop and pass appropriate legislation.

“Tax incentives granted by Congress 30 years ago to encourage the donation of conservation easements have been incredibly successful in helping preserve our natural heritage,” Powell continued.  “We need to take appropriate legislative steps now to end abuses and ensure easements and related tax incentives continue to enjoy wide support and remain available to help preserve open spaces, key agricultural lands and critical wildlife habitat.”

The Conservancy has used conservation easements to protect nearly 3 million acres of lands and waters across the United States.  Of this 3 million, 2 million acres are covered by conservation easements purchased by or donated to the Conservancy, and 984,000 acres are covered by conservation easements in which the Conservancy assisted government agencies, conservation organizations or land trusts.  The Conservancy today holds conservation easements on approximately 1,600 parcels of land.

For more information:

• How We Work: Conservation Easements
  Conservation easements are a powerful, effective tool for conserving private lands in the United States. The use of conservation easements has successfully protected millions of acres of wildlife habitat and open space, keeping land in private hands and generating significant public benefits.
• Press Release: Outdoor Recreation and Conservation Groups Urge Congress To Preserve Vital Conservation Tax Incentive Tool
  Two dozen leading national hunting, fishing, outdoor recreation and conservation groups have released a letter to Congress expressing their strong support for conservation tax incentives for conservation easements and highlighting the vital role easements play in virtually all outdoor recreation in the United States.