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64-431: The Rangeland Trust remains focused on the quality standards of professional practices and is a Land Trust Alliance accredited organization. In California, there are over 22 million acres (89,000 km) of privately owned rangeland. The Rangeland Trust is actively looking for funding sources for the over 400,000 acres (1,600 km) of rangeland on the waiting list. The Rangeland Trust uses conservation easements as

128-483: A "qualifying" conservation easement to a "qualified" land protection organization under the regulations set forth in 170(h) of the Internal Revenue Code may be eligible for a federal income tax deduction equal to the value of their donation. The value of the easement donation, as determined by a qualified appraiser , equals the difference between the fair market value of the property before and after

192-559: A 1,122-acre (4.54 km) easement as mitigation for a commercial development located in the northwest corner of Tejon Ranch. As a condition of approval for the development, Tejon Ranch Company donated an easement on nearby grazing land in order to protect the habitat for the San Joaquin kit fox and blunt-nosed leopard lizard . In 2005, the Hearst Corporation, American Land Conservancy , California Rangeland Trust, and

256-685: A bill that bans the selling and leasing of agricultural land to foreigners. Approximately 7% of the allocated land in Israel is privately owned. The rest, i.e. 93%, is owned by the State and is known as "Israeli Land". Israel's Basic Law on real estate states that Israel's Land is jointly owned by the State (69%), the Development Authority (12%), and the Jewish National Fund (12%). With homelessness and wealth inequality on

320-529: A claim on it in the form of a lien . In modern societies, this is the most common form of land ownership. Land can also be owned by more than one party and there are various concurrent estate rules. In Australia, native title is a common law concept that recognizes that some indigenous people have certain land rights that derive from their traditional laws and customs. Native title can co-exist with non-indigenous proprietary rights and in some cases different indigenous groups can exercise their native title over

384-499: A conservation easement on March 25, 2005. This cattle ranch, located in the inner-coastal rangeland of the Blue Ridge Berryessa Natural Area , contains ponds, wetlands, streams and open spaces that provide habitat for many types of plants and wildlife. Ecker Ranch, a 1,080-acre (4.4 km) ranch is now protected by an agricultural easement. In 2000, California Rangeland Trust accepted the donation of

448-455: A conservation tool is that it enables users to achieve specific conservation objectives on the land while keeping the land in the ownership and control of landowners for uses consistent with the conservation objectives. Unlike land use regulation, a conservation easement is placed on property voluntarily by the owner whose rights are being restricted. The restrictions of the easement, once set in place, are however perpetual (and potentially reduce

512-485: A lease basis of up to 99 years with an annual 15 percent tax on the total rental paid upfront. Since 2017, A ban on foreigners owning farmland was introduced in the Georgia's new constitution. The new constitution states that, with a small number of exceptions, agricultural land can only be owned by the state, a Georgian citizen or a Georgian-owned entity. In 2021, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed into law

576-532: A period of up to 30 year. Only Mongolian citizens can own the land within the territory of Mongolia. foreign citizens can only lease the land. Foreigners are not allowed to own freehold land in Maldives. the land can only be leased to foreigners for 99 years. In 2014, the Sri Lankan parliament passed a law banning land purchases by foreigners. The new act will allow foreigners to acquire land only on

640-568: A resource for understanding what resources conservation easements protect in the U.S. As of 2018, the National Conservation Easement Database included over 130,000 conservation easements on 24.7 million acres. Landowner In common law systems, land tenure , from the French verb " tenir " means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land "owned" by an individual is possessed by someone else who

704-420: A tax credit is of little value and may be insufficient incentive to grant a conservation easement. For this reason, some states, including Colorado and Virginia, the state tax credit is transferable—that is, the donor/landowner can sell her/his credit to someone else; the buyer can use the purchased tax credit, normally purchased at a discount from face value, against their own Colorado income tax. However, caps on

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768-536: A tool to conserve rangeland properties. Working in close partnership with each property owner, the Rangeland Trust develops a customized legal agreement that inventories the land's agricultural, scenic, historical, and wildlife values and seeks to maintain the highest standards of animal husbandry and food production in a setting that sustains agriculture and habitat. Steve Sinton was the Rangeland Trust's founding chairman. A graduate of Stanford University and

832-727: Is right-of-way (right to cross), but it could also include (for example) the right – known as a wayleave  – to run an electrical power line across someone else's land. In addition, there are various forms of collective ownership, which typically take either the form of membership in a cooperative , or shares in a corporation , which owns the land (typically by fee simple, but possibly under other arrangements). There are also various hybrids; in many communist states , government ownership of most agricultural land has combined in various ways with tenure for farming collectives. In archaeology, traditions of land tenure can be studied according to territoriality and through

