While not the norm, incidents such as these have caused land trust critic Tom Holt to charge that at the state and federal level, land trusts are less about private conservation than about deal making. Tax relief particularly elimination of the estate or death tax might be equally effective. Unfortunately, the only tax reform most land trusts favor is increasing the deductibility of contributions. Trust officials ought to become more enlightened advocates for broader forms of tax relief on land. Michael Bean of the Environmental Defense Fund has written that the estate tax encourages the destruction of ecologically important land in private ownership.
Some families try to preserve their property by selling or donating conservation easements.
While allowing the land to remain in private ownership, easements can generate either cash or tax advantages in return for the surrender of development rights. A New York Times article last fall described how with developers in Steamboat, Colorado, paying 20 times the farm value of land, the Fetchers saved the family ranch by donating development rights on 1,300 acres to a land trust. In doing so, they cut future estate taxes in half. Conservation easements vary widely. Some are set up to maintain scenic vistas, while others simply encourage agriculture in areas that have historically been farmed or ranched.