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Our View
Threat to
open land
Congress is currently considering killing the
Federal tax incentive for conservation (or
scenic) easements which has played a very key role in permanently saving tens of thousands of acres of open land from subdivision sprawl in surrounding counties and of special interest in Rappahannock County over the past quarter century.
The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) of the U.S. Congress is studying this move in response to some commercial landowners putting their land in easements to take tax breaks for projects such as golf courses. This loophole in the law should be closed to stop such abuses. But killing the program would effectively end voluntary private conservation efforts here.
Property owners here, already burdened by the high cost of keeping land in open space, would largely find their private stewardship challenging without the financial incentive of these public easements. Eliminating this program, though used by a relative few, would result in paving the way for destruction of viewscapes for the many and accelerate urban sprawl here.
Governor Warner strongly supports the scenic easement program because of its value to forest cover, agriculture and a healthy biodiverse environment.
Conservation easements are the most important private sector vehicle we have today for advancing the cause of environmental protection here and across the United States.
Congress should close the loopholes while keeping this basic and essential program.
Mourning Mary
Mary Wharton Groves passed away sadly without
seeing her classmates from long ago in
print. This year marks their 60th high school reunion. They are pictured in this issue from their school days in 1945.
Mary Wharton Groves was born in Washington in 1927 and attended Washington high school. She is missed and fondly remembered by her classmates, family and friends.
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