896-430: Is 40% of the appraised value of the easement donation, so this equates to $ 275 million of property value donated per year for protection of wildlife habitat, farmland and woodland, and scenic open space—in perpetuity. The other state tax credit programs are smaller in dollar measurement, but are very significant in the area and the conservation values that they cause to be protected. The concept of state tax credit action (in

960-493: Is a great variety of modes of land ownership and tenure . Most of the indigenous nations or tribes of North America had differing notions of land ownership. Whereas European land ownership centered around control, Indigenous notions were based on stewardship. When Europeans first came to North America, they sometimes disregarded traditional land tenure and simply seized land, or they accommodated traditional land tenure by recognizing it as aboriginal title . This theory formed

1024-460: Is a power invested in a qualified land conservation organization called a " land trust ", or a governmental (municipal, county, state or federal) entity to constrain, as to a specified land area, the exercise of rights otherwise held by a landowner so as to achieve certain conservation purposes. It is an interest in real property established by agreement between a landowner and land trust or unit of government. The conservation easement "runs with

1088-498: Is a system of mutual obligations under which a royal or noble personage granted a fiefdom — some degree of interest in the use or revenues of a given parcel of land — in exchange for a claim on services such as military service or simply maintenance of the land in which the lord continued to have an interest. This pattern obtained from the level of high nobility as vassals of a monarch down to lesser nobility whose only vassals were their serfs . Under common law , Fee simple

1152-433: Is rare, with most property ownership in the common law world ( Australia , Canada , Ireland , New Zealand , United Kingdom , United States ) being in fee simple . Allodial title is inalienable, in that it may be conveyed, devised, gifted, or mortgaged by the owner, but it may not be distressed and restrained for collection of taxes or private debts, or condemned ( eminent domain ) by the government. Feudal land tenure

1216-465: Is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individuals. It determines who can use land, for how long and under what conditions. Tenure may be based both on official laws and policies, and on informal local customs (insofar higher law does allow that). In other words, land tenure implies a system according to which land is held by an individual or the actual tiller of the land but this person does not have legal ownership . It determines

1280-875: Is the holder of the estate in land with the most extensive and exclusive rights of ownership over the territory, simply put, the owner of land. The legal concept of land tenure in the Middle Ages has become known as the feudal system that has been widely used throughout Europe , the Middle East and Asia Minor . The lords who received land directly from the Crown, or another landowner, in exchange for certain rights and obligations were called tenants-in-chief . They doled out portions of their land to lesser tenants who in turn divided it among even lesser tenants. This process—that of granting subordinate tenancies—is known as subinfeudation . In this way, all individuals except

1344-508: Is the largest among the States in dollar value of property conserved. By the end of 2010, $ 2,512,000,000 of property value had been donated as easements in Virginia for which tax credit was claimed. The qualifying easements cover over 516,000 acres (2,090 km ) of Virginia landscape. The Virginia program now (2011) grants about $ 110 million of new tax credit each year. The credit allowance

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1408-404: Is the most complete ownership interest one can have in real property , other than the rare Allodial title . The holder can typically freely sell or otherwise transfer that interest or use it to secure a mortgage loan . This picture of "complete ownership" is, of course, complicated by the obligation in most places to pay a property tax and by the fact that if the land is mortgaged, there will be

1472-401: Is up to 50 years. Though purchase of land is not permitted to foreigners, a real estate investor may apply for a 70 year leasehold with a Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) permit. According to the legislation of Belarus, a foreign citizen cannot own land and only has the right to rent it. As foreigners are prohibited from permanent ownership of land. Foreigners can only lease land for

1536-723: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations , endorsed the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure as the global norm , as the problem of poor and politically marginalized especially likely to suffer from insecure tenure, however, this is merely work in progress. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 also advocates for reforms to give women access to ownership and control over land in recognition of

1600-711: The University of Colorado Law School , Stinton practiced water and environmental law in Sacramento, California and San Luis Obispo County for fifteen years before retiring to operate two family cattle ranches with his father and manage several commercial buildings in the City of San Luis Obispo. The Sinton family also operates a 120-acre (0.49 km) vineyard. Notable ranches in the Trust's portfolio include: Yolo Land & Cattle Co. placed 6,983-acre (28.26 km) into

