Private tour of Klingel Wetland.

As a land trust, the Conservancy uses many tools to assist landowners and communities in their preservation efforts. If you’d like to learn more about any of the options described below, please contact the office at (360) 373-3500, (866)373-3504 (toll free), or via email.

Why Someone Might Want to Conserve Their Land

Perhaps you’ve watched the forests surrounding your property slowly disappear and fear for the future of your own trees. Maybe you own a farm that’s been in your family for years, one that you’d like to see future generations continue to farm. Perhaps you and your neighbors are concerned about the future of a creek that runs across your lands. Maybe you want to make sure the views out your windows are ones that your grandchildren will be able to enjoy.

For these reasons and more, landowners like you choose to conserve their lands. As populations grow and residential and commercial development expands throughout our region, our forests, natural shorelines, and open spaces are rapidly disappearing forever. A voluntary gift of land (or a gift of conservation interest in land) is one of the most significant contributions a family or an individual can make to the scenic and natural future of the Great Peninsula region.

Options for Land Conservation

Conservation Easement

As a private property owner you have the right to privacy; you have the right to farm your own land; you have the right to use and enjoy your property; you have the right to sell your land, or to pass it on to your heirs; you have water and mineral rights…and the right to develop your property.

One way you can protect your land is by donating a conservation easement to the Great Peninsula Conservancy. A conservation easement is a permanent, legal agreement placed on the title that limits future uses of the land. Each conservation easement is unique, written with your cooperation and with your needs and the needs of your particular piece of property in mind. Because the easement stays with the property when it is sold or inherited, it offers permanent protection for your land.

You may continue to live on your property, you can use the property for purposes such as farming or forestry, and you can sell or pass on the property when you choose. But with a conservation easement in place, you'll have the assurance that, come what may, your unique piece of land will be protected. With conservation easements we choose to give future generations a chance to know and enjoy the land – just as we have.

Advantages to protecting your land with a conservation easement:

• You retain ownership and may continue to live on the land, sell it, or pass it on to heirs.
• Conservation easements are flexible and can be written to your specific needs.
• They are permanent, regardless of who owns the land.
• A Conservation easement may significantly lower estate taxes and property taxes.

Land Donation

Donating land for conservation purposes may be the best conservation strategy for you if you do not wish to pass your land to heirs, if you own property you no longer use, if you own a highly appreciated property, if you have substantial real estate holdings and wish to reduce estate tax burdens, or if you would merely like to be relieved of the responsibility of managing and caring for land.

The Conservancy accepts donations of land with and without conservation value. Lands with conservation value will either be held permanently by the Conservancy or protected with a conservation easement and then sold to a conservation buyer. Lands without conservation value will be sold to fund future projects and the work of the Conservancy. Donating land is more straightforward than protecting land with a conservation easement and you will receive tax benefits for your charitable donation regardless of whether the land has conservation value.

Advantages to donating your land to the Great Peninsula Conservancy:

• The donation process is simpler than protecting land through a conservation easement.
• You are relieved of responsibility for the land.
• You receive tax benefits regardless of whether the land has conservation value.
• You avoid capital gains tax.
• If your land has conservation value, it will be permanently protected.

Bequests

If you'd like to retain ownership of your land during your lifetime but want to ensure its protection after your death, donating your land to the Great Peninsula Conservancy via a bequest in your will may be an ideal solution for you. Before establishing the bequest, please contact the Conservancy so that we are aware of your intentions and prepared to accept your gift.

Advantages of bequesting your land to the Great Peninsula Conservancy:

• You can continue to live on the land while ensuring its future protection.
• You may significantly reduce estate taxes.
  

Remainder Interest Land Donation

An outright donation is not the only way to give land. You may give land while continuing to live on it by donating a remainder interest and retaining a reserved life estate. In this arrangement, you donate the property during your lifetime, but continue to live on and use the property. When you die (or sooner, if you choose), the land trust gains full title and control over the property.

By donating a remainder interest, you can continue to enjoy your land and may be able to claim an income tax deduction for the value of the donation, your estate taxes may be reduced, and the property taxes are levied only on that portion of the land retained for personal use.

Advantages to making a remainder interest land donation to the Great Peninsula Conservancy:

• You may continue to live on your land while ensuring its future protection.
• You may qualify for a reduction in estate taxes, an income tax deduction and a reduction in property taxes.

GPC Project Priorities

In order to protect the most vulnerable parts of the Great Peninsula region, the Great Peninsula Conservancy prioritizes conservation projects that include one or more of the following features:

Water-related lands: These lands include estuaries, marine shorelines, wetlands, streams, and riparian corridors in a broader context.

Open space with an established or recognized conservation value: These lands have a wide range of conservation values, and may include lands that are working forests or farmlands, lands that promote or preserve a particular community character, and lands with unique habitat or geography.

Passive recreational lands: These lands support passive recreational opportunities such as trails, non-motorized water access, and picnicking, viewing and interpretive areas. Trails and trail corridors are a priority.

Other lands: Certain lands may be considered on a case by case basis because of the importance of particular characteristics or other significant opportunities they bring to the organization.

You don’t have to own land to be a part of conservation in our region. Click here for other ways to get involved.

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