Conserve Your Land

Conservation Options & Resources

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What is a Conservation Easement?

A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified organization, such as a land trust, that limits certain uses of the land – like large scale subdivision – in order to conserve the natural and traditional values of the land. Landowners grant conservation easements to protect the resources of their property while retaining the rights of private ownership. Granting a conservation easement does not mean that the landowner must grant public access to his or her property. The terms of the conservation easement represent a mutual agreement between the landowner and the Land Trust. We work only with willing landowners and do not ask the landowner to enter into an agreement that he or she is not satisfied with.

Landowners protect their land for many reasons. Common reasons include: helping pass the family land to future generations and family members, gaining peace of mind that the land’s special features will be protected forever, financial benefits for you and your heirs– potential reduction in taxes (income, estate and property). Your tax attorney and accountant can tell you more about specific tax benefits.

Conserving your land benefits you and the community.

Open spaces, productive agricultural lands, and wildlife habitat enhance Eastern Idaho by:

Providing Economic and Health Benefits for All. Open spaces increase recreational opportunities, improve community health, enhance overall quality of life and emotional well-being, attract businesses to our communities and increase the value of our property.
Protecting the Beauty of the Teton Region Forever. Conservation Easements encourage private landowners to voluntarily protect valuable land that makes up the history, unique heritage and scenic landscapes of our beautiful region.
Providing Voluntary Option to Protect Private Land. Conservation agreements provide the public benefits at a fraction of the cost of an outright purchase of lands for conservation.

To qualify for a conservation easement, lands must have significant value in one or more of the following categories:

Relatively natural wildlife habitat;
Historic lands or structures;
Open Space lands including farmland; and/or
Public Access

In addition to these qualifying categories, Teton Regional Land Trust considers other factors such as size and location of properties and their connectivity to other publically or privately conserved land.

To learn more about your conservation options, the process of completing a conservation easement, whether your land qualifies, and other frequently asked questions, view our landowner brochure.

Landowner Brochure

Do you want to hear from us about your property? Teton Regional Land Trust appreciates your interest in land conservation. Please complete and submit the form below for us to best respond to your inquiry.

Conservation Easement Inquiry Questionnaire

Resources to learn more about the benefits of land conservation

For stories and landowner experiences working with TRLT, click HERE.
The Land Trust Alliance, How do YOU benefit from Land Conservation?
The Trust for Public Land, Report on the Benefits of Land Conservation

Appraisals

Who calculates how much a conservation easement is worth?

For tax deductions on conservation easements worth more than $5,000, landowners must obtain a specialized conservation easement appraisal to substantiate their deduction. Landowners should consult a professional appraiser with direct experience with charitable gifts or easements to ensure compliance with federal law.

Landowner Brochure

Tax Example

What are the tax benefits of donating a conservation easement?

Qualifying for tax benefits.
The tax advisor and appraiser hired by the landowner are responsible for making sure the conservation easement qualifies for tax benefits under the federal tax code. The Land Trust has prepared a booklet of introductory materials for landowners and their professionals. Click here to download the landowner booklet.

The Enhanced Conservation Easement Tax Deduction
With the President’s signature on the federal budget deal reached toward the end of 2015, the enhanced conservation tax deduction was made permanent. A landowner can deduct 50% of his or her income and carry forward for 15 years. This gives a donor a total of 16 years to absorb the value of a donated conservation easement. There are also enhanced benefits for farmers and ranchers. Qualifying farmers and ranchers who donate a conservation easement are eligible to deduct up to 100% of their income and can take 15 years to absorb the value of the donated conservation easement value. Depending on the landowner’s residence, state income tax deductions may also be available. Landowners considering the gift of a conservation easement should consult with their legal or tax advisors to learn how the gift may benefit them financially.

Example: We provide an example of a calculation of easement value for illustration only. The property described is a model, not an actual property. The Land Trust does not appraise property values, and recommends that landowners seek the advice of their personal legal and financial advisors.

John and Emma Smith own 250 acres of land along the South Fork Snake River in Madison County and wish to retain the right to build one house with a small guesthouse. The Smiths will retain use of their property for recreation and ranching.

The Smiths hired an appraiser with extensive conservation easement appraisal experience. After researching the sales of comparable properties already under conservation easement, the sales of developed and undeveloped properties and the terms of the conservation easement, the appraiser calculated the value of the conservation easement on this 250-acre property to be $900,000.

The Smiths make $140,000 a year, giving them a tax deduction of $70,000 a year for twelve years, with the remainder of the deduction left to be taken in year 13.

Income Tax Benefits
Landowners donating qualifying conservation easements may be eligible to deduct up to 50% of their adjusted gross income each year for the year of the easement donation and the following five years, or until the value of the easement gift is used up, whichever occurs first. Depending on the landowner’s residence, state income tax deductions may also be available. Landowners considering the gift of a conservation easement should consult with their legal or tax advisors to learn how the gift may benefit them financially.

Estate Tax Benefits

The donation of a conservation easement may help family land stay in families’ hands. The heirs of easement donors may be able to exclude from their taxable estates up to 40% of the value of land subject to a qualifying conservation easement. In addition, the conservation easement reduces the fair market value of property by restricting the amount and type of development that can occur. This reduction also reduces the size of the estate. Those who inherit valuable land that’s unprotected may be able to use 2031(c) of the federal tax code to make a post-mortem election to donate a conservation easement, which could save them considerable estate taxes.

Legal defense
The Land Trust needs to be prepared to defend restrictions through litigation if voluntary means fail. The Land Trust calculates costs to cover perpetual stewardship for each specific property. The Stewardship donation is a suggested charitable donation and is not a prerequisite for acceptance of a conservation easement. However, the Land Trust must cover these costs before accepting a conservation easement. Part of the endowment will build the Land Trust’s legal defense capabilities to defend conservation easements.

Example

(We provide an example of a calculation of easement value for illustration only. The property described is a model, not an actual property. TRLT does not appraise property values, and recommends that landowners seek the advice of their personal legal and financial advisors.)

The Smiths make $100,000 a year, giving them a tax deduction of $50,000 a year for five years.

Landowner Brochure

Farm Succesion Planning

Teton Regional Land Trust received a four-year grant from American Farmland Trust (AFT) to support our involvement in their Land Transfer Navigator program with support from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, to dramatically increase the transfer of farm and ranch land to a new generation of producers. The program catalyzes practitioners from across the country to support equitable farm and ranch transfers that work for both entering and exiting generations.

As the Land Trust continues its efforts to conserve farmland with conservation easements, we are also looking at other ways to address the loss of farm and ranch lands in our service area. According to statistics shared by AFT, at least one third of agricultural lands in the US will be transferred within the next 20 years. This transfer of land is directly related to the rising average age of farmers and ranchers. As they retire and land ownership changes, the land the farmer previously stewarded is vulnerable to conversion away from agricultural uses. The rural communities in our service area depend on the viability of agricultural lands. Our participation in this program is part of our continued commitment to serve the landowners and communities within our service area.

If you are interested to learn more about farm succession, we encourage you to visit the Idaho Farm and Ranch Center to download a Farm and Ranch Transition Packet or take one of the online courses offered on that website.