Strengthening Land Trusts. Advancing Land Conservation.

Land protection staff should possess a good working knowledge of the various tax benefits associated with the types of land acquisitions. We cannot give legal or tax advice, but we can expose landowners to these concepts and potential strategies. Most landowners want to preserve their property because they love it…but tax breaks are a great incentive to get them to follow through. In this one-hour Zoom session we will touch on local, state and federal types of tax savings. We will also provide an interactive tax worksheet as a takeaway for attendees to use on their own. Q. If you are a low income landowner with a high value property, what is the best way to donate it and maximize tax benefits? If you know how these tax benefits all work together, you will know the right answer. The workshop will be led by Rob Warren and Mark Robinson who have more than 80 years total experience working with hundreds of landowners.

With Paul Catanzaro, UMass Professor and State Extension Forester

New England touts a strong conservation ethic, but we suffer from a considerable shortfall in production of forest products compared to our enormously high rates of consumption and our capacity for sustainable production. Given New England's favorable climate and abundant, productive forests, as well as New Englanders' strong capacity to apply strict environmental oversight, few places on earth should be better poised to be a leader in advancing forest protection and the sustainable harvesting of forest products while upholding ecological and social values. This webinar will discuss an ambitious vision for 2060 to protect forests, reduce consumption, and expand ecological forestry that would not only remedy these production and consumption imbalances but also dramatically enhance protection of our forests and propel us toward meeting urgent climate and biodiversity goals.

Land trust staff, board members, and conservation partners are welcome to this quarterly meeting, featuring relevant news from state agencies, a timely update on state and federal policy matters, announcements, and a featured topic, which in March will be the impact of executive orders and federal funding cuts on conservation, presented by Lori Faeth, Senior Director of Government Relations for the Land Trust Alliance.

With Mark Anderson, director of TNC's North American Center for Resilient Conservation Science (CRCS); Barbara Charry, Director of Rivers and Lands; and Arlene Olivero, Aquatic Ecologist.