Richard and Nancy Montgomery and their son, Jeff Montgomery, have conserved 653 acres of productive farmland in Milford Township, where they have been involved in dairying and productive row cropping since 1968. The Montgomerys worked with the Owl Creek Conservancy to develop land-protecting conservation easements for their four farms to assure the permanent use of their land for agriculture.

The Montgomerys granted conservation easements to the Conservancy on more than a square mile of productive farm fields in the past year. Richard Montgomery said, "Our kids and grandkids cannot have the life we have had, if our productive agricultural land is used for houses." Nancy Montgomery added, "For us, it is simple. We want to keep our land in farming so that future generations can have the opportunities we have enjoyed. Owl Creek helped us do that."

The conservation easements will preserve Montgomerys' agricultural land not only as they desire, but also in accord with clearly defined federal, state or local governmental policies. With the easement, the Montgomerys maintain their property rights. Through the conservation easements the Montgomerys' prime soils will remain in agricultural use permanently for raising livestock and/or for producing food crops or timber. Jeff Montgomery said, "I am lucky to have grown up on a farm and to have my own farm. Like Mom and Dad, I want my land to be a legacy for farming."

The Owl Creek Conservancy is a private land trust operating in Knox and surrounding counties. The Conservancy is part of a nationwide effort of more than 1700 private land trusts to conserve land. Through December 2010, more than 47 million acres have been conserved throughout the United States by such efforts. To learn more about the Conservancy and conservation options available to local landowners, please contact the Owl Creek Conservancy at 740-392-6952 or P.O. Box 291, Mount Vernon, OH 43050 or visit www.owlcreekconservancy.org.

The Conservancy's mission is to conserve lands and waters in Knox and surrounding counties. All lands and waters have unique positive qualities, but some, like the aquifer recharge area for the City of Mount Vernon's water supply, have many positive qualities.

The aquifer recharge area begins just south of the wellhead and municipal water treatment plant southwest of the intersection of OH 229 with US 36/OH 3. The area ranges north and northwestward to include the entire upper Kokosing watershed in northwestern Knox, eastern Morrow and southwestern Richland Counties. A five-year time-of-travel zone, covering the most southerly portion of the area, has been designated.

The confluence of the Kokosing River with its largest tributary, the North Branch, each of which is a "State Scenic River," lies within the five-year time-of-travel zone. In addition to the fact that the land in the upper Kokosing Watershed covers a major aquifer recharge area and significant flood plain: 1) The current use of most of the land within the Watershed is agriculture; 2) Most of the soils are "prime" or "locally important;" 3) Control of erosion and sediment within the area has been continually improved over the past 65 years by the activities of public agencies, including the Knox Soil and Water Conservation District; and 4) Relatively natural riparian land in the Watershed provides extensive habitat for native flora and fauna that are important components in the biological heritage of Ohioans.

Since 2004 the Conservancy has worked to secure a permanent, land-protecting Conservation Easement on a 274-acre farm located almost entirely within the five-year time-of-travel zone and enclosing the confluence of the Kokosing River and the North Branch of the Kokosing. That work came to conclusion on November 18th in the signing of the Conservation Easement.

The Conservation Easement provides for continued use of agricultural land to buffer the rivers and their important habitats from direct contact with existing or future urban development. The Conservation Easement will protect 186 acres of FEMA-designated flood plain from development, thereby preserving flood storage capacity northwest of Mount Vernon. The Conservation Easement will enhance control of sediment and erosion along the Kokosing River by separating agricultural land from the rivers with a forested buffer at least 140 feet wide. This will maintain or enhance water quality and aquatic habitats. The Conservation Easement will help assure undisturbed continuation of the complex interactions between the underlying aquifer and the surface flow of the rivers. This, in turn, will help stabilize the seasonal flow in the rivers and recharge of the aquifer.

The Conservation Easement will assure uses of the 274 acres within the five-year time-of-travel zone that do not degrade the underlying aquifer. This will help preserve the public water supply of more than a third of the population of Knox County, including Mount Vernon, the Village of Gambier and Clinton Township. The Conservation Easement also provides for permanent stewardship of the farm to assure continued protection for the lands and waters that provide multiple benefits to the citizens of Knox County.

The Conservation Easement was made possible in 2011 through the visionary generosity of farm owner Daniel W. Galbraith and donations from 61 individuals and three foundations, including the Ariel Foundation. Doug Givens, former managing Director of the Philander Chase Corporation of Kenyon College, assisted the Conservancy with fund-raising. With entirely private funding the Conservancy has permanently conserved the 274-acre farm with neither current nor future cost to federal, state or local treasuries.

The Conservancy is part of a nationwide effort of private land trusts to conserve land, especially farmland. Through December 2010, more than 47 million acres have been conserved throughout the United States by such efforts. To learn more about the Conservancy and conservation options available to local landowners, please contact the Owl Creek Conservancy at 740-392-6952 or P.O. Box 291, Mount Vernon, OH 43050 or visit www.owlcreekconservancy.org.

Gambier, OH - Congress just renewed a tax incentive for private landowners—especially working family farmers—who protect their land with a voluntary conservation agreement. The incentive, which had expired at the end of 2009, was made retroactive to January 1, 2010, and continues through December 31, 2011. The incentive helped the Philander Chase Corporation and the Owl Creek Conservancy work with willing landowners in our community to conserve several thousand acres of productive agricultural lands and natural areas between 2006 and 2009.

Conservation-minded landowners now have until December 31, 2011 to take advantage of a significant tax deduction for donating a voluntary conservation agreement to permanently protect important natural or historic resources on their land. When landowners donate a conservation easement to the Philander Chase Corporation or the Owl Creek Conservancy, they maintain ownership and management of their land and can sell or pass the land on to their heirs, while foregoing future development rights.

