Reasons to Support AHC
The Impact of Development: Pros & Cons
The landscape of Garrett County and the surrounding area contains
many forests, farmlands, streams, and wetlands. It’s a region with
beautiful scenery and special species of plants and animals. The forests
and farms of our area, and the streams and rivers that flow through them,
provide economic benefit to landowners and the community in general – through
farming and timber harvesting -- and support a wide range of activities that
residents and visitors alike enjoy, including hunting, fishing, hiking, biking,
boating, and birding. But we all know our area is changing. Over the
years, farms and forests have been lost to housing and other forms of
development.
There are pros and cons to these changes. Certainly development means more
jobs for county residents, and the increased tax revenue improves the roads and
supports other services that we enjoy. On the other hand, property values have
skyrocketed causing an increase in property taxes and a decrease in affordable
housing. And we are losing many of those special places we
once enjoyed.
A
Property Owner’s Dilemma!
Landowners in Garrett County these days are faced with the challenge of holding
onto their property with ever-increasing tax burdens or selling it for
increasingly-attractive purchase offers. Because heirs may not be interested in
farming or forestry, owners are torn between wanting the land to remain as it
has been for generations or subdividing it to sell for a financial benefit.
What’s the Landowner to Do?
Many landowners would probably like to preserve and protect their land for
future generations by keeping it in a rural state, if by doing so they paid less
taxes but still generated income for themselves and their heirs. Developers
might be more willing to use more environmentally friendly designs, if they
could be shown that there is a financial benefit in doing so. That’s where the
Allegheny Highlands Conservancy (AHC) may help.
Conservation Easements Allow Tax Benefits and Flexibility
AHC is a land trust, a non-profit organization that works with willing
landowners to conserve land by accepting land donations called easements.
Landowners have the freedom to stipulate their own particular vision for their
land, such as:
Such agreements remove the development potential from the land, making it more
affordable for the landowner to maintain the land in its current use and pass it
on to the next generation.
AHC - More Than a Land Trust
We
desire to be more than just a traditional land trust, as our purposes indicate.
Our goal is to work with people to accomplish conservation in our county and the
surrounding area. It's important to emphasize the
inclusiveness of our organization. We all have our opinions regarding such
issues as development,
logging, wind power, and endangered species, but the focus of our group is on
finding common ground so we can get things done. Currently we’re showing people
how to add their voices to the development of the new Garrett County
Comprehensive Development Plan.
So How Can You Help?
