Reflecting and Looking Forward

Reflecting and Looking Forward
It's February 1st 2010, as good a time as any to begin a chronical of Utah Open Lands' daily efforts to preserve land throughout Utah. January was catch up from a whirlwind end to 2009. We protected two properties both approximately 100 acres, one near Moab the other along the Mirror Lake highway.

Most compelling at this time, with the legislature in full swing, more red air days than green and land no longer commanding a premium price, is sustainability. It's the buzz word to be sure. Ironically, in a state where a majority of residents strive to be prepared for disaster, Utah Open Lands has struggled to preserve the most productive farmland. Our efforts to preserve farmland with critical soils(of statewide or prime significance) began when the organization began in 1990. We preserved a farm with 25 acres of prime soil in 1997 and have continued to work with farmers and ranchers throughout the state.

This year the legislature has before it House Bill 102. It would require counties to utilize rollback taxes to fund agricultural conservation easements. Is a positive first step? It includes a pitfall in allowing for term limited easements. How term limited easements will be valued is just one of the questions. Term limited easements can not receive tax incentives that currently accrue to permanently protected lands. Expending public dollars on something that can be reversed, seemingly at the will of the body politic in office may not have the public benefit intended either. HB 102 also includes the ability to change the terms of the agricultural conservation easement simply through a written request and public hearing without the current safeguards of a well thought through amendment policy. Critically important will be some sort of analysis of whether the request would generate a private benefit to the landowner. This bill needs further analysis from Utah Open Lands perspective, but it is positive that our leaders are thinking about where we get our food from. Being wholly dependent on sources outside of our state and even our country for one of the most basic human needs seems unsustainable.

Food for thought,
Wendy