Do you own rural land? Are you concerned about what will happen to it in the future?
“Land preservation is everybody’s business. I decided to put my deed where my mouth was by preserving my family farm… to preserve the scenic beauty of this valley.” - Madison Marye, Montgomery County cattle farmer and former Virginia state senator, and his wife, Charlotte, preserved 562 acres along a scenic and historic stretch of U.S. 11/460 known as the Elliston Straightaway.
Many people in southwest Virginia own large tracts of rural land that are used for farming, forestry, hunting or just their own enjoyment. In some cases, their land has been passed down in their family for generations, and it has personal meaning beyond just being an asset or a place to live.
Sometimes people worry about what will become of their land when they’re gone. Hundreds of families in southwest Virginia have chosen to make sure their land stays in its rural or natural state forever through conservation easements: voluntary, permanent agreements between landowners and land trusts like the Western Virginia Land Trust that describe how the land can be used in the future.
“When we’re gone, we want our land to be used in a similar fashion. We hate to see land cut up, with houses all over in a nice rural community.” - Debbie Bright. She and husband Larry donated a conservation easement to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation on their Floyd County farm.
Every landowner has private property rights. When they sign a conservation easement, they voluntarily give up some of those rights, such as the right to build more than a certain number of homes on the land, or the right to subdivide it more than a certain number of times, in exchange for federal tax deductions and state tax credits.
The landowner still owns the land and can still use it in any way that’s not prohibited by the conservation easement. They don’t have to give the public access to the land. They can sell the land, leave it to their children, and in most cases do pretty much the same things on the land that they could before the easement. They’ve given up the right to intensively develop the land, but that’s something the landowner didn’t want to see happen anyway.
To learn more about conservation easements, view the links below, or contact the Western Virginia Land Trust at (540) 985-0000 or e-mail dperry@westernvirginialandtrust.org.
Links for landowners
2011 landowner special edition of Saving Land
Landowner DVD: Your Land, Your Choices. View online!
Western Virginia Land Trust application: You will need to complete this form if you plan for the Western Virginia Land Trust to be the holder of your conservation easement.
Western Virginia Land Trust stewardship funding policy: This explains the Western Virginia Land Trust’s requirements for its stewardship fund.
Virginia Outdoors Foundation materials: If your easement will be held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, click here to access their website and documents, including their application, sample easement, steps in the process, and guidelines.
VA Tax forms for Land Conservation Tax Credits: (link to Virginia individual tax credit forms page) See “LPC-1 – Application for a Land Preservation Credit” and associated schedules and instructions, and Schedule CR, “Credit Computation Schedule for Forms 760, 760PY, and 763.”
IRS Schedule 8283 (.pdf): Federal tax return form for reporting charitable gift in excess of $5,000, used to report gift with appraisal to justify gift’s valuation. To be signed by tax payer, appraiser and receiver of gift (land trust)
The Conservation Easement Registry: An interactive national map showing all of the conservation easements in the United States. See what land around you has been conserved.
