by Stephen T. Johnson

Land Trusts give private citizens the opportunity to become directly involved in conserving open space. They are private, voluntary organizations supported by financial contributions from individuals and businesses that share a commitment to protecting the local environment. Working with private landowners, municipal boards and state environmental agencies, Land Trusts are creative and highly responsive to local needs and concerns. The lands they protect remain conservation land forever.

Land Trusts assist private landowners - Recognized by the IRS as 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charities because of the public purpose they serve, Land Trusts can structure conservation projects that generate tax benefits for landowners and contributors. Often a Land Trust is the only entity that can step in and work quickly with a landowner to help them avoid selling the family land that they love for development to pay medical expenses or estate taxes. Planning for the succession of the family’s land is a complex legal and financial puzzle. Land Trusts have that expertise and work closely with the landowner’s tax and legal advisors to find appropriate solutions such as Conservation Restrictions or the purchase of development rights. Hanson’s Farm in Framingham has been conserved and is restricted to farm uses in perpetuity through the actions of Sudbury Valley Trustees and the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture. Quite a few family farms have been preserved by land trusts operating in just this way

Land Trusts assist communities - Municipal governments and state environmental agencies also benefit through partnerships with Land Trusts. Often, a municipality can save money acquiring land through a Land Trust because the trust is able to negotiate a discounted purchase, providing tax benefits to the seller, and passing those savings along to the municipality. Sometimes, the Land Trusts may be able to raise private contributions to further reduce the cost to the municipality as the Stow Conservation Trust did in helping the town to conserve Shelburne Farm. Over the long-term, the municipality saves additional money by avoiding the high cost of providing municipal services to another subdivision. Conservation land has never sent a child to school. The bottom line for any land trust is to conserve land of unusual value because of its natural resources or scenic character that the community has deemed worthy of protection.

Land Trusts are as diverse as the places they serve - A Land Trust may focus on a particular type of resource such as: farmland, public water supply watersheds, recreational areas, community gardens, recreational trails, or wildlife habitat. All bring the creativity of entrepreneurial problem solving to the complex business of negotiating real estate transactions that bring great benefit to current and future generations.

MetroWest communities are under unprecedented growth pressure - The sustained growth of the Massachusetts economy is bringing some unwelcome impacts to our communities as the pace of new home construction exceeds that of the boom years in the mid-eighties. Lands that had been open farmland or working woodlands, or just scenic, natural oases in our communities are being converted to subdivisions of oversized houses. We have not been able to accelerate the pace of conservation to match the increased pace of development. The balance between the built and open spaces is shifting. Communities are struggling to provide schools to accommodate the new schoolchildren, water supplies and wastewater treatment capacity to handle the new development - the impacts are being felt in every municipal department. In response to these growth pressures, Local Land Trusts are forming at an unprecedented rate. New trusts are forming in Ashland, Hopkinton, Westborough, Maynard, Boxborough. Older trusts are becoming more active in Southborough, Concord, Stow, and Acton.

How could Land Trusts be more effective?

Join your local Land Trust. Land Trusts depend on local support to carry out their mission. If you are not sure what organizations serve your area, check out the Land Trust Finder on the Web site of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition at http://www.massland.org.

Support Regional Land Trusts. Groups such as Sudbury Valley Trustees help local Land Trusts with technical assistance to ensure that they grow and succeed. Established Land Trusts such as these carry out large-scale protection projects by bringing together partnerships of local and state agency resources to tackle very complex and expensive conservation projects. The Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition also provides a forum for exchange of ideas and a voice for the land trust movement in Massachusetts - now more than 100 Land Trusts strong!

Get involved! Volunteer to help out your local Land Trust or Conservation Commission with caring for their property or writing and implementing Open Space and Recreation Plan for your community. You can make a difference.