Landowners have a wide variety of options to consider once a decision is made to conserve their property. CLG assists owners in understanding the range of options available to them and how to best accomplish their personal and financial goals through a property disposition. Read more about the various conservation options used by CLG’s clients.

Conservation Easements/Sale of Development Rights
Conservation easements can be used to protect a variety of property types, including farms, ranches, scenic areas, historic properties and wildlife habitat from subdivision, development, or other incompatible uses. Conservation easements are legal contracts which place restrictions in perpetuity on how the land can be used, with a land trust or public agency acting as the monitor or steward of the easement. Each conservation easement is tailored to the specific property and the needs of the individual landowner. Conservation easements may include only a portion of a property and need not allow public access to the land. Outright or partial donations of conservation easements to land trusts and public agencies can qualify as charitable contributions for income tax purposes. Conservancies and land management agencies also purchase conservation easements using appraisals to determine fair market value. Conservation easements can also be an effective tool for reducing estate taxes and property taxes.

Land Sales
Fee title to the property is sold to a public agency or land trust at the appraised fair market value. Funding for such transactions is available from a wide variety of federal, state, local and private sources depending upon the property attributes, geographic location and other factors.

Bargain Sales
Fee title to the property is sold at some percentage below the fair market value to a public agency or land trust. The difference between the property’s appraised fair market value and the sales price can qualify as a charitable contribution for income tax purposes.

Land Donations
Fee title to the property is donated outright to a public agency or land trust. The fair market value of the property, substantiated by an independent appraisal, can be claimed by the donor as a charitable contribution for income tax purposes.

Reserved Life Estates
The donation or sale of property to a land trust or public agency with the owner (and sometimes his or her heirs) continuing to live and use the property, usually until their death. This mechanism allows the landowner to receive the benefit of using the property during his or her lifetime while also being assured that the land is preserved in the future.

Charitable Remainder Unitrust
This somewhat complex technique can be combined with a conservation easement to protect land in perpetuity and assist with estate planning. The owner donates a conservation easement over the property to a land trust or other charitable organization and transfers fee title to the property into a charitable remainder trust. The trust then sells the property subject to the conservation easement and re-invests the proceeds. Beneficiaries receive regular payments based on a percentage of the assets in the trust. All funds remaining in the trust at the end of a fixed term or upon the death of the beneficiary/beneficiaries are transferred to a charitable organization (such as a land trust). Advantages of this approach include income tax deductions for the value of the conservation easement donation and for the value of the asset less the expected amount of the payments, the avoidance of capital gains taxes on the sale of the property and the removal of the asset from the estate for estate tax purposes.

Combination of Options
The above strategies (and other techniques) are often combined to complete a conservation project. For example, a landowner may want to sell fee title to a portion of his/her property and simultaneously sell (or donate) a conservation easement over the balance. Or, an owner may want to sell fee title to the bulk of his/her property and reserve a life estate over the family ranch compound.