Protecting Your Land

Many landowners are interested in dedicating all or part of their land to the natural world. Especially Californians, who have seen the exponential growth of cities and suburbs that now occupy so much of the once-varied habitats of the coast and inland valleys, want to know that at least some areas of natural land are preserved. To fulfill this desire, the land trust movement has sprung up and become a major contributor to preservation of natural habitat; plants, animals, birds, fish and all living things. The existence of untrammeled nature helps keep the Earth and all the creatures in balance.

Donated Land

Parcels of land may be donated to a non-profit land trust as a simple title transfer, or can be donated with certain stipulations as to the management. For instance, a gift of land may include a prohibition on building, or a stipulation that neighbors can walk across the land, etc. These management agreements are made with the land trust prior to transferring ownership. CoLT is constantly looking for donations of land that help us to conserve natural land in our areas of interest: estuaries, wetlands, pygmy forest, coastal prairie and bluff scrub, riparian forest and historic sites.

Donating land to a land trust also has the possibility of tax credits to the donating party. However, the credit is on the conservation value of the land, which is evaluated by the US IRS, not the land trust. Tax lawyers often get involved when a tax credit is a major reason for donating. We believe that the primary motivation must be to preserve natural land, with the tax credits secondary. There is a great deal of satisfaction in seeing land that you love preserved in its natural state.

Conservation Easements

Conservation easements, on the other hand, are a way of protecting areas of your land without giving up ownership or free use of the rest. An easement is described on a portion of the land and certain restrictions and uses spelled out in the document. The most common is a restriction on logging and/or development. Often a portion of a parcel will be designated as natural habitat, and the right to build on it is given up. This again may trigger a tax credit, with that determination being made by the IRS. Conservation easements are a way to insure that your land will be held in a natural state forever, as the easement restrictions become part of the deed to the land. CoLT staff is always willing to talk to you about easements or land donations.