Events/News - Georgia Land Trust

Georgia Land Conservation Tax Credit
legislation update:

Land conservation tax credit improvements pass: The Senate Finance Committee’s substitute to HB 1274 was accepted, first by the Senate by a vote of 50 to 1 and then by the House in a unanimous vote on the 40^th and final day of the session. The measure now goes to the Governor, who is expected to sign it. The bill makes the following changes to the tax credit program:

The Board of Natural Resources will promulgate rules to determine whether or not a donated tract is suitable for conservation purposes. Currently, eligibility is determined by referral to the language in the GA Land Conservation Act, some of which is vague (e.g., lands that protect water quality).
Members of a partnership are eligible for a total tax credit of up to $1 million. Individuals are still limited to $250,000 and corporations to $500,000.
If a parcel of land is subdivided but remains in one ownership, only one qualified donation may be made in a given year.

Fair market value is determined by appraisal(s) “meeting the requirements of Section 170 of Title 26 of the United States Code, to be submitted in such manner as the commissioner [of the Department of Revenue] may by regulation require.”
Donations to the federal government qualify for the tax credit.
Substantial value misstatements are defined and penalties assessed for making them.
The donated portion of a bargain sale qualifies for the tax credit.
The carry forward for unused credits is extended from 5 to 10 years.

Improving the tax credit program was a top legislative priority this year for The Nature Conservancy, Georgia Conservation Voters, the Georgia Land Trust Service Center, the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Office of the Governor and others.

Expanding the Georgia Land Conservation Program passes:
The bill to expand the program (HB 1176) passed the General Assembly with only one dissenting vote. The bill makes the Georgia Forestry Commission, the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission and other state agencies eligible for grants from the program. It also allows non-profit organizations to borrow money for local land conservation projects approved by local government. The Governor is expected to sign this bill, too.

Budget for land conservation slashed to $10 million:
Governor Perdue had requested an appropriation of $35 million for land conservation in the FY2009 budget. The House reduced that amount by $25 million and the Senate reduced it by $9.45 million. The Conference Committee accepted the House version so the Georgia Land Conservation Program received an appropriation of $10 million. Of that, half will go to projects of statewide significance and half will go to local projects.

Above info from:
Network News, periodical produced by the Georgia Land Trust Service Center. To subscribe or to contribute news items, contact Hans Neuhauser at the Georgia Land Trust Service Center:
706-546-7507 or hansneuhauser@bellsouth.net

Legislative Update

From the Land Trust Alliance:
Promising News on the Easement Incentive in the Farm Bill
4/25/08 - Your efforts to persuade the House of Representatives to include the conservation tax incentive in the Farm Bill are working! We still need your help to seal the deal as House-Senate negotiations continue under a new one-week extension.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) was quoted yesterday as saying that a two-year extension of the conservation easement incentive was among the items the conferees on tax items have “agreed to,” but "agreed to" has some wrinkles. More

NW Georgia Efforts
Get Boost from
Open Space Institute Grant

In December 2007, the Georgia Land Trust (GLT) received $110,000 from the Open Space Institute (OSI) to assist protection of nearly 700 acres. The award came from a $4.25 million fund established by OSI and the Lyndhurst Foundation (a great friend over the years) to assist protection of critical habitat lands identified in State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) in the southern Appalachians.

The grant to GLT helps underwrite endowments for CEs providing permanent protection to habitat areas identified by Georgia’s SWAP, a vital step in turning plan into protection on the ground.The impact of the protected lands is further extended by their contiguity with other protected lands—a prerequisite for use of these funds. Conservation is greatly enhanced when connectivity between protected lands allows wildlife that relies on the habitat to have greater range of movement within protected areas and by minimizing the intrusion of degrading land uses.

Among protected areas adjoining these CEs are the Chattahoochee National Forest, Cloudland Canyon State Park, Berry College, and other CEs previously put in place by Georgia Land Trust and the Lula Lake Land Trust, with which we partner in protection efforts in the Ridge and Valley ecoregion.

Northwest Georgia has long been active in land protection activity. Of our nearly 200 conservation easements in Georgia, more than 20 are in Floyd County alone—the single greatest total in any county; around 50 are in the region, protecting almost 9,000 acres.

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Press Coverage of
Benefits of the Enhanced Conservation Incentives

Click here to read Wall Street Journal and other articles posted to the Land Trust Alliance web site