How to Pick and Approach a Land Trust
Maine Woodland Owners is committed to helping small woodland owners develop succession plans so they can know their life’s work will be passed to someone who will continue their stewardship efforts. Here’s another topic to stimulate landowner efforts to develop and improve their plans.
If you decide that you have no logical or desired heirs to become the next stewards of you land, you may want to consider donating your land or at least a list of restrictions, known as a conservation easement, to be placed on your land with a land trust. There are many choices in Maine – 108 at last count. Some serve the entire state, like the Maine Woodland Owners Land Trust, but most only serve a local area of the state. You can get lists of available trusts online, or contact the Maine Land Trust Network (http://www.mltn.org) in Brunswick. There are also some national or New England regional land trusts thathave holdings and offices in Maine.
Before approaching a land trust – consider talking with more than one – decide what you want for the land in the future. Do you want it “forever wild” or to managed as a sustainable working forest? Do you want to merely restrict its uses through the adoption of a conservation easement or do you want to donate the complete interest in the land to a land trust? You need to decide if there are any rights to the land you want to retain while you or the next generation of your family is alive. Do you want to give the easement now, or after you pass away? You may also want to consider an endowment of funds to help offset the costs of management the land trust will incur if it accepts your gift.
When you approach land trusts, here are some questions you may want to ask:
What are their requirements for accepting land or a conservation easement?
How do they manage their existing lands? Do they use management plans and foresters?
What activities do they allow? Hunting? ATVs?
How active is the land trust? Does it hold educational events on its lands?
How financially sound is the trust?
Is it administrated by a paid staff or with volunteers only?
How long has it been in existence and what does it have for a long term vision? Is it considering merging with another trust?
Will it require a gift or endowment with your gift of land or easement?
How much does it project for a cost to negotiate and prepare the documentation for the gift of the land and any easements? How will the expenses be split?
Ask for a list of previous donors to the trust (with their contact information) so you can talk to them about their experiences and satisfaction levels.
Consider attending some of the land trust’s activities to see how they really work.
In some cases, you may need help funding the gift or dealing with projected estate taxes, so ask if the trust has a grant available to help pay for such needs. It’s worth asking about.
In any event, get to know the land trust, and be comfortable with it before you enter into a deal. Some gifts have become very involved and have taken several years to complete. That is why you need to start planning.
– Rich Merk