2002 maryland environmental trust annual report maryland environmental trust

8/3/2019 2002 Maryland Environmental Trust Annual Report Maryland Environmental Trust

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Maryland Environmental Trust2 0 0 2 A N N U A L R E P O R T

Photo by Jim Highsaw


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Conservation is sometimes perceived as stopping everything cold...

the choice is not between people or wild places;

it is between a rich or an impoverished existence for man.

Thomas Lovejoy


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The past few years have been extraordinary onesfor land conservation in Maryland. Land trusts andconservation agencies have seen the annual totals of

acreage preserved increase to unprecedented levels.The rate of land preservation for the last few yearshas outstripped the rate at which land is developedand subdivided.

In large part, this is due to liberal state andcounty funding for the purchase of easements.Through the Department of Natural ResourcesRural Legacy, Open Space, and GreenPrint

programs, and the Maryland Agricultural LandPreservation Program (MALPF), run by theDepartment of Agriculture, many thousands ofacres of valuable land have been saved.

It is also worth noting that many public-minded landowners have sold easements for less thanthe full value determined by appraisal. In so doing,they have generously allowed funds to be made

available to a larger number of landowners. Thesebargain sales have also allowed the sellers ofeasements to take advantage of tax deductions that

shelter the income they receive for their easements.Finally, aided in part by the recently-enactedIncome Tax Credit for donation of easements to theMaryland Environmental Trust (MET) andMALPF, the number of acres of easements METpreserved this year is a record.The Tax Credit greatly increases the financialincentives for easement donation by middle-income

landowners. For husband and wife, up to $160,000may be returned to the landowner in the form ofincome tax credits when an easement is donated.

Although the current state budget shortfallmeans that funding for easement purchase will bemuch tighter for the foreseeable future, we lookforward to many more years of successful landpreservation.

John BernsteinDirector

Letter from the DirectorAmending and Improving MET Easements


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The mission of the Trust isfound in Natural Resources Article3-201, subtitle 2 of the Annotated

Code of Maryland:There is a Maryland

Environmental Trust established to

conserve, improve, stimulate, and

perpetuate the aesthetic, natural, health

and welfare, scenic, and cultural

qualities of the environment, including

but not limited to land, water, air,wildlife, scenic qualities, open spaces,

buildings or any interest therein, and

other appurtenances pertaining in any

way to the State. Through educational

and other means, the Trust shall

encourage and motivate the populace of

the State and others to do so and shall

promote the continuing interest in and

the study of these matters. The purpose

of the Trust is of general benefit to the

citizens of the State, and it is charitable

in nature.

MissionConservation Easement Program

The primary focus of the Trust is the protection

of land from development through donatedconservation easements. A conservation easementis a perpetual legal agreement between a landownerand the Trust, ensuring that a property shall not bedeveloped (or subdivided) beyond a limit agreedupon by both parties. The land is thereby protectedand preserved; the landowner retains all rights ofownership and privacy. An easement is binding on

all future landowners and may lead to significantincome, estate, and property tax benefits.

Description of ProgramsLocal Land Trust Assistance

The Trust assists citizen groups in the formation

and operation of local land trusts by offering training,technical assistance, administrative and projectgrants, and membership in the Maryland Land TrustAlliance. Conservation easements may be jointly heldwith the Trust and a local land trust.

Keep Maryland Beautiful

Through such incentives as the Bill JamesEnvironmental Grant and the Margaret Rosch Jones Award, the Keep Maryland Beautiful(KMB) program focuses on environmentaleducation projects.


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Moses easement on Little Falls, Baltimore County

photo:JimHighsaw


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Pennterra, Frederick County

photo:BarbaraLevin


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Through donations, the Trusts ConservationEasement Program protected over 60% of the 1,033total acres preserved on the Eastern Shore. Sevenlandowners donated conservation easements on 655acres in four eastern shore counties. Talbot Countyled the way with 470 acres protected including apost-mortem donation to Eastern Shore LandConservancy and MET by an estate on 260 acresalong Bollingbrook Creek and the ESLCs Con-servation Reserve Enhancement Program/METcombined easement overlay on 81 acres, which were

then conveyed to the Town of St. Michaels for pub-lic use. In addition, MET protected 20 acres alongLaTrappe Creek and then with the ESLC, 109acres along Harris Creek. In Dorchester County,the Trust accepted its first easement along BriaryCove on 24 acres, then coordinated with theESLC to protect 94 acres southeast of Preston. InWicomico County and in cooperation with the

Lower Shore Land Trust, MET Board member K.King Burnett and his wife Esther Burnett preserveda 68-acre woodlot. With this second easement do-nation, the Burnetts have protected 93 acres, in-cluding their 25-acre home farm. Through theRural Legacy Programs purchased conservationeasement program, and also in cooperation withthe ESLC, 292 acres of prime farmland and wood-

land buffers were protected in the MarshyhopeRiver Rural Legacy Focus Area.

