Donate Land to Protect the Place You Love
The gift of real estate can be an incredible way to share your love of the land, support the work of the Land Trust and have a lasting impact on Whidbey and Camano Islands while reducing your taxes and the burden of land management.
Land donations can benefit you and the Land Trust in a multitude of ways:
- Land is a scarce resource. Conserved land assists climate resilience, maintains water quality, and protects wildlife habitat and open spaces for communities to enjoy.
- Qualified donations of land and conservation easements are tax deductible.
- Donated conservation easements can reduce estate taxes and lower the value of the land making it easier to keep land in the family. This can also reduce the amount of property taxes that are owed on it.
- Protected land has been proven to increase surrounding land values.
- Conserved property won’t ever be developed preventing sprawl and encouraging smart growth.
Ways to Protect Your Land
Conservation Easements
A conservation easement is a permanent legal agreement between a landowner and the Whidbey Camano Land Trust that protects the conservation values of the property. The agreement allows a landowner to continue to own and use their land, and the land can still be passed on to heirs or sold. When a landowner agrees to a conservation easement, they voluntarily give up some of the rights associated with owning land, most notable residential developing rights.
A landowner may donate a conservation easement to the Land Trust or sell it. If a donation benefits the public and meets other federal tax code requirements, it may qualify as a tax- deductible charitable donation.
Property and Land Donations
When a donor makes a gift of property, lands with high conservation values often become preserves, which are managed to protect qualities such as wildlife habitat, open space, or public enjoyment. Developed land or properties that are not appropriate as preserves can be sold to enable the purchase of conservation priority lands.
Contact
If you are interested in donating your land or property to further the mission of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, please contact Kurt Schlimme at Kurt@wclt.org or 360.222.3310.
Saving land for generations to cherish
Learn about our focus, priorities and preservation methodology.
