Bayou Land Conservancy was formed in 1996 as an offshoot of the Bayou Preservation Association, a Houston group dedicated to protecting the bayou systems of Houston. To better protect the bayous, and the water quality that flows into them, Bayou Lands (yes, plural) Conservancy was born to directly protect the floodplain green spaces surrounding these bayous. For a brief time, the organization was known as S.E. Texas Conservancy, and then 12 years ago, changed the name to Legacy Land Trust.
In 2010, the organization decided to reclaim its original name (deleting the “s” in Lands) and reverted to “Bayou Land Conservancy” on November 1, 2010. The “new-old” name correctly denotes the work we’ve been doing for close to 15 years – keeping the land-water connection as our primary motivator for lands we protect, with all conservation easement holdings containing tributaries running adjacent and/our through the lands we help public and private landowners protect.
There are more than 1,600 land trusts throughout the United States. Most, like Bayou Land Conservancy, work in a specific geographic area, protecting the natural spaces in their region. In Texas, there are close to 30 land trusts, with about 10 organizations doing specialized land trust work which is specifically to acquire and/or preserve lands. Because Bayou Land Conservancy’s work is focused in the large Houston region, our most effective efforts are placed in doing land preservation agreements, otherwise known as conservation easements.
These land preservation agreements are made with willing landowners who agree to set aside their land permanently from future commercial development in order to maintain the natural habitat of their property. It is important to note that these are voluntary agreements between the landowner and Legacy Land Trust; we are not in any way a state or federal agency. But the federal government does specifically authorize land trusts [not just any 501(c)(3) agency] to hold these conservation agreements, which are formal, legal documents which are recorded in the county records wherever the land is located.
Conservation easements are legal agreements between a landowner and a land trust that allow the landowner to retain ownership of their land, while permanently giving up certain rights that would endanger the property’s integrity, or conservation values. A conservation easement is flexible and often a good option for landowners because it may be tailored to suit the landowner’s needs. For instance, farm or ranch land may be protected from future development while allowing the landowner to continue farming the land. A landowner may also retain the right to build a house on a designated portion of land, while preserving the rest of the land and its primary conservation values (i.e., land near streams or wetlands might be preserved, while allowing a homesite in a less-sensitive upland area).
The major benefit to landowners is that their property liability is decreased dollar-for-dollar by the value of the conservation easement, up to a certain level. Therefore, if a landowner donates a $100,000 conservation easement, he/she may take a $100,000 income tax credit over the next several years, and potentially benefit from a significant drop in estate taxes.
While no land trust can advise you on the actual tax benefit of donating a conservation easement (you’ll need a tax advisor for this), they can help you determine if your land has potential for conservation, and if so, how to proceed with the best conservation strategy for you. Regardless, the best strategy for considering any conservation option is to contact Bayou Land Conservancy and ask about different ways in which you may be able to find a solution to protecting your land.
