Y-S groups merging to preserve land

By Eve Hightower
Appeal-Democrat

The Middle Mountain Foundation and Yuba-Sutter Land Trust have merged in an effort to protect land as far as the eye can see from the Sutter Buttes.

Land trusts purchase or accept donations of development rights on land as a way of maintaining open undeveloped space in the face of strong development pressure.

Middle Mountain Foundation Executive Director Mike Darnell said the two groups began working together last summer and quickly realized they could better accomplish their mission by joining forces.

So last week, Middle Mountain Foundation board members agreed to merge with Yuba Sutter Land Trust.

The union will likely retain the name Middle Mountain Foundation, Darnell said. Combined, the trusts have preserved more than 400 acres in Sutter and Yuba counties and the Sutter Buttes.

Darnell said there is plenty more work to do, and he hopes to include Colusa County in Middle Mountain Foundation’s preservation efforts.

The group is currently working on two new easements, including a 34-acre easement near Marysville.

Easements allow owners to maintain exclusive use and possession of their land, while prohibiting residential or commercial development. Not only does this preserve open space, landowners can make and save money with an easement.

Jon Messick’s easements will do more than protect the beautiful view from his back porch in Yuba County.

Messick is among the first in Yuba County to put an easement on his land. He negotiated a 34-acre easement on his 60-acre property in Hallwood so his children still can build homes on lots of their own someday if they are interested.

"This is really a new thing. Hopefully, I’m laying the ground work for other people in the future,” he said.

Agricultural easements require land remain productive forever. So easements have economic impacts as well as an environmental impact, Darnell said.

In 2003, farm trade surpluses climbed as farm imports rose twice as fast as exports, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The U.S. imported more agricultural goods than it exported in June and August that year, which marked the first monthly trade deficits since 1986, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Land preservationists such as Darnell believe preserving agricultural land will also help preserve food production and the American agricultural heritage.

I think that preserving agricultural land is important if we want to remain a sustainable community in the future,” Darnell said. "I think that it could soon become a national security issue if we do not take steps to ensure the viability of farming in our country.”

There are more than 20 land trusts working to protect Central Valley wildlife, farmland, habitat and native vegetation, according to the Great Valley Center in Modesto.

What’s more, owners receive tax savings. Surrendering building rights reduces property value. The value of the development rights is then deducted from the market value of the property for estate tax purposes.

Some easements can eliminate estate tax liability by reducing property value below a taxable level. Donated easements are regarded as charitable gifts by the Internal Revenue Service and are deductible up to 30 percent of the donors adjusted gross income.These incentives and a love of the land has helped land trusts permanently protect thousands of acres nationwide.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Eve Hightower can be reached at 749-4724. You may email her at ehightower@appeal-democrat.com