... permanently protecting important open lands in partnership with landowners, in order to conserve agricultural, natural, and scenic open space resources ...
MLC IN THE NEWS
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Montezuma Land Conservancy Earns National Recognition
Conservancy maintains open space Cortez Journal
Businesses help conserve land Cortez Journal
New law helps land conservancies Cortez Journal
Conservancy expands acreage Cortez Journal
Lottery preserves land Cortez Journal
Guest Column Cortez Journal
Easements protect river Cortez Journal
Montezuma Land Conservancy Earns National Recognition
Accreditation Awarded by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission
The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, announced today that Montezuma Land Conservancy has been awarded accredited status.
“Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever,” said Commission Executive Director Tammara Van Ryn. “The accreditation seal lets the public know that the accredited land trust has undergone an extensive, external review of the governance and management of its organization and the systems and policies it uses to protect land.”
“Montezuma Land Conservancy’s accredited status demonstrates our commitment to permanent land conservation,” said David Nichols, Executive Director “The rigorous accreditation process has both certified the quality of our past work and aided us in continuing to improve the quality of our current conservation work. It has also helped us to ensure, to an even greater extent than before, the permanence of all the conservation easements we hold.”
Montezuma Land Conservancy is a local non-profit organization founded in 1998. It exists to permanently protect important open lands – in partnership with landowners – in order to conserve agricultural, natural, and scenic open space resources in Montezuma and Dolores Counties. Since its inception, the conservancy has partnered in the creation of 58 conservation easements protecting over 17,000 acres in the two counties.
Montezuma Land Conservancy was one of 11 land trusts awarded accreditation this March. These land trusts join 82 other land trusts from across the country that have been awarded accreditation since the fall of 2008. Accredited land trusts are able to display a seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent. The seal is a mark of distinction in land conservation.
The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., awards the accreditation seal to community institutions that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. The Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance established in 2006, is governed by a volunteer board of diverse land conservation and nonprofit management experts from around the country. The Alliance, of which Montezuma Land Conservancy is a member, is a national conservation group based in Washington, D.C. that works to save the places people love by strengthening conservation throughout America.
Nichols concluded, “Achieving the right to use the accreditation seal provides tangible assurance to our members, easement donors, and financial contributors that the trust and financial support they have invested in the Montezuma Land Conservancy has not been misplaced.”
Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements that landowners use to protect important agricultural land, wildlife habitat, and scenic open space by limiting subdivision and residential development. Lands remain in private ownership and management, and public access is not granted. Financial benefits can include reduction in state, federal, and estate taxes and continued agricultural property tax status. In certain cases, landowners may receive cash for protecting their land. For more information, contact the Montezuma Land Conservancy at 565-1664 or info@montezumalandconservancy.org
Conservancy maintains open space
By the Montezuma Land Conservancy
The Reddert-Meneffe Ranch, an area protected with help from the Montezuma Land Conservancy, is shown. |
In its most fruitful year ever, Montezuma Land Conservancy protected 6,740 acres in 2008 by completing 10 conservation easements
with local landowners. The easements protect the full spectrum of natural and agricultural resources, including low elevation desert and canyon country, dryland and irrigated farms, prime soils and ranches, wetland and riparian areas, high-mountain wildlife habitat, stunning scenery, and local agricultural heritage.
Five of these easements closed in the final weeks of December, conserving 720 acres of farmground in rural Yellow Jacket, 400 acres in lower Yellow Jacket Canyon near the Utah border, 156 acres in McElmo Canyon adjacent to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and 214 acres of working ranchland and riparian habitat along the Mancos River. Five other properties were protected earlier in the year, including the conservancy's largest easement ever, the Brumley Ranch next to Groundhog Reservoir.
Dave Nichols, executive director of the conservancy, remarked: "With the use of conservation easements, these families have conserved their land for themselves and their heirs. At the same time, these thoughtful donations protect important agricultural land, watersheds and open space that benefit all of us who live in Montezuma County."
One property protected was the historic Reddert-Menefee Ranch along the Echo Basin Road in rural Mancos. Removing development and subdivision rights from 157 acres on the Mancos River, the Reddert Family increased the size of their existing conservation easement on the working cattle ranch to 433 acres. This recent easement was made possible with support from the Great Outdoors Colorado Lottery Fund, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm and Ranch Protection Program, and the Keep It Colorado Conservation Partnership.
