Last week in Bartow I sat through an entire day of presentations by Florida farmers and ranchers looking to sell a conservation easement (essentially, the development rights) to the state through the Rural and Family Lands Program, one of the primary land conservation programs in our state. Speaker after speaker — several moved to tears…
DetailsOur environment plays an essential role in providing a high quality of life for our country, our communities and our children. That’s why protecting it is so important. There are countless ways everyone can contribute to this mission but in recent years, land conservation has been a distinctly valuable tool for preserving the health of…
DetailsThink you know the South — BBQ, country music, pickup trucks? Nope. Put your assumptions on hold when you visit Greenville, South Carolina, because here you’ll find far more fun, food, and straight-up personality than those typical Southern staples imply. Once you visit, you’ll realize that, out of the dozens of “Greenvilles” around the country,…
DetailsConsidered by many as a founding father of wildlife ecology and land preservation, Aldo Leopold believed “conservation will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves in the public interest.” The conservation movement he helped inspire is now debating the appropriateness of those rewards when the land is owned by a real-estate partnership. I labor on the front lines of this debate as the head…
DetailsSource: Greenville News (May 25, 2017) – A new report released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau probably won’t shock many who’ve watched the fast-paced development and influx of jobs in Greenville within the past decade. The city of Greenville, according to the bureau’s latest population figures, is the fourth-fastest-growing city in the nation —…
DetailsBy: Jim Strickland, published in Tampa Bay Times (January 27, 2017) – Beyond our beaches and theme parks lies a Florida still unknown to many — Florida’s ranchlands. Off the beaten track, these lands are our last frontier. I consider myself blessed to live and work as a rancher in this magical landscape we call…
DetailsKeeping You Informed of New IRS Notice 2017-10 “Listing Notice 2017-10” as to “Syndicated Conservation Easement Transactions” was issued by the Treasury Department last week and represents the IRS’s decision to more actively address abuses the Department and Agency see occurring with people or entities misusing or simply thwarting the valid conservation purposes of Section…
DetailsEd Kulesa has made sure that the 101-acre farm on which he’s lived for 50 years will never be developed. He’s had offers from people who wanted to build a housing development and put in a gravel pit.
DetailsThe threatened Gunnison sage grouse used to thrive on the sage brush plains in Dolores County. But as farms, roads, and subdivisions encroached on critical habitat, their numbers diminished, triggering action by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act last year.
DetailsCongress last week approved a bill that makes tax incentives permanent for agreements that conserve land and preserve open space. Lands conservancies are calling it the most important legislation in decades for their movement.
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