The OLC believes that with careful planning, necessary economic growth can be accommodated without sacrificing our natural resources.

There are many economic benefits to preserving land. Unlike traditional development, open spaces contribute to the town's tax base yet require little or no municipal services. And there are significant tax incentives for land owners in preserving land.

Conservation easements can enable the landowner to save what is special about their land and benefit from income and estate tax incentives offered by state and federal government.

Landowner Support and Land Planning

The Conservancy can help analyze the property's conservation resource values and real estate potential, and provide the advice of qualified professionals. Based upon this analysis, and the landowner's vision for the land and their financial goals, OLC can tailor a plan for property utilizing income and estate tax and potential property tax benefits that make conservation a practical and economic alternative to traditional development.

Conservation Easement

A conservation easement is a voluntary and legal agreement between a landowner and a land conservation organization that permanently restricts or directs the uses of the property. The landowner retains all rights to own, sell, and use the land according to the provisions of the easement. Many easements allow limited future development to occur by specifying the number and location of future structures and by denoting areas to be left undeveloped.

Usually the easement is restrictive enough so that the property values are decreased; in this case the reduction in value can qualify as a tax-deductible charitable contribution.

Land Donations

A gift of land to the Oblong Land Conservancy also provides tax benefits. However, subject to the landowner's approval, unless the land has unique resource values or is appropriate for a public recreational site, the Conservancy may place a conservation easement on it and resell it. In some cases, an unproductive parcel, with very limited development potential, may be best disposed of in this way, and could be the owner's best option. The appraised value of the parcel at the time of the transfer, is the value of the tax deduction, for a non-business investment.