Coming in
September - October  2008:

IMAGINATION 

In support of this year’s Spirit & Place Festival theme, we’ll explore imagination: Where does it reside? Who or what cultivates it? When are boundaries appropriate? What is needed to unleash public imagination in ways that benefit our communities’ economic, social and cultural health? (Spirit & Place will be held Nov. 1–14, in Indianapolis.) 

Everything you can imagine is real.
(Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor)

Sometimes questions are more important than answers.
(Nancy Willard, American poet and writer)

Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we own to the play of the imagination is incalculable.
(Carl G. Jung, Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist)

Deadline for the
September - October  issue is August 10.

Articles and artwork:
editor@branches.com

Advertising: apple@branches.com

317/255-5594

Support Your Local Land Trust! 

Polls show that 87 percent of Hoosiers feel that more needs to be doneto protect Indiana’s natural resources. Yet Indiana ranks 48th in the nation on environmental indicators such as air quality, energy consumption and state spending on the environment. Less than 4 percent of Indiana’s land is set aside for conservation and outdoor recreation, putting us in 46th place in the nation for conservation. And despite Indiana’s long and proud history of agriculture, we are losing our farms at an alarming rate due to commercial and residential development. From 1997 to 2002, we lost 500,000 acres and 6,400 farms, much of it to urban sprawl. 

While it is obvious that many Indiana citizens believe something needs to be done to correct the situation, many feel stymied, especially given the current political climate. Our legislators, by failing to take action to secure USDA funds that are available for conservation, are allowing a valuable resource to pass us by. Many also fail to recognize the tremendously positive economic impact that land conservation can have on our economy. Tourism, outdoor recreation and high quality of life can all have a significant impact on local economies.

What can individual citizens do to protect our environment and leave a lasting legacy for generations to come?

One simple answer is to support your local Land Trusts. A Land Trust is a private, community-based, nonprofit organization established to protect land and water resources for the public benefit. Land Trusts, in cooperation with individual property owners, employ the use of conservation easements, which are customized legal documents tailored to the wishes of the landowner and associated with the deed to a property to restrict the range of future uses of the specific parcel of land. By committing a conservation easement to a Land Trust, the property owner may be eligible for certain tax incentives. In turn, the Land Trust commits to monitor the use of that land in order to ensure its future uses comply with the specifications in the easement. If necessary, the Land Trust may employ legal assistance in order to insure the compliance of future owners. Land Trusts also work in partnership with other organizations such as Indiana Heritage Trust and The Nature Conservancy to accomplish their mission of preserving land and improving the environment.

Conservation easements are a valuable means for preserving our environment, yet the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation’s recommendation is threatening those means. The committee has recommended a drastic cut on tax benefits for donations of land, conservation easements and bargain sales to Land Trusts. This year, the U.S. Congress may make major changes to the rules governing conservation donations. It is imperative that concerned citizens let their legislators know how important land conservation is, not only to the environment but also to our local economies. 

A person does not need to be a landowner to benefit from or be involved in a Land Trust. Volunteer support preserves natural and agricultural landscape for the future. Natural landscapes can be preserved in urban and rural settings. Athletic fields, municipal parks, stands of trees, farmlands, historic sites, nature preserves and other open lands are valuable community assets that make a place desirable to live and work. The conservation of habitats for wildlife has intrinsic value, enhancing a diverse richness of flora and fauna and adding beauty to people’s lives. Public and privately owned preserves provide a patchwork of open space for migrating species to regain energy. Tourists value preserved natural areas just as much as urban improvements. Homebuyers choose locations adjacent to natural landscapes. Conservation also has a positive impact on air, noise, light, water and land pollution.  

Become a member of or make other contributions to your local Land Trust. Then tell your elected officials about the importance of land conservation and speak out against the Joint Committee on Taxation’s recommendations to cut tax incentives for land conservation.”  —Submitted by members of the Whitewater Valley Land Trust. 

INDIANA LAND TRUSTS 

Contents copyright © 2008 Apple Press, Inc. and Branches contributors. Reproduction in any form by any method is not permitted without written permission from the copyright holder.

Viewpoints expressed in Branches are those of the bylined author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine publishers or advertisers.