None The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming Press Releases Search All Press Releases Kerry Brophy-Lloyd email: kbrophy@tnc.org phone: 307-335-2135

Thousands of Acres Conserved in 2007

Wyoming Landowners Work with The Nature Conservancy to Make a Difference

LANDER, WY— January 16, 2008— The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming worked with landowners to secure nine conservation easements protecting more than 11,000 acres of private lands from development in 2007. The final tally represents the most easements completed by the nonprofit in five years.

In addition, the Conservancy teamed up with the Green River Valley Land Trust and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to secure two more easements covering 2,300 acres.

Each of these voluntary conservation agreements limits residential development in order to secure open space and wildlife habitat. The private lands conserved in 2007 safeguard important natural areas, from critical elk and mule deer migratory corridors, to grizzly habitat, wetlands and rare plant populations. 

“This past year was really one to celebrate,” says Andrea Erickson Quiroz, the Conservancy’s Wyoming state director. “Of course, we really need to thank the landowners. Their donations are an enormous gift to conservation and to each one of us who cherish this state’s open spaces. They wanted to do the right thing for this generation and the ones to follow.”

Making the Connection
This past year is of particular significance, says Quiroz, because so many of the easements connect to adjacent public lands, or else private lands with conservation easements already in place.

“Private lands conservation is so much more effective when you look at the big picture rather than isolated parcels of land,” Quiroz says. “These projects really connect well with conservation efforts being undertaken by the Conservancy and other land trusts and agencies around the state.”

Landowner Steve Tobi says the fact that his property on the north side of the Owl Creek Mountains connects with public land is one of the main reasons he donated an easement in 2007. “It’s just nice to know that it won’t be developed,” says Tobi. “Things have changed a lot over the years and people are developing land that wasn’t considered before. When we’re gone we just want to know that we’ve left something behind that’s protected.”

A Race to the End
The Conservancy’s staff in Wyoming raced the clock right up until December 31 to finalize easements at year end, before an attractive conservation tax benefit expired. Called the Pension Protection Act, the legislation ran for 2006 and 2007 and had enhanced incentives for ranches and farms. A permanent version of the law is working its way through Congress but hasn’t been finalized.

While not the reason for donating an easement, the tax incentives may have fueled landowners who already had easements planned to act before the legislation expired, says Quiroz.

“There was such a groundswell of interest in Wyoming for donated easements this year that it shows that landowners in this state really want to safeguard the natural areas they care about,” says Quiroz. “Now if the law can become permanent it will help more of them make it a reality, especially farmers and ranchers.”

This past year’s projects bring the Conservancy’s total acreage of easement-conserved lands in Wyoming to more than 300,000 acres.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.