DENTON, Neb.—The Nebraska Land Trust is talking to landowners about signing federal contracts to promise not to develop their land, promising tax deductions to those who would preserve some of Nebraska’s picturesque places.
In a state where 97 percent of the land is privately owned, private owners decide much of how panoramic vistas, agriculture, wildlife and historical significance are preserved.
And according to Dave Sands of the Nebraska Land Trust, more landowners are taking advantage of an arrangement that allows owners to deduct the donated value of an easement annually.
“It’s from the Panhandle to Omaha and from the Kansas border to the South Dakota border,” Sands told a Denton audience of landowners thinking about agreeing not to develop. “I’m getting tremendous interest from landowners, for whatever reason, in the last six months.”
Orville Gertsch of Denton signed an easement with the federal government about a year ago to not develop 318 acres of grassy hills, a small reservoir and a windmill about 15 miles west of Lincoln.
Gertsch, 78, said he once lived oceanside in southern California with his wife and made a mistake by blocking her view when he bought an adjacent lot and built condominiums on it.
He said he didn’t intend to make the mistake again when the couple moved to Nebraska.
“I thought it made sense,” he said. “And she’ll probably live longer than I will, so nobody else will block her view either.”
Conservation easements are especially valuable to farmers and ranchers, who can claim tax deductions on the on easement values equal to 100 percent of their income for up to 15 years. For other landowners, the deduction is limited to 30 percent.
That incentive approved by Congress last year expires at the end of 2007, but proposals that would extend it have been filed in the Senate and House of Representatives.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star,
