State agency subpoenas land trust's records
By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News
Published February 27, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
The Colorado Division of Real Estate has subpoenaed the records of a small nonprofit land trust, Greenlands Reserve, whose conservation easements have generated $25 million in state tax credits.
Conservation easements are legal tools that limit development on scenic private lands and working ranches. In exchange for giving up development rights, landowners are given lucrative tax credits that can be sold for cash.
At issue in the state investigation is whether tax credits have been granted to protect lands whose value has been inflated, or to protect lands that offer little public conservation benefit.
The subpoena to Greenlands was issued last week, according to Erin Toll, real estate division director. The land trust was one of several organizations whose easements were detailed in a Rocky Mountain News series two weeks ago.
"We don't have a shred of information that says Greenlands is doing anything wrong, but we had a complaint and so we have to investigate," Toll said.
The Rocky's series reported that hundreds of easements granted by different trusts and local governments had been placed on small parcels of 40 acres or less; on land in gated communities and on golf courses; and on lands that allowed activities seemingly at odds with the conservation purpose of Colorado's law - including allowances for future oil and gas development.
Greenlands Reserve founder Howard Hallman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Earlier this week, however, he told the Rocky that conservation easements accepted by Greenlands have helped protect miles of land along the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado and elsewhere.
He also criticized the state for failing to clearly define how easement appraisals should be conducted and what kinds of land the program seeks to preserve.
In the seven years since the conservation easement tax credit law was passed, Greenlands has become one of the most active land trusts in the state, signing more than 201 easements between 2003 and 2006.
The program allows scenic lands and working ranches to be protected at roughly half the price it would cost for an open space program or local government to buy the land outright.
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