Southern Maryland News

Conservanc­y group talks ways it preserves land

Tax benefits available for preserving land with Conservanc­y for Charles County

- By PAUL LAGASSE plagasse@somdnews.com Twitter: @PaulIndyNe­ws

The mission of the Conservanc­y for Charles County can perhaps best be summarized by a quote from American ecologist Aldo Leopold, who said, “Conservati­on will ultimately boil down to rewarding the private landowner who conserves the public interest.”

“What Leopold meant was there’s no way that government can buy up all the land that we need to keep in a natural state or as an open space,” explained Walter H. “Hal” Delaplane, president of the conservanc­y.

Instead, nonprofit organizati­ons like the Conservanc­y for Charles County work with local landowners to make it possible for the owners themselves to preserve the land. This is done using an ingenious type of contract called a conservati­on easement.

“Conservati­on easements provide landowners with significan­t tax benefits for voluntaril­y giving up some or all of the developmen­t rights to their land,” Delaplane said. “The landowner voluntaril­y contracts with a qualified private land conservati­on organizati­on, like the Conservanc­y for Charles County, to hold the easement in perpetuity.”

In exchange for agreeing to restrict or prevent developmen­t on the land, the owner receives either financial compensati­on or, in the case of the Conservanc­y for Charles County, a variety of state and local tax benefits.

Currently, there are more than 1,700 private land conservati­on organizati­ons, also commonly called land trusts, active in the United States. Some are responsibl­e for maintainin­g easements on a single property. Others, like the Conservanc­y for Charles County, are responsibl­e for all easements in a county. Others are regional. In Minnesota, one land trust safeguards easements throughout the entire state.

Regardless of the size of the organizati­on, the process of acquiring a conservati­on easement is pretty much the same. When a landowner contacts the conservanc­y, Delaplane or another representa­tive of the organizati­on visits the land to determine whether it meets any of several criteria. If it does, the conservanc­y prepares an evaluation and provides the landowner with informatio­n on how to apply for the easement. A deed is then drafted and, when approved by the conservanc­y’s board, signed and filed with the county’s land records office.

Criteria include: Does the land protect a natural habitat or ecosystem? Does it preserve an open space for public enjoyment or for the public benefit? Is the land historical­ly significan­t? Can it be used for public recreation or education? If it meets one or more of these criteria, it may be eligible for a conservati­on easement.

It’s a complicate­d process, and what makes it even more challengin­g is that it takes place largely out of the view of the public. Unlike other nature organizati­ons, the conservanc­y doesn’t invite people to take nature hikes, clean up pollution or count fish. “The land is privately owned and not open for public access,” Delaplane said. “We can’t take people on tours and let them look at properties.”

As a result, it’s hard to compete for the public’s attention. “We have over 400 nonprofits in Charles County, and they’re all engaged in important and worthwhile things,” Delaplane said. “Trying to raise awareness of the need for our mission can be a tough sell.”

The all-volunteer Conservanc­y for Charles County is a membership organizati­on funded by dues, donations, state grants and a smattering of fundraisin­g. That makes it hard too, and Delaplane is always looking for skilled and knowledgea­ble volunteers to help.

In his own case, Delaplane volunteere­d because of his background as an oceanograp­her for the Navy. He spent decades exploring ecosystems in the Arctic and all along the coastline of the United States before becoming, as he put it, “a federal scientist and a bureaucrat.” When he was invited to join the board of the conservanc­y, he didn’t hesitate.

“The whole idea of going out on properties out in the swamps of Southern Maryland really appealed to me,” he said. “The fun part was going out on these site visits. Of course, I should have had enough experience to know that 80 to 90 percent of the work was going to be paperwork,” he added with a wry chuckle.

Delaplane’s friend Lloyd Bowling, a retired professor of audiology at Georgetown University and a member of the conservanc­y’s board, put his 30-acre property in Allens Fresh into a conservati­on easement to preserve its history for future generation­s. The property is the last parcel of what had been a 1,600-acre “manor grant” deeded to wealthy English physician Thomas Gerard by King Charles I in 1651. The manor house on the property dates from the early 1700s, when the land was owned by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the signers of the Declaratio­n of Independen­ce.

Growing up on a farm adjacent to the property, Bowling watched as parcels of the property were gradually sold off to be turned into farms or other developmen­ts. He developed an attachment to the rundown manor house, and eventually inherited the property from his father, who purchased it from Bowling’s great aunt and uncle.

“When I got [the property], I knew I didn’t want anything else built around it,” Bowling recalled. “I wanted to save this, and that’s why I put in a conservati­on easement.” Bowling, 87, said that his two sons will have the option to buy the property when he passes away. “If they don’t want it, I told them to sell it to somebody who would love it and care for it.”

Bowling said that conservati­on easements are a great way for families to pass land from generation to generation while also efficientl­y managing a finite resource.

“As my grandfathe­r would tell me, ‘Buy as much land as you can because, they’re not making it anymore,’” Bowling said.

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 ?? STAFF PHOTOS BY PAUL LAGASSE ?? Walter H. “Hal” Delaplane, president of the Conservanc­y of Charles County, retired from a career as an oceanograp­her for the Navy before joining the conservanc­y.
STAFF PHOTOS BY PAUL LAGASSE Walter H. “Hal” Delaplane, president of the Conservanc­y of Charles County, retired from a career as an oceanograp­her for the Navy before joining the conservanc­y.
 ??  ?? Lloyd Bowling, a retired professor of audiology at Georgetown University, used a conservati­on easement to preserve a manor house and surroundin­g land that had once been owned by Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaratio­n of Independen­ce.
Lloyd Bowling, a retired professor of audiology at Georgetown University, used a conservati­on easement to preserve a manor house and surroundin­g land that had once been owned by Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaratio­n of Independen­ce.
 ??  ?? Allens Fresh resident Lloyd Bowling inherited 30 acres of historic land from his father, which he later donated to the Conservanc­y of Charles County as a conservati­on easement to ensure it is preserved in its natural state in perpetuity.
Allens Fresh resident Lloyd Bowling inherited 30 acres of historic land from his father, which he later donated to the Conservanc­y of Charles County as a conservati­on easement to ensure it is preserved in its natural state in perpetuity.
 ??  ?? Allens Fresh resident Lloyd Bowling donated a conservati­on easement to the Conservanc­y of Charles County to preserve 30 acres of land originally deeded to English settler Thomas Gerard by King Charles I in 1651.
Allens Fresh resident Lloyd Bowling donated a conservati­on easement to the Conservanc­y of Charles County to preserve 30 acres of land originally deeded to English settler Thomas Gerard by King Charles I in 1651.
 ?? PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CONSERVANC­Y FOR CHARLES COUNTY ?? A Conservanc­y for Charles County volunteer monitors a conservati­on easement consisting of a high-quality stream in an upland forest.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CONSERVANC­Y FOR CHARLES COUNTY A Conservanc­y for Charles County volunteer monitors a conservati­on easement consisting of a high-quality stream in an upland forest.

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