1664-577: The 99-year leases common in the United Kingdom for flats , and allowing various degrees of freedom in the use of the property. Rights to use a common may include such rights as the use of a road or the right to graze one's animals on commonly owned land. When sharecropping , one has use of agricultural land owned by another person in exchange for a share of the resulting crop or livestock. Easements allow one to make certain specific uses of land owned by someone else. The most classic easement

1728-1065: The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) by consolidating the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, the Grassland Reserve Program, and the Wetlands Reserve Program. Under ACEP, the Natural Resources Conservation Service helps tribes, state and local governments, and land trusts protect agriculture from development and other non-agricultural uses. ACEP includes Agricultural Land Easements and Wetland Reserve Easements. Agricultural land easements preserve land for food production and aids in soil and water conservation . Wetland reserve easements aim to restore wetland areas that have been converted into agricultural land. To maximize

1792-528: The Philippines under the 1987 Constitution. Foreigners are not allowed to own freehold land in Indonesia. Foreigners cannot buy and own land, like in many other Southeast Asian countries. Instead, the land is collectively owned by all Vietnamese people, but governed by the state. As written in the national Land Law, foreigners and foreign organizations are allowed to lease land. The leasehold period

1856-480: The State of California completed a comprehensive conservation project that permanently protects the 128-square-mile (330 km) Hearst Ranch. A major component of the project is the conservation easement restricting future development on 80,000 acres (320 km). The Hearst ranch is the largest privately owned working cattle ranch remaining on the California Coast. The conservation easement ensures that

1920-761: The United States, minimal regulation on house flipping and rent-seeking behavior allows for gentrification , pricing out half a million Americans and leaving them homeless. This is in light of 17 million homes left vacant as investment vehicles of the wealthy. At the same time, severe weather events caused by climate-change have become more frequent, affecting property values. In the developing world, catastrophes are impacting greater numbers of people due to urbanization , crowding , and weak tenure and legal systems. Colonial land-tenure systems have led to issues in post-colonial societies. The concepts of " landlord " and "tenant" have been recycled to refer to

1984-415: The absence of a federal tax credit) that Philip Tabas and The Nature Conservancy promoted in the 1990s has borne remarkable fruit, and continues to expand today. For landowners who will leave sizable estates upon their death, the most important financial impact of a conservation easement may be a significant reduction in estate taxes . Estate taxes often make it difficult for heirs to keep land intact and in

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2048-419: The amount of credit an easement can generate, and other restrictions, limit the scope of some state tax credit programs. In the states where credit for conservation land donations is transferable, free markets have arisen. Brokers assist landowners with excess credit to contact buyers, and the brokers often handle payments and paperwork to protect the principals, and to ensure that transfers are fully reported to

2112-594: The amount of the deduction has been used up, whichever comes first. With the passage of the Farm Bill in the summer of 2008 these expanded federal income tax incentives were extended such that they also apply to all conservation easements donated in 2008 and 2009. The provision was renewed annually each year between 2010 and 2014 and was finally incorporated to the tax code without an expiration date in 2015. Land conservation advocates have long tried to enact additional tax incentives for landowners to donate easements, above

2176-466: The basis for treaties with indigenous peoples . In several developing countries, such as Egypt and Senegal, this method is still presently in use. In Senegal, it is mentioned as "mise en valeur des zones du terroir" and in Egypt, it is called Wadaa al-yad. Allodial title is a system in which real property is owned absolutely free and clear of any superior landlord or sovereign. True allodial title

2240-433: The benefits, the program targets land that has both a high chance of restoration success and a history of low crop yields or crop failure. The Farm Bill also funds the purchase of conservation easements for forestland. The Forest Legacy Program is a voluntary Federal program in partnership with States which protects privately owned forest lands. Landowners are required to prepare a multiple resource management plan as part of

2304-459: The case of chattels closely resembles the landlord-tenant relationship that can be created in land. Secure land-tenure also recognizes one's legal residential status in urban areas and it is a key characteristic in slums . Slum-dwellers do not have legal title to the land and thus local governments usually marginalize and ignored them. In 2012, the Committee on World Food Security based at

2368-411: The conservation easement acquisition. The majority of states have direct funding sources for conservation. Commonly used funding sources include real estate transfer tax, legislative bonds, and lottery proceeds. For instance, in 2014, New Jersey added conservation funding from corporate business taxes through constitutional amendment, approved by 65% of voters. Many states and counties have programs for

2432-427: The conservation easement. In granting the conservation easement, the easement holder has a responsibility to monitor future uses of the land to ensure compliance with the terms of the easement and to enforce the terms if a violation occurs. Although a conservation easement prohibits certain uses by the landowner, such an easement does not make the land public. On the contrary, many conservation easements confer no use of

