West Fork – White River Watershed Initiative

1. West Fork – White River Watershed Initiative audubon arkansas nwa field office 44 n. school ave. fayetteville, ar 72701 479.527.0700 mterry@audubon.org

2. Connecting Local Residents with developers… with agency resource personnel… with elected leaders…

3. Promoting Public Involvement • as a resource for watershed stakeholders • by facilitating community watershed meetings • providing a forum for public discussion of water quality issues/concerns • serving a broker of conservation restoration strategies for private landowners, elected leaders and local government.

4. Facilitating Watershed Education Audubon worked with the Wash. County Cooperative Extension Service and the City of Fayetteville to create visual distinctions between streams in our two local watersheds. Audubon Arkansas will make these signs available upon request to landowners in the coming quarter.

5. Supporting Applied Research As a resource for watershed stakeholders, we created a Technical Advisory Group of professors and agency resource staff. One of our first projects is a demonstration of riparian/streambank restoration on the U of A campus.

6. Promoting Sustainable Land Partnerships through… Conservation Easements

7. Conservation Easement • Priority Areas: • Riparian Zones • Wetland Areas • 3. Bottomland Hardwoods

8. Riparian Zones - The forested land along rivers, streams, and lakes is known as the "riparian zone".  Riparian comes from the Latin word ripa, which means bank. Riparian zones are areas of transition between aquatic and upland ecosystems, and they offer numerous, yet often overlooked, benefits to wildlife and people.  Only within the past few decades have we come to realize the ecological value of riparian areas. Although they comprise a small proportion of the total landscape, they are among the most diverse biological systems on earth, and they perform important services to people which no amount of human effort and technology can do as well.  As our population increases, there will be increased pressures to use riparian areas for a variety of commercial and recreational purposes.  It is vital that we all become involved in the conservation and restoration of these areas.

9. Wetland Areas - In order to determine if a wetland is “worth” anything, we must first determine it’s “value”. Historically wetlands were thought to be of little value and were viewed by many people as mosquito infested swamps that stood in the way of man’s progress. Many of the nation’s wetlands were located in fertile river valleys and were drained by landowners to create more agricultural land along rivers and streams. At the time it seemed that wetland areas served no real purpose and that agricultural land was of greater value than wetlands. It was easy to see the agricultural value of these rich and fertile bottomland soils by the crops they produced. It was not so easy to see the values of wetlands.

10. Bottomland Hardwoods – Bottomland Hardwoods serve a critical role in the watershed by reducing the risk and severity of flooding to downstream communities by providing areas to store floodwater. In addition, these wetlands improve water quality by filtering and flushing nutrients, processing organic wastes, and reducing sediment before it reaches open water. Two hundred years ago, magnificent bottomland forests covered almost thirty million acres across the Southeastern United States. Today, only about forty percent of that area still supports these productive and unique ecosystems.

11. What is a Conservation Easement? A conservation easement is a legal means by which a landowner can voluntarily set permanent limitations on the future use of the land, thus protecting the land's natural qualities. Through an easement, the owner conveys to the easement-holder the right to prevent certain uses of the land in the future or to use it for specific purposes.

12. Basic Elements of a Conservation Easement The responsibilities and rewards of ownership continue, and, the landowner retains full control over public access just as s/he did before granting the easement. This widely popular method has been used to protect open space, farms, wildlife areas, forests, watersheds, national parks, ocean frontage, and rare places all over the nation.

13. Conservation Benefits - * Riparian buffer zones are among the most effective measures for protecting surface waters and preventing water quality problems in streams and lakes. * Buffer zones primarily function as a trap for eroded sediments while also facilitating the uptake of run-off nutrients. * A recent study by the US DA and the University of Georgia found that riparian buffers can retain or remove over 60 percent of nitrogen and phosphorus from adjoining land. * Buffer zones slow the movement of water and facilitate the recharge of groundwater.

14. Landowner Benefits – * The attraction of the conservation easement lies in the fact that the land remains in private ownership. * The owner may use, sell, lease or convey the land subject to the explicit terms of the easement, because neither the title nor right to possession of the land is given up by the agreement. * Tax benefits, ranging from potential income tