Future looking bright for park preservation in Cobb

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Wednesday, December 6, 2006, by MDJ columnist Don McKee

The push to preserve more parkland in Cobb County is part of a highly successful nationwide effort that bodes well for the future.

A report last week by the Land Trust Alliance showed that land held by state and local trusts doubled from 6 million acres to almost 12 million acres in the five years from 2000 to 2005.

Adding the land preserved by national conservation groups raises to 37 million acres the total now under protective trusts and easements - a whopping 54 percent increase over the 24 million acres set aside in 2000. The alliance pointed out the land now preserved is 16½ times the size of Yellowstone National Park.

"Little known just two decades ago, land trusts are now one of the fastest-growing and most successful conservation movements in American history," the alliance said.

That good news gets even better when you consider the conservation of private land averages 2.6 million acres a year, exceeding the estimated 2.2 million plus acres being developed, according to the Agriculture Department.

Credit goes to the growing number of local volunteer groups, says Rand Wentworth, president of the Land Trust Alliance. It is these groups - of which the Cobb Parks Coalition is a prime example - that drive the conservation efforts across the country.

The number of state and local land trusts increased 32 percent to 1,667 over the past five years. Georgia beat the average with a 41 percent increase as the numbers of trusts grew from 17 to 24. That tied Georgia with South Carolina for third place in trusts in the Southeast behind the leader, Florida, with 36, and North Carolina, second with 32.

The fastest-growing trend is conservation easements that landowners grant in exchange for tax incentives. In 2005 such voluntary agreements resulted in conserving 6.2 million acres versus 2.5 million acres in 2000.

On the heels of the good news from the Land Trust Alliance, Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia announced grants and loans totaling $1.5 million for four counties and a city under the state Land Conservation Act passed last year to encourage conservation and protection of natural, cultural and historic resources.

The projects include a 190-acre conservation easement "to help preserve the rapidly disappearing agricultural heritage of Oconee County" with a $467,000 grant. There's a $66,000 grant for Bartow County to obtain a conservation easement for 100 acres of farmland and stream buffers along Sugar Hill Creek. DeKalb County received $75,000 for acquisition of 140 acres of flood plain and wetlands along the South River.

Georgia also has the benefit of the land conservation tax credit law passed in 2006 to provide new incentive for private landowners to help preserve our state's beautiful natural resources, wildlife habitats, cultural and historic sites.

Donors of conservation easements are allowed a state income tax credit of 25 percent of the fair market value of the property up to a maximum $250,000 per individual and $500,000 per corporation.

Bottom line: conservation really is gaining ground.

dmckee9613@aol.com