SPEAKOUT: Standards needed for easements

Clarity in conservation program will benefit public, save money

By Howard E. Hallman Jr.

Published March 5, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Perhaps the greatest public benefit of Colorado's conservation tax credit program can be found in the least expected places.

We all understand the concept of protecting spectacular mountain vistas as open space, but what we many times overlook is the ecological and cultural importance of eastern Colorado.

Through overappropriation of water, general neglect and misuse, our high plains river systems have been pushed to extinction.

Chief among these is the Arkansas River. One of the longest rivers in the United States, it is among the most abused. The Arkansas River wildlife corridor provides critical habitat for some of the most abundant and diverse birding in the state. With 400 bird species, southeastern Colorado is a mecca for birders.

Through the accumulation of conservation easements, The Greenlands Reserve land trust has set about to protect a mile-wide, 140-mile-long Arkansas River conservation corridor from Pueblo to the Kansas state line. This is a large undertaking, which could not happen through normal public funding mechanisms. The Greenlands river program has been highly successful and long stretches of river are already protected.

There has been criticism. There are those who simply do not understand the value of water and mining rights given up by lower Arkansas River landowners who agree to forgo all mining and development on their land forever. Others might not appreciate the importance of protecting the Arkansas River, or understand its historic significance.

Conservation tax credits have been much more widely used than originally anticipated. As a result, farm- and ranchland has been protected throughout the state. Since the beginning there has been an absence of clear guidance on conservation purpose and appraisal methodology. This has led to confusion and misunderstanding.

One of the beauties of the current conservation tax credit program is its simplicity and its accessibility to farmers and ranchers outside the major metropolitan centers. You don't have to be tax expert or real estate attorney to participate. But this straightforward simplicity may also be the program's undoing.

Early on, the Colorado Department of Revenue recognized the difficulty in reviewing individual conservation tax credit applications, particularly related to complex issues such as appraisal valuations for water and minerals, and the public benefit of the conservation purposes provided.

Unfortunately, we still have no clear conservation easement appraisal standards. We still grapple with issues of comparative public benefit. Where some people feel too much money has been spent for too little public benefit, the tendency has been to blame donors who are most often hard-working, honest farmers and ranchers, appraisers or others. This is not the right way to go.

The time is long overdue to create a "best practices standard" for conservation easement appraisals. This should be done by a recognized body of appraisers. A second critical step is to identify and map the relative public benefit and conservation purposes for ecological regions throughout the state. This important work could be performed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Colorado State University or some other respected group. This mapping would then provide a context for the Colorado Department of Revenue to appropriately review conservation easement tax credit applications.

I look forward to spirited, open and fair public conversation on the conservation tax credit issue. The ultimate outcome will be improved conservation easements, greater public benefit and substantial cost savings to Colorado.

Howard E. Hallman Jr. is the president of The Greenlands Reserve, a conservation easement trust.

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