2496-532: The easement takes effect. To qualify for this income tax deduction, the easement must be: a) perpetual; b) held by a qualified governmental or non-profit organization; and, c) serve a valid "conservation purpose", meaning the property must have an appreciable natural, scenic, historic, scientific, recreational, or open space value. As a result of legislation signed by President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006 (H.R. 4 The Pensions Protection Act of 2006), in 2006 and 2007, conservation easement donors were able to deduct

2560-610: The entire 17,000 acres (69 km) ranch of John and Zee Varian near Parkfield, California that is part of the Diablo Range Project. The property is in one of the most productive grazing regions in the state and includes significant oak woodlands and other unique and important natural values. Conservation easement In the United States , a conservation easement (also called conservation covenant , conservation restriction or conservation servitude )

2624-419: The family because of high estate tax rates and high development value of land. It may be necessary to subdivide or sell land for development in order to pay these taxes which may not be the desire of the landowner or their heirs. A conservation easement can often provide significant help with this problem in three important ways: In Pennsylvania, conservation restrictions on land included in the estate can reduce

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2688-429: The federal charitable deduction (and state tax deduction in states that conform to federal tax process). There has been discussion of creating a federal income tax credit for easement donors since around 1980. However, no federal tax credit has been enacted. States, however, have moved ahead to grant credits that can be used to pay state income tax to donors of qualified conservation easements. In 1983, North Carolina became

2752-437: The first state to establish such a program. Attorney Philip Tabas of The Nature Conservancy promoted the state tax credit idea widely in the 1990s. In 1999, four state legislatures enacted state tax credit programs (Virginia, Delaware, Colorado, and Connecticut, in that order). South Carolina and California followed in 2000. Several other states have followed since. For landowners with little income subject to state taxation,

2816-533: The holder's rights and responsibilities in connection with their holding. The sovereign monarch, known in England as the Crown , held land in its own right. All land holders are either its tenants or sub-tenants. Tenure signifies a legal relationship between tenant and lord, arranging the duties and rights of tenant and lord in relationship to the land. Over history, many different forms of land tenure , i.e., ways of holding land, have been established. A landowner

2880-496: The inheritance tax owed. Many states offer property tax incentives to conservation easement donors. Many conservation easements are purchased with funds from federal, state, and local governments, nonprofit organizations, or private donors. In these cases, landowners are paid directly for the purchase of the conservation easement. The Farm Bill , updated every five or more years, provides an important source of funds for conservation easement purchase. The 2014 Farm Bill created

2944-407: The land either to the easement holder or to the public. Furthermore, many conservation easements reserve to the landowner specific uses which if not reserved would be prohibited. Some conservation easements confer specific uses to the easement holder or to the public. These details are spelled out in the legal document that creates the conservation easement. Landowners in the United States who donate

3008-407: The land", meaning it is applicable to both present and future owners of the land. The grant of conservation easement, as with any real property interest, is part of the chain of title for the property and is normally recorded in local land records. The conservation easement's purposes will vary depending on the character of the particular property, the goals of the land trust or government unit, and

3072-474: The long-term consequences of change and development in land tenure systems and agricultural productivity. Moreover, an archaeological approach to land tenure arrangements studies the temporal aspects of land governance, including their sometimes temporary, impermanent and negotiable aspects as well as uses of past forms of tenure. For example, people can lay claim to, or profess to own resources, through reference to ancestral memory within society. In these cases,

3136-505: The lord with a number of armed horsemen and ground troops. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue-producing real property, typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms . Over the ages and depending on the region a broad variety of customs did develop based on the same legal principle. The famous Magna Carta for instance was a legal contract based on the medieval system of land tenure. The concept of tenure has since evolved into other forms, such as leases and estates . There

3200-417: The market value of the remaining ownership interest in the property). Appraisals of the value of the easement, and financial arrangements between the parties (land owner and land trust), generally are kept private. The landowner who grants a conservation easement continues to manage and otherwise privately own the land and may receive significant state and federal tax advantages for having donated and/or sold

3264-531: The modern relationship of the parties to land which is held under a lease . Professor F.H. Lawson in Introduction to the Laws of Property (1958) has pointed out, however, that the landlord-tenant relationship never really fitted in the feudal system and was rather an "alien commercial element". The doctrine of tenure did not apply to personalty ( personal property ). However, the relationship of bailment in

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3328-407: The monarch did hold the land "of" someone else because legal ownership was with the (superior) monarch, also known as overlord or suzerain . Historically, it was usual for there to be reciprocal duties and rights between lord and tenant. There were different kinds of tenure to fit various kinds of need. For instance, a military tenure might be by knight-service , requiring the tenant to supply