An Iris is shown by the Mancos River at the Lazy RW Ranch, an area protected with help from the Montezuma Land Conservancy. |
On behalf of the Reddert Family, Ryan Brown describes his family's strong ties to the land and their decision to keep the ranch undeveloped.
"The family has been attached to this land in a way that's hard to describe, but which I'm sure a lot of people will understand. As kids, my brothers and I rode it regularly with our grandfather Fred Reddert, known to many as 'Doc,' and even once with our grandmother Lottie, who still rode sidesaddle. My mother Norma Brown rode it many years before with George Menefee, who was Fred's stepfather, and she still walks it regularly with her thistle cutters. Generations of local ranchers and others have helped work the ranch, including members of the Lewis, Halls, Ignacio, Ismay, Semadini, Robbins and Cox families. Together with my aunt Naomi Reddert, my mother and father and brothers and I are happy to be able to help preserve this bit of Mancos Valley heritage, and we are thankful to MLC for helping us make it possible. We hope the place will give our own kids some of the perspective it's given us, and that future generations will continue to enjoy the views up Echo Basin Road."
The Reddert-Menefee Ranch contains deep prime farmland soils, senior water rights, two miles of riparian habitat along the Mancos River, and notable historic features including the cabin built by Dick Giles, an early Mancos prospector. Following Giles' death, the cabin was inhabited by the Menefee Family, including Bill Menefee, the first settler born in the Mancos Valley in 1877.
"Montezuma Land Conservancy works to protect these intrinsic qualities that define our landscape and community here in southwestern Colorado," said Nina Williams of the conservancy. "They are increasingly threatened by unplanned growth and development."
Since 1998, the conservancy has partnered with local landowners to complete 53 conservation easements that protect just under 17,000 acres in Montezuma and Dolores counties. Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements that landowners use to protect important agricultural land, wildlife habitat, and scenic open space by limiting subdivision and residential development. Lands remain in private ownership and management, and public access is not granted. Financial benefits can include reduction in state, federal and estate taxes and continued agricultural property tax status. In certain cases, landowners may receive cash for protecting their land. For more information, call 565-1664.
Businesses help conserve land
Program will raise money to fund efforts Montezuma, Dolores counties
June 19, 2008
By Stephanie Paige Ogburn | Cortez Journal Staff Writer
Customers shopping at area businesses will soon have the opportunity to pay a little extra and preserve open space in Montezuma and Dolores counties.
Pennies for Open Spaces, a new program launched by the Montezuma Land Conservancy and piloted at four Cortez businesses, gives customers the opportunity to add a 1 percent surcharge to their purchase. The extra money they pay goes to support the nonprofit land conservancy’s work of placing conservation easements on farms, ranches, wildlife habitat, and open space, said conservancy co-executive director Nina Williams.
Williams likes the program, which has also been used by the Crested Butte Land Trust and the Salida-based Land Trust of the Upper Arkansas, because it doesn’t cost businesses any extra. They just have to remember to ask customers if they’d like to add a percent to their purchase; all the money is donated by the purchaser.
“It’s a way for businesses to support the Montezuma Land Conservancy,” said Williams. “It’s just a simple button at the register.”
The first four businesses enrolled in the program, which kicked off last weekend, are Main Book Co., Kokopelli Bike and Board, Canyon Sports and Cliffrose Your High Desert Gardens, but other businesses are welcome to participate, said Williams.
The conservancy hatched the idea this winter, with its new operations manager, Loralee Spence, who was very enthusiastic about starting the program when she came on board at the organization, said Williams.
The land conservancy operates by working with private landowners who wish to place conservation easements on their property, ensuring that it will not be developed.
Since the Four Corners relies heavily on tourism, which is driven in large part by attraction to the area’s natural beauty, the conservancy said they felt working with businesses to preserve the open space that brings in more tourist customers made sense.
“Our landscape here in Colorado really defines our community,” said Williams. “We think that people come to this area because of the rural character and because of its beauty.”
“This is a way to preserve those beautiful vistas,” said Spence.
“And this is a way for visitors to help fund our conservation as well as residents,” added Williams.
The conservancy hopes to raise $10,000 in the program’s first year. They will check in quarterly with businesses to see how the project is going, said Spence.
Stephanie Glass, of the Main Book Co., said she wanted to be able to support the land conservancy and this program was a no-cost way for her to do it.
“I appreciate the aesthetic value of our area,” said Glass. “I want to be able in some way to support these efforts and this is a way to do that.”