EASTERN REGION

Smith Cove off little Choptank River, Dorchester County

photo:JohnHutson


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853

822

12,228

31

2101

3321

8224831

4943

8703

6632

474

2830

1147

7856

2115

281

7001

3309

3242

9680

3927

1461

5046

MET EasementsAcross Maryland

Cumulative Number of Acres Per County

Cumulative Easement Acreage

Cumulative Number of Easements

10000

80000

70000

60000

50000

40000

30000

20000

100

600

500

400

300

200

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

ACRES

EASEMENTS

90000

700


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South Grays Bog, Anne Arundel County

photo:JohnHutson


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After the success of the Maryland Income Tax Credit fordonation of conservation easements successfully passed throughthe Legislature last year, this year has been a quiet one for MET-related legislation. The Tax Credit allows a husband and wife totake a credit of up to $10,000 per year against Maryland incometaxes owed. It can be carried forward for 15 years, allowing atotal tax credit of $160,000. In a typical example this tax creditincreased the net savings due to an easement donation from ap-proximately $57,000 to $110,000.

In the coming year, MET has several legislative priorities. How-ever, with current deficits, it is unlikely that the Legislature willentertain any proposal that creates a new drain on state resources.In that context, MET plans to explore the following:1) Expansion of the Maryland Income Tax Credit. Create an

alternative track for tax credits, increasing the maximum credit(to, say, $12,500 per year per taxpayer) but decreasing thelength of the carryforward so that the total tax loss to theState is not increased.

2) Transferability. Several states have enacted tax credits which

are transferable. This allows a landowner who cannot takeadvantage of the tax credit to transfer it to another taxpayerin return for a cash payment.

3) Property Taxes. Most MET easement donors are eligible foragricultural use assessment, which keeps their property taxesvery low. In addition, donors receive a 100% rebate of prop-erty taxes on the unimproved portion of their properties for15 years after donation. MET intends to propose legislation

that mandates that all MET donors receive the lowest agri-cultural assessment possible.

FY 2002 Legislation

Years 1-6 Years 7-16

Adjusted Gross Income Before Easement $90,000 $90,000

Annual Deduction for Easement Donation ($27,000) ($0.00)

Adjusted Gross Income After Easement $63,000 $90,000

Estimated Tax without Easement $24,227 $24,227

Method 1 -

Estimated Tax With Easement $14,679 N/AUsing Federal & State Deductions

Method 2 -Estimated Tax Using $12,536 $20,096Federal Deduction & State Credit

Method 1 - Annual Tax Savings $9,548 N/A

Method 2 - Annual Tax Savings (Tax Credit) $11,691 $4,131

TOTAL ESTIMATED TAX SAVINGSMethod 1 - $57,288 (35% of donation) ORMethod 2 - $111,456 (74% of donation)In a typical example this tax credit increasedthe net savings due to and easement donation

from approximately $57,000 to $110,000.


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General Fund50%

SpecialFund 40%

Reimbursable 10%Fund

Number of Authorized Positions 10.70

Salaries, Wages and Fringe Benefits $529,715

Total Operating Expenses 412,202(includes grants, contractual services,communications, travel, equipment,supplies and materials)

Total Expenditure 957,942

FUND SOURCESNet General Fund Expenditure 473,327

Special Fund Expenditure 387,293

Reimbursable Fund Expenditure 97,322

TOTAL 957,942

Appropriations StatementFISCAL YEAR 2002


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Staff

Dorothy Smith, Secretary Lisa Holmes, Secretary

Shirley Massenburg,Administrator

Diane Chasse,Natural Resources Planner

Nick Williams, Local Land Trust CoordinatorJim Highsaw, Easememt Program Manager

Jonathan Chapman, Monitoring CoordinatorBarbara Levin, Natural Resources Planner

John Hutson,Natural Resources Planner

John Bernstein, Directorphotos:S

hirleyMassenburg


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MARYLAND ENVIRONMENTAL TRUST

100 COMMUNITYPLACE 1ST FLOOR

CROWNSVILLE, MARYLAND21032-2023

www.conservemd.org

410-514-7900 877-514-7900

2002 maryland environmental trust annual report maryland environmental trust

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