ACT NOW!!!

At the begining of this year, The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation proposed major decreases in federal tax deductions for land trusts. This proposal could be adopted at any time and would have very negative effects on the work being done by land trusts.

So what is a land trust?

• A land trust is a nonprofit organization that, as all or part of its mission, actively works to conserve land by undertaking or assisting direct land transactions—primarily the purchase or acceptance of donations of land or conservation easements.
• They are independent, entrepreneurial organizations that work with landowners who are interested in protecting open space. But land trusts often work cooperatively with government agencies by acquiring or managing land, researching open space needs and priorities, or assisting in the development of open space plans.

I think I've hit the high points here, but complete information is available at www.lta.org. The reasoning behind the proposed decreases is that there has been some attention paid by the press lately to some less than completely ethical tax practices on the part of some land trusts. Lets face it, in any group, there are bound to be a few shady characters, but Congress wants to punish the entire group, and make the good work that they do that much harder.

My personal experience with land trusts has been nothing but positive. Here in Greenville, there is a river that I am particularly attatched to. It is the river in which I conducted my very first "scientific research" in the form of several science projects and where I first learned the importance of wetlands. Throughout my work on that river, I received a lot of support, including a little money, from a land trust called the Friends of the Reedy River. These people are great. In the decade that I have been involved with them, they have made river conservation a well known subject in a town that used to make its living abusing the Reedy (with the waste from several textile mills). They have encouraged and helped to plan responsible growth around the river and helped people to recognize the benefits of having a clean river. This is all great work, but they earn my respect by going out into the river twice a year to clean it up. Sounds simple, but that water is cold, the rocks are slippery, and there are bugs and snakes and mud. The Friends of the Reedy River supported the projects that eventually paid for an entire year of college for me. Now they are asking for help telling congress why they need to keep their tax exemptions. The Land Trust Alliance provides an example letter that can be copied and pasted into an email or printed and mailed as well as a listing of representaives and their contact information. I would appreciate it quite a lot if you could all take a moment to ask your representatives to protect tax exemptions for land trusts.