The enhanced incentive applies to a landowner’s federal income tax. It:

• Raises the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement from 30% of their income in any year to 50%;
• Allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their income; and
• Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.

“Our whole community wins when thoughtful landowners conserve their land this way, protecting wildlife habitat, clean drinking water, scenic landscapes, recreational spaces, and productive agricultural lands,” said Lisa Schott, managing director of the Philander Chase Corporation. “Conservation agreements have become an important tool nationally for protecting our watersheds, farms and forests, increasing the pace of private land conservation by a third – to over a million acres a year.

According to the Land Trust Alliance, the national organization that provides a voice for land trusts in Washington, DC, bills to make this incentive permanent have 274 House and 41 Senate co-sponsors from all 50 states, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans in the House. This legislation is supported by more than 60 national agricultural, sportsmen’s, and conservation organizations.

To learn more about the enhanced incentive visit: www.lta.org/easementincentive or contact Lisa Schott at the Philander Chase Corporation 427-5902 or Richard Stallard at the Owl Creek Conservancy 392-6952.

Ownership of land is a "bundle of rights." These include timber, mineral, hunting or fishing and water rights. An owner can separate and sell or give away each of the rights. Also, each of the rights can be separated and sold or given away as an easement. For example, a utility easement can be sold or given to a gas company for a gas line to run through a property. Such a utility easement would appear on the deed to the property and would remain with the property permanently even though the owner might subsequently sell the land.

A conservation easement, as the name implies, is a legal agreement used to set aside development rights for the specific purpose of conserving and preserving land. Land might be preserved, for example, to assure continuation of agricultural activities, wildlife habitat or private open space. Typically, easements are written to reflect the current owner's personal wishes for his or her property.

Each conservation easement is recorded in the permanent public record just as deeds of ownership or utility easements are recorded. The conservation easement simply sets limitations on future uses of the property in exchange for financial compensation and/or tax benefits. A conservation easement would not convert the land to public use or permit public access; the land would remain entirely private. The land can be sold subsequently and can be used as defined in the easement.

The Ohio Revised Code recognizes conservation easements, allows conservation groups to own them and specifies how they are to be handled. To qualify for a federal tax deduction, a conservation easement must be given in perpetuity to a recognized conservation organization. A qualified appraiser can evaluate a conservation easement just as an appraiser would determine the market value of land for sale as real estate. Values of conservation easements vary, but 40-50% of the fair market value of the property is a general rule.

In Knox County, the Owl Creek Conservancy is a private, fully qualified 501 c (3) (IRS) non-profit land trust that can develop and hold conservation easements. Presently, the Conservancy holds eleven conservation easements covering 801 acres. The first two of the Conservancy's easements (totaling 33 acres) are along the Kokosing Gap Trail east of the Brown Family Environmental Center at Kenyon College. Nine of the easements, totaling 581 acres and protecting both working farms and natural areas, are in Knox County. The two remaining easements include a 91-acre working forest (that can be timbered forever) in Monroe Township in Richland County and a 130-acre sheep and cattle farm in Muskingum Township in Muskingum County. Three easements in Knox County were acquired through donations by the landowners and grants from the Ohio Public Works Commission and ODNR, Division of Wildlife. The remaining easements were the generous donations of the property owners.

The Conservancy's eleven easements attest to the scope of land-protecting agreements and to the magnitude of the Conservancy's holdings. The listing above, however, does not demonstrate the uniqueness of each land-protecting agreement and the ability of the Conservancy or other organizations to tailor an agreement for each property and landowner.

In addition to the Conservancy, a private land trust, the Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District and the Board of County Commissioners are governmental entities that are also qualified to hold conservation easements. For more information about land use options and conservation easements, please visit the Conservancy's web site at www.owlcreekconservancy.org or the web site of the national organization of land trusts, the Land Trust Alliance, at www.lta.org.

The Philander Chase Corporation and Owl Creek Conservancy, private land trusts operating in Knox County, announce the release of a new video, "A Place with a View for the Future" featuring Jean Briggs, Alan Cassell, Chuck and Rita Dudgeon, Dalton Magers, and Tim Norris, each of whom has conserved property through a land-protecting agreement called a conservation easement.

Most land in Knox County is used for agriculture, including forestry. However, preventing uses incompatible with agriculture was foremost in the minds of participants in the video.

Jean Briggs, reflecting on why she decided to protect her farm through an agricultural easement said, "We put the farm in the Ohio State easement program so it can't be developed. The farm is still ours. It can be sold. I just feel comfortable that it is going to be a farm after I'm gone."

Tim Norris agreed stating, "I just could not bear to be the last person, or the last generation, to farm the farm … in my opinion, to destroy it as a farm."

Alan Cassell summarized his experience with two conservation easements allowing farming and protecting the banks of the Kokosing State Scenic River or Granny Creek as, "Nothing but positive." He also noted that easements can be tailored to each owner's wishes and to the land itself, pointing out, "There is a lot of variation. I think that is one of the biggest misunderstandings about easements. You are not giving up control of your property."

Responding to the question of whether a conservation easement had changed his use of his farm, Dalton Magers said, "No, it hasn't made any difference as far as what I do. I just wanted it to be a farm."

Chuck and Rita Dudgeon noted that preserving farmland instead of converting it to home sites holds the demand for community services down and thereby can hold property taxes down for everyone. It was also noted that land-protecting agreements can conserve natural resources like the aquifer northwest of Mount Vernon, which provides drinking water for more than 40% of Knox County.

For more information about keeping your working farm available to help feed future generations or to request a copy of the DVD, please telephone 392-6952 to leave word.