Conservation Easements as a Way to Preserve Wisconsin’s Farmland: Why Wisconsin Should Adopt a Transferable Tax Credit Program

Conservation easements are a tool landowners can use to protect their land and preserve it for generations to come. Given the new emphasis society places on preserving the environment, many states have enacted some form of a conservation easement program where landowners who encumber their property with a conservation easement can receive a benefit for doing so. Wisconsin and Virginia are two states with this type of program. Wisconsin’s conservation easement program allows a landowner to donate his land and the state pays him the difference in the market value. Virginia’s program, on the other hand, allows a landowner to donate a conservation easement with the option of receiving a transferable tax credit in exchange for the donation. To help grow Wisconsin’s program and use it more effectively to protect Wisconsin’s farmland, Wisconsin should adopt a conservation easement program modeled after Virginia’s program where a landowner receives a transferable tax credit in exchange for donating a conservation easement