3392-647: The nature of and relationships with aspects of the past, both tangible (e.g. monuments) and intangible (e.g. concepts of history through story telling) are used to legitimize the present. 41 of the Constitution of Afghanistan, foreigners are not allowed to own land. Foreign individuals shall not have the right to own immovable property in Afghanistan Land in China is state-owned or collectively owned. Enterprises, farmers, and householders lease land from

3456-419: The needs of the landowners. For example, an easement's purposes (often called "conservation objectives") might include any one or more of the following: The conservation easement's administrative terms for advancing the conservation objectives also vary but typically forbid or substantially constrain subdivision and other real estate development . The most distinguishing feature of the conservation easement as

3520-700: The purchase of agricultural conservation easements (PACE) to protect productive farmland from non-agricultural development. In 1974, Suffolk County in New York enacted the first PACE (also known as purchase of development rights or PDR) program. King County in Washington and the states of Maryland, Massachusetts, and Connecticut quickly followed suit. As of 2016, the PACE program operates in 32 states through both state and local programs. The National Conservation Easement Database maps conservation easements and provides

3584-531: The rise, land tenure in the developed world has become a point of issue. Market-based economies which treat housing as a commodity and not a right allow for laws such as California Proposition 13 (1978) that incentivize treating housing as an investment. Due to inelastic demand of the human need for shelter, housing prices can therefore be raised above universally-affordable rates. This complicates tenure by limiting supply and exacerbating homelessness and informal housing arrangements. For instance, in

3648-484: The same land. There are approximately 160 registered determinations of native title, spanning some 16% of Australia's land mass. The case of Mabo overturned the decision in Milirrpum and repudiated the notion of terra nullius . Subsequent Parliamentary Acts passed recognised the existence of this common law doctrine. Under common law , Life estate is an interest in real property that ends at death. The holder has

3712-427: The scenic, open space, agricultural and natural resource values of the ranch are preserved. California Rangeland Trust holds, monitors and enforces the conservation easement. A conservation easement agreement was placed on December 27, 2007. Originally part of the historic Spanish land grant, Rancho Cañada de los Pinos , the owners purchased San Lucas Ranch in 1924. This donated easement on 1,534 acres (6.21 km) of

3776-570: The state tax authorities. The federal and state tax treatment of profits from sale and use of transferable tax credit have been the subject of extensive discussion and the issuance of several guidance documents by the Internal Revenue Service. The New Mexico state income tax credit was originated in 2003. New transferability legislation, effective January 1, 2008, applies retroactively to conservation easements effected from January 1, 2004. The Virginia transferable credit program

3840-722: The state using long-term leases of 20 to 70 years. Foreign investors are not allowed to buy or own land in China. In Thailand foreigners are normally prohibited to own or possess land in Thailand. These restrictions are covered in the land code, articles 96 and following. Under Article 44 of the Cambodian Constitution, "only natural persons or legal entities of Khmer nationality shall have the right to land ownership." foreigners are prohibited to own or possess land in Cambodia. Foreigners are prohibited owning land in

3904-536: The use of the land for life, but typically no ability to transfer that interest or to use it to secure a mortgage loan . Under common law, fee tail is hereditary, non-transferable ownership of real property. A similar concept, the legitime , exists in civil and Roman law ; the legitime limits the extent to which one may disinherit an heir. Under both common law and civil law, land may be leased or rented by its owner to another party. A wide range of arrangements are possible, ranging from very short terms to

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3968-427: The value of their gift at the rate of 50% of their adjusted gross income (AGI) per year. Further, landowners with 50% or more of their income from agriculture were able to deduct the donation at a rate of 100% of their AGI. Any amount of the donation remaining after the first year could be carried forward for fifteen additional years (allowing a maximum of sixteen years within which the deduction may be utilized), or until

4032-512: The ways in which people create and utilize landscape boundaries, both natural and constructed. Less tangible aspects of tenure are harder to qualify, and study of these relies heavily on either the anthropological record (in the case of pre-literate societies) or textual evidence (in the case of literate societies). In archaeology, land tenure traditions can be studied across the longue durée , for example land tenure based on kinship and collective property management. This makes it possible to study

4096-553: The working ranch preserves a piece of California's western heritage and habitat resources. It is part of a much larger unified ecological landscape which includes scenic mountain and riparian views of the Santa Ynez Valley and the surrounding mountain ranges. A primary value of this property is the Valley Oak savannah and grasslands that once covered most of the valley. In March 2001, a conservation easement protected

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