Land Trusts and Wetland Preservation
…a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning. It assumes, falsely, I think, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function without the uneconomic parts. It tends to relegate to government many functions eventually too large, too complex, or too widely dispersed to be performed by government. An ethical obligation on the part of the private owner is the only visible remedy for these situations.
Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) was an American scientist, forester, professor at the University of Wisconsin and author. He wrote the above commentary in his book A Sand County Almanac in 1949. Leopold provides a rational for individual responsibility in conserving the land and therefore an appropriate introduction in the use of land trusts as an option for individual landowners to preserve their wetlands for future generations. A land trust, also called conservancy, is a nonprofit organization established to protect land for the public good. That may give you pause, as the federal and state governments’ responsibility is to preserve and manage public lands. The federal government owns and maintains about thirty percent of the land in the United States. So the greater opportunity to conserve is in the hands of private landowners and as Leopold pointed out this is “too large, too complex, or too widely dispersed to be performed by government."
There are national, regional and local land trusts that work with landowners through conservation easement, land sale or donation to the land trust. While the landowners’ primary motivation to donate land or establish a conservation easement may be conserve the wetland for future generations, there are also federal and in some states tax benefits that provide an extra incentive. Most land trusts outline conservation options and tax benefits on their website. Attached is information from Gathering Waters Conservancy in Madison, Wisconsin, which provides definitions, a land trust map for the various options and tax benefits that are associated with the various forms of donations. http://www.gatheringwaters.org/about-land-trusts/conservation-options-for-landowners/transferring-land-ownership/