How to Save Your Land

Prevent the loss of irreplaceable land. Winnakee is here to help!

Winnakee Land Trust has spent 35 years helping landowners protect their land and transform their largest asset into an enduring legacy. Through its protection of threatened land, watersheds and habitat, and its management of at-risk forests, Winnakee Land Trust continues to safeguard what is unique and irreplaceable in the Hudson Valley. We conserve and restore clean air, pure water, biodiversity and resilient landscapes that will benefit generations to come.

Interested in land protection options but don’t know where to start?

Contact Laura O’Brien, Winnakee Land Trust’s Conservation Project Manager
at 845-217-0609 or Laura@winnakee.org to learn more about ways you can protect your land!

You can help to ensure that in one year, ten years or 100 years — the natural lands and rural character that we love about the Hudson Valley will endure for the next generation.

Bob Davis, Executive Director

Land protection is one of the most meaningful gifts you can give to future generations!

Did you know that most of today’s high value conservation lands are privately owned? These are natural habitats – especially forests – which have biological, ecological, social and cultural importance and are vulnerable to fragmentation and escalating development. Preserving these open spaces and forests is essential to maintaining the character and quality of life of our region. We invite you to read on to see how, as a landowner, you have an opportunity to make a difference by protecting your land in perpetuity and building a lasting family legacy. Winnakee will be there every step of the way to ensure the land is stewarded and protected forever.

Tax benefits to landowners for land protection

If being a part of this effort interests you, there are many tools that can be used to make a difference for your family, your community, and the environment. Land protections often derive tax benefits and other advantages — while supporting conservation. Your financial advisor can best advise you of the myriad benefits offered to your family as part of creating a lasting environmental legacy.

Winnakee Land Trust strongly recommends that any landowner undertaking a real estate transaction engage his/her own experienced legal, financial, and/or tax counsel. Although Winnakee Land Trust’s staff may provide helpful information, the staff does not render legal, financial, or tax advice.

OPTIONS TO PROTECT YOUR LAND & LEAVE A LASTING LEGACY

THE GIFT OF LAND

An outright gift of land for conservation is one of the most generous legacies a landowner can give future generations. Donating the title of your land to create a preserve is a simple transaction that ensures the land’s permanent protection and offers maximum income and estate tax benefits (while avoiding capital gains tax). Winnakee’s stewardship-focused conservation model ensures that these lands will benefit from long-term sustainable management plans that support environmental health and habitat restoration for imperiled species.

DONATING CONSERVATION EASEMENTS

A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner (the grantor) and a private conservation organization or public agency (the grantee or holder) that limits future development of the property in perpetuity. Conservation easements allow donors to retain ownership and use of their land, such as for agriculture, forestry, and residential uses, while putting certain restrictions in place to protect its conservation value in the future. A conservation easement is a powerful way for a private landowner to ensure the permanent protection of a special natural place. The terms of each conservation easement are unique and tailored to the specific property and the landowner’s goals. Landowners retain the right to sell, donate, or bequeath the land, and the conservation easement continues to apply to and protect the land forever, regardless of who may own the land in the future. By donating a conservation easement, a landowner may be eligible for income and property tax benefits due to the significant public benefit associated with the protection of the land. In addition, an easement on a cherished property may make the financial difference that enables your heirs to keep your land in the family. Learn more about Conservation Easements.

Bargain Sale Purchases of Land or Easements

For land of particularly significant conservation value, Winnakee Land Trust may consider a bargain sale purchase of a property or conservation easement. A bargain sale purchase is a partial gift, whereby the land or easement is sold at less than its appraised value. The purchase of land or a conservation easement at less than fair market value not only makes it more affordable for the land trust, but also offers several benefits to a landowner: (1) provides immediate income from the sale; (2) reduces potential capital gains liability; and, (3) entitles the seller to a charitable income tax deduction based on the difference between the land or easement’s fair market value and its bargain sale price.

BEQUESTS & GIFT PLANNING

Many landowners wish to retain maximum flexibility during their lifetime and choose to carry out their conservation plans through a bequest or a living trust. Through this approach, a landowner can conserve important lands and leave a lasting legacy by donating property to the land trust through their will. A bequest is a provision in the landowner’s will or revocable trust that instructs the estate’s executor to convey land or other assets to the land trust.

DONATION OF PROPERTY TO GENERATE CONSERVATION FUNDS

In some cases, land or other real estate is donated to Winnakee Land Trust with the understanding that it will be sold to generate needed funds for the organization’s conservation work. If the property has conservation value, the organization may sell the land subject to a conservation easement—generating income while ensuring the land’s long-term protection. This approach keeps the land in private ownership and on the tax rolls and can help fund additional land acquisitions. Depending on the details, this option enables the donor to quickly liquidate an asset, eliminate broker’s fees, and in most cases take a charitable deduction for the fair market value of the property, while positively impacting future conservation.

LEARN MORE ABOUT WINNAKEE'S CONSERVATION STRATEGY

Stewarding lands to reach their optimal ecological potential is essential to Winnakee’s long term conservation strategy. Winnkaee is here to help provide landowners with resources to permanently protect their land, maximize the resiliency of their land, increase biodiversity by restoring rare species habitats, control harmful invasives, and become part of globally important connective land corridors that secure pathways for many species survival.

We have also assembled additional resources to help keep you informed about best practices across our region: View Landowner Resources.