This website includes information about A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements, by land-use attorney C. Timothy Lindstrom (published by Island Press, June 2008). Please visit regularly to check for updates on the latest legislation concerning land conservation.

About A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements
Voluntary land conservation, resulting from increasingly alluring tax benefits, has significantly changed the face of land use in the United States and promises to have an even more significant influence in the future.

There are more than 1,500 land trusts in the U.S. today, administering conservation easements over millions of acres of land that have been permanently protected by these easements.

Most of these land trusts depend heavily upon the significant income or estate tax benefits offered by the federal tax code as an incentive for voluntary land conservation. However, only a very small percentage of land trust personnel, landowners or their advisors, or even government officials, fully understand the complexity of the requirements for these tax benefits.

This is the first comprehensive book on the tax benefits of the charitable contribution, or bargain sale, of a conservation easement. It provides a detailed explanation of the complex and extensive requirements of the federal tax code and related concepts, including the rules governing the operation of tax-exempt organizations such as land trusts.

About the Author
Timothy Lindstrom is an attorney who specializes in the federal tax law governing conservation easements and land trusts. He serves as legal counsel to easement donors and land trusts throughout the United States. He is a frequent lecturer and writer on the topic, and has played an instrumental role in the creation of additional statutory incentives for voluntary land conservation. Lindstrom and his family have contributed conservation easements on farms in Virginia and Michigan. He is currently living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where he is legal counsel to the Jackson Hole Land Trust.

For a full index list from A Tax Guide to Conservation Easements, please visit this link: http://www.islandpress.org/assets/library/162_taxguideeasementsfullinde.pdf