Pennsylvania Ranked as a Land Conservation Leader
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
Protects 213,774 Acres To Date

(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  December 15, 2006)  A recent national census report issued by the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) demonstrates Pennsylvania’s leadership in land conservation.  To date, 440,659 acres of land have been protected in Pennsylvania.  The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), a Pittsburgh-based land trust, has conserved approximately 50 percent of Pennsylvania’s land for a total of 213,774 acres.  For several decades, the LTA, a national organization, has been tracking trends in private land conservation, with each five-year census report showing more significant increases in land protection than ever before.   

The LTA’s recent census report (available at www.lta.org) ranks Pennsylvania as second in the country in preserving land and converting it to parks and public uses.  With 95 land trusts in the state, Pennsylvania ranks fourth in the nation in the total number of land trusts, following, California, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Pennsylvania ranks 33 out of 50 in total land area.  Its 46,058 square miles are easily dwarfed by states like Alaska whose size equals 656,425 square miles; and nearly six Keystone states could fit inside Texas. But in terms of protecting land and conserving its natural resources, Pennsylvania ranks ninth in the nation. 

Since its founding in 1932, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has protected land of ecological significance.  WPC has been responsible for the creation of six state parks:  Ohiopyle, Laurel Ridge, McConnell’s Mill, Moraine, Oil Creek and Erie Bluffs.  In addition, WPC created the 300-acre Wildflower Reserve at Raccoon Creek State Park plus numerous natural areas, game lands and state forests. 

While land acquisition is one way to protect land, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy utilizes other methods, such as voluntary conservation easements.  Conservation easements are legal conservation agreements that permanently limit the uses of land.  The agreements are made between a willing landowner and a nonprofit land trust, such as WPC, and keep the land on the tax rolls, preserving private property rights and maintaining the ability to sell or pass land on to heirs.
 
WPC has protected more than 30,000 acres of land in western Pennsylvania with voluntary conservation agreements.  WPC is prepared to assist landowners with the conservation of land that meets the region’s conservation objectives with an emphasis in Bedford, Fulton, Erie, Venango, Crawford, Fayette, Westmoreland, Somerset, McKean, Warren and Elk counties with voluntary conservation agreements. 

New IRS tax law makes easements established now through the end of 2007 particularly beneficial tax-wise to many landowners.  A conservation donor can deduct up to 50 percent of their adjusted gross income in any year (up from 30 percent).  If most of their income is from farming, ranching or forestry, they can deduct up to an amount equal to all of their income.  In addition, the number of years over which a donor can take those deductions has increased from six years to 16 years. 

For more information on the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s land protection history and program, contact Greg Socha at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy at 412-288-2777 (toll-free 866-564-6972) or via email at gsocha@paconserve.org.

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About the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy:
Since its founding in 1932, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has protected more than 212,000 acres of natural lands in Pennsylvania, restored watersheds and saved natural habitats for a diversity of life and uses.  The Conservancy has been responsible for the founding of six state parks, including Ohiopyle, Laurel Ridge, McConnell’s Mill, Moraine, Oil Creek and Erie Bluffs.  In addition, WPC created the 300-acre Wildflower Reserve at Raccoon Creek State Park, and added land to Blue Knob State Park.

The WPC also preserves Fallingwater®, the masterpiece home designed in 1935 by Frank Lloyd Wright for Edgar J. Kaufmann in Mill Run, Pennsylvania.  In 1963, Edgar Kaufmann jr. (sic) entrusted Fallingwater to the Conservancy.  Today, WPC continues its award winning preservation efforts and offers a wide variety of educational programs to more than 135,000 annual visitors.  The preservation of Fallingwater is a symbol of living in harmony with nature. 

Each year, WPC also partners with 5,000 volunteers and dozens of community organizations and businesses to plant and maintain more than 135 gardens and greening projects in 20 western Pennsylvania counties.