Conservation easements

[Triple C]

I wouldn't shy away from land in a conservation easement if the price reflected the current discounted value for having been placed in a CE. CE's run all across the board from very restrictive to allowing for most any type of farming operation. I came very close to putting my land in a CE but changed my mind at the last minute. Had I gone thru with the easement, mine would have allowed for most any type of agricultural practice ranging from timber to animal husbandry but would have prevented it from every being subdivided or developed. Due to the rural area my farm is located, along with "best use" I just didn't see the tax advantages outweighing the restrictions 50 years down the road. Most all CE's are in perpetuity. Who knows what things look like 20, 30, 50 years from now. For just general recreation/timber/wildlife management, if the price is right, I'd consider land in a CE.

 

[SD51555]

Who knows what things look like 20, 30, 50 years from now.

That's what irks me about it. While expedient for us today, what does that leave the future? I'll probably be long gone before the day comes, but it will come. Those that come after us decades from now will wonder what the hell we were thinking when we gave the land away. It just seems completely un-american to me to give up the land. Billions are spent every year to reduce the amount of unencumbered private land and it makes me shake my head.

I also worry about what happens to those of us that still have land and land rights when the angry and poor voting majority does not. "These guys with food plots, orchards, ponds, hybrid oaks, perfect access, cabins, and heated palace blinds need to be dealt with!"

 

[Tree Spud]

I wouldn't shy away from land in a conservation easement if the price reflected the current discounted value for having been placed in a CE. CE's run all across the board from very restrictive to allowing for most any type of farming operation. I came very close to putting my land in a CE but changed my mind at the last minute. Had I gone thru with the easement, mine would have allowed for most any type of agricultural practice ranging from timber to animal husbandry but would have prevented it from every being subdivided or developed. Due to the rural area my farm is located, along with "best use" I just didn't see the tax advantages outweighing the restrictions 50 years down the road. Most all CE's are in perpetuity. Who knows what things look like 20, 30, 50 years from now. For just general recreation/timber/wildlife management, if the price is right, I'd consider land in a CE.

That's like saying I will love you forever, marrying the girl without a pre-nup, and wondering why you are broke saddled with support payments.

Nobody offers a conservation easement, including the Gov't., thinking they could lose control of what they are buying control of ...

 

[Tree Spud]

I also worry about what happens to those of us that still have land and land rights when the angry and poor voting majority does not. "These guys with food plots, orchards, ponds, hybrid oaks, perfect access, cabins, and heated palace blinds need to be dealt with!"

Thats why we have guns ... "Molon Labe" ...