New law helps land conservancies
Staff Report | Cortez Journal
June 12, 2008
A new state law enacted by Gov. Bill Ritter on June 5 supports Colorado's incentives for preserving unique natural and agricultural lands by sending a strong message that abuses of the program won't be tolerated, according to conservation advocates, according to a statement from the Montezuma Land Conservancy.
Ritter signed House Bill 1353 at a State Capitol ceremony with the legislation’s sponsors, House Majority Leader Alice Madden and Sen. Jim Isgar, as well as land conservation organizations including the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, the Nature Conservancy, the Colorado Conservation Trust, and the Trust for Public Land, according to the statement. Montezuma Land Conservancy participated on the task force that shaped the legislation.
“The new law keeps Colorado at the forefront of national efforts to encourage conservation of one-of-a-kind landscapes,” Ritter said in the prepared statement. “But it creates tough new safeguards against abuses of Colorado’s conservation easement tax credits. Colorado will continue to support legitimate land conservation, but we will not tolerate schemes to exploit the program for financial gain.”
Isgar, D-Hesperus, promoted the new law.
“This law preserves the conservation easement tax credit program because of all the good it’s done to preserve agricultural lands and to give farmers and ranchers an option to stay on their farms,” Isgar said in the statement. “It’s important to take these steps to preserve this cost-effective program and the state budget.”
Conservation easements are considerably less expensive than buying land outright, according to the Montezuma Land Conservancy. Conservation easements are sold or donated by private landowners to nonprofit or governmental entities to guarantee that a parcel of land will never be developed. The land remains in private ownership, and property owners may continue using their land as they have — for example, for farming or ranching.
“The Colorado legislation will increase accountability and oversight of the state’s conservation easement program while maintaining the tax incentives, which have helped preserve a total of more than 1.2 million acres of working farms and ranches, river corridors, wildlife habitat and scenic open lands across Colorado,” said Jill Ozarski, executive director of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts, which represents 54 land trusts, conservation groups and government entities touching every corner of the state.
According to the Montezuma Land Conservancy statement, the bill’s tougher standards include increased accountability for conservation easement appraisals, a certification program for the groups that hold conservation easements, strengthened oversight and enforcement of the state tax credit, and the creation of a Conservation Easement Oversight Commission.
“The Colorado Conservation tax credit has helped 40 families preserve over 10,000 acres of land in Montezuma and Dolores counties,” David Nichols of the Montezuma Land Conservancy said in the statement. “This new law is designed to ensure that landowners donating good conservation easements like those in Montezuma and Dolores counties can receive this financial benefit while stopping those transactions that were abusing the system. Keeping the financial benefit for local farmers and ranchers is very important as it can sometimes make it possible for families to afford to keep their farm rather than have to sell it.”
The new Colorado law comes close on the heels of new federal incentives for land conservation. On May 22, Congress enacted a new Farm Bill, which renewed and expanded federal tax incentives for land conservation, are retroactive to the beginning of the year and will last through 2009.
The incentive, which applies to a landowner’s federal income tax, will do the following:
- Raise the annual limit on the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement from 30 percent of their income in any year to 50 percent.
- Allow qualifying farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100 percent of their income.
- Increase the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from six to 16 years.
Landowner donations to conservation organizations known as land trusts have resulted in millions of acres of working lands and natural areas being conserved for the future. According to the Land Trust Alliance, many conservation groups reported an annual doubling of the number of conservation agreements completed in 2007, in response to the same incentive that had expired in January. Land trusts in America have together saved more than 36 million acres from development, an area the size of New England.ntezuma Land Conservancy was able to assist 12 farmers and ranchers conserve more than 2,700 acres through the use of conservation easements while these increased incentives were in effect in 2006 and 2007.
Conservancy expands acreage
Staff Report | Cortez Journal
January 10, 2008
Montezuma Land Conservancy closed the last two conservation easements of the year during the week of Christmas.
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An additional 1,367 acres went into conservation easements this year, which brings Montezuma Land Conservancy’s total protected lands to 10,170 acres of historic ranches, family farms, wildlife habitat and scenery in Montezuma and Dolores counties, according to a statement from the conservancy. These lands are protected through partnerships between willing landowners and the conservancy.
Of particular conservation and wildlife interest is the protection of several adjacent properties along a 3-mile riparian corridor on the Mancos River, according to the conservancy. Riparian habitat is especially important. Although it constitutes only 3 percent of Colorado, up to 90 percent of our wildlife use it at some point in their life cycle.
Marilyn Colyer put the rest of The Colyer Ranch (also know as Hooten Holler) into conservation easement the day after Christmas. The Colyer Ranch is not only beautiful but is also part of an important wildlife migration corridor, according to the Montezuma Land Conservancy. Colyer is dedicated to preserving wildlife habitat and has kept wildlife records for the past 32 years, recording many unusual and significant sightings of birds, mammals, bats and insects.
Wendy Benjamin closed her conservation easement two days later. The Benjamin Ranch provides not only natural habitat for plants and animals but also has high agricultural value, according to the conservancy.
Other easements completed this year that protect riparian habitat are located in Trail Canyon and the West Fork of the Dolores River.
Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between landowners and land trusts that conserve farm and ranch land, scenic open space, and wildlife habitat by limiting development. Public access is not granted as part of a conservation easement, and landowners continue to own and manage their property. The lands remain in private ownership and landowners retain all other private property rights, including the right to sell, give, or transfer their property as they desire.
Financial benefits from donated conservation easements can include reduction in state, federal and estate taxes, and continued agricultural property tax status. In certain cases, landowners may receive cash for conserving their land.
“It is a great gift to work with local landowners who choose to give up valuable development rights to protect their lands for present and future generations,” Nina Williams, co-director of Montezuma Land Conservancy, said in the organization’s statement. “These lands are rich with cultural and natural heritage, and provide people opportunities to fish, hunt, farm, ranch and recreate. They are what make this area a great place to live and raise our families. Montezuma Land Conservancy is truly honored to provide the community service of protecting open space.”
Lottery preserves land
State funds help conserve open spaces in Montezuma County
December 6, 2007
By Joe Hanel | Cortez Journal Denver Bureau
DENVER - Almost $4.4 million in lottery money is headed to Southwest Colorado to pay for land conservation along the San Juan Skyway.
A horse pushes through the snow looking for food Tuesday at the Redburn Ranch at Stoner. The ranch is part of the land conservancy program. |
An additional $4.2 million will pay for protection of two ranches on the Upper San Juan River in Archuleta and Mineral counties.
The awards are part of $75 million in grants announced Monday by Great Outdoors Colorado and Gov. Bill Ritter. GOCO distributes money raised by the state lottery to pay for parks and open space.
“We understand in this state we have something very special about the land, about the water, about the air,” Ritter said.
The San Juan Skyway grant will go to several local conservation organizations to continue their land preservation program along the 236-mile loop.
The grants will focus on three areas: the Mancos River valley, including the Thompson Park area in La Plata County; the Dolores River between Dolores and Rico, and the stretch of land between Ouray and Ridgway, said Nina Williams of the Montezuma Land Conservancy.
Three years ago, the groups received a $5.7 million GOCO grant and used it to preserve about 2,500 acres. This year’s grant will pay for conservation easements on another 1,331 acres on seven working ranches with riverside habitats.
Colorado’s conservation easement program pays ranchers to keep their lands undeveloped.
Land protection efforts along the Skyway began in 1998, when conservation groups began buying mining claims along Red Mountain Pass. This year’s grants continue the effort.
“We’re not there yet,” Williams said. “Our ability to achieve land conservation depends on the willingness of the landowners.”
The Archuleta County grant will go to a new program, one of the six new “Legacy Projects” established this year, said GOCO Chairwoman Norma Anderson.
“We are very excited to be able to help start six new efforts, all centered around one of the state’s most valuable assets — rivers,” Anderson said.
The other new projects are in the Front Range, the San Luis Valley and Pitkin County.
Also, Pagosa Springs will get $200,000 for improvements to its sports complex trail and parking area.
GUEST COLUMN
By Dave Nichols & Nina Williams
Saturday, December 1st, 2007 Cortez Journal
C O M M E N T A R Y
Saving irreplaceable lands responsibly
Recent coverage of Colorado’s conservation easement tax credit has raised questions about this important program that is helping to conserve irreplaceable lands in Colorado. No one is more concerned about possible abuses of the tax-credit program than the Montezuma Land Conservancy (MLC) and other responsible land trusts. Colorado’s land trusts must demonstrate that we are using conservation easements for real public benefit. That is why we are working to ensure that tax benefits go only to worthy transactions.
A conservation easement is a voluntary but legally binding agreement that restricts development on a piece of land. By limiting future uses, conservation easements protect important conservation values of public benefit including agricultural land, scenic open space and wildlife habitat. In doing so, they typically reduce the value of the land. Colorado offers a transferable tax credit for qualifying conservation easements to help offset this lost value, often offering landowners a way to continue farming or ranching traditions. MLC has worked with several local landowners who have sold the tax credit to pay down debt and enable them to keep land in agricultural use, rather than selling it for subdivision.
Colorado’s tax incentives for landowners who donate a conservation easement have provided substantial benefit to Colorado citizens, making the state a national leader in conserving its agricultural land and open space. Hundreds of strong conservation easements throughout Colorado protect farms and ranchland, scenic and historic areas, wildlife habitat, and unique natural areas that otherwise could have been lost forever to development.
MLC has partnered with more than 40 local families to conserve over 9,000 acres of land. The majority of this land is in active farm or ranch use, supporting our local agricultural economy. The land in these easements retains its rural character, contributing to the appeal that attracts tourists to the area and to the quality of life for our residents.
Land conservation tax credits do carry a cost to the state but we believe that protecting agriculture and natural heritage is worth the investment. These tax incentives may have attracted a small handful of promoters who do not guarantee that their conservation easements provide significant conservation and public benefit. We support current state efforts to crack down on any abuses.
The Montezuma Land Conservancy and the vast majority of Colorado land trusts are committed to respecting the spirit and letter of conservation law. Earlier this year we supported a new law (HR 1361) that increased standards and accountability for the state’s conservation easement program.
MLC is participating in the Colorado Conservation Easement Tax Credit Task Force convened by Sen. Jim Isgar and Rep. Alice Madden to recommend further reform of this program. Sen. Isgar, who has been a strong leader on this issue, said “We recognize the problem and are committed to saving this important program.” MLC will work together with these leaders to ensure that we can continue to partner with local landowners to conserve important open lands in Montezuma and Dolores counties.
Nina Williams and Dave Nichols are co-executive directors of the Montezuma Land Conservancy.
Easements protect river
Property owners, conservancy help maintain wildlife habitat
Tuesday, March 27th 2007
By Shannon Livick | Cortez Journal Staff Writer
After living on her Mancos farm for 42 years, Marilyn Colyer is happy the land she has grown to love will stay the way it is today - forever.
The property, which is bisected by the Mancos River, will remain a home for deer, turkeys, hawks, frogs and the countless number of other wildlife that make their homes in the property’s 105 acres of canyons, pastures and riparian habitat.
Dick White and his wife, Pat Johnson, take a walk along the Mancos River recently with their dog Sunshine. The couple has added their land bordering the historic Alamo Ranch to the Montezuma Land Conservancy’s list of conservation easements. |
“That makes me feel pretty good,” Colyer said.
Colyer is one several landowners along the Mancos River who have given up the right to develop their land and entered into conservation easements with the Montezuma Land Conservancy.
Over the years, Colyer has developed an eye for spotting wildlife on her property. She has seen bobcats, mountain lions, the occasional elk, the occasional bear and even a pine marten.
“It’s quite secluded,” she said.
In addition to Colyer’s Hooten Holler Ranch, 167 acres along the Mancos River will stay undeveloped following a recent conservation easement by the Montezuma Land Conservancy.
The conservancy added the Lazy FW Ranch, which sits in the lower Mancos Valley. The ranch, owned by Dick White and Pat Johnson, brings the amount of acreage protected from development along the Mancos River to 1,500.
“I put it in the conservation easement to preserve the scenic value of the property along the river and to maintain it as a viable ranch,” White said.
The conservation easements stretch along five miles of the Mancos River.
“That these landowners have the foresight and generosity to give up their right to develop some of the most valuable land in Montezuma County is a blessing,” said Nina Williams, co-executive director of the Montezuma Land Conservancy. “They are preserving our agricultural heritage and important resources for future generations to enjoy.”
White has lived in the Mancos valley for 27 years and said that he is happy to preserve their stretch of land.
“I treasure viewing the La Plata Mountains and hearing the sound of the river as I start each day,” White said in a press release.
White added that he is working with the Mancos Conservation District to restore the river property as a healthy riparian habitat as well as a viable ranch operation.
The easement was made possible by grants from Great Outdoors Colorado, the USDA Farm and Ranchland Protection Program, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, the Montelores Habitat Partnership Program and donations from the community.
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