Conservation easements article

[dusty27]

This article is long, but very interesting. I would suggest printing it out and reading it when you have time. It speaks to possible abuses to the conservation easements available to individuals today as tax shelters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Dec20.html

[Matthew.Rector]

Re: A positive easement story!

Figures that money hungry developers would find a way to abuse something meant for the common good.
Here is a recent article telling the good of conservation easements. (I know, not a Civil War Battlefield-but we're all on the same team right?)

From a Philly based newspaper...

http://www.dailylocal.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10697428&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=17782&rfi=6

Giving the gift of land
Jill Nawrocki , Staff Writer 12/22/2003

BIRMINGHAM -- Open space, a piece of national history and personal memories were preserved when members of the Worth family granted land to the Brandywine Conservancy in a conservation easement.

Land along Meeting House Road in Birmingham has been in Bill Worth’s family since 1938. He and his three brothers grew up on the property and felt a strong desire to keep the land in its original state.

"We have so many fond memories. I was brought up here and I’ve known it all my life," Worth said. "It was fundamental to keep the land as it was and as we remembered it."

The easement serves as an addendum to the deed and says nothing can be developed on the 115-acre plot of land, still owned by the Worths.

According to Halsey Spruance, director of public relations for the Brandywine Conservancy, the easement outlined restrictions designed to retain the property’s historic, scenic, natural and agricultural resources. It limited future construction and established a public walking train to be constructed and managed by the county and Birmingham Township.

"It’s important for the conservancy and the citizens of southeastern Pennsylvania to preserve historic areas in terms of the Revolutionary War," Spruance said. "It’s where America started."

Spruance said the easement was a huge milestone in the preservation of the Brandywine Battlefield. Residents will still be able to stand at the top of the field and tell the Battle of Brandywine story of how soldiers came over the hills and through the valley, with picturesque landscape to prove it.

"In a lot of ways, the land still looks the same as it did back then," Spruance said.

According to Spruance, numerous Civil War areas have been reserved as national parks; however, few from the Revolutionary War exist. Although the conservation easement does not stipulate that the land become a park, it does prevent any sort of development from occurring on the historic landmark.

Spruance said that because the land will remain privately owned and will never become a state or national park, the lot will create no new infrastructure for the county.

More than 26,000 soldiers were in combat during the Battle of Brandywine, making it one of the largest events of the Revolutionary War. The battlefield was designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 1961, becoming one of 26 similar landmarks in the state and one of more than 2,000 in the country.

Worth said that although his personal ties to the land were the driving force behind the easement, the opportunity to conserve a historic landmark was also attractive.

"It’s a part of our personal history and a part of the national history," he said.

The Worth family conservation easement came in response to growing concerns voiced by area residents that continual development of open space would encroach on the historical integrity of the landmark and the beauty of the area.

"People live here for a reason, because of the rural atmosphere and the quaint quality.When they move here they want it to stay that way," Spruance said. "When it comes down to the Brandywine Battlefield, you have something even more important -- a preservation of history."

©Daily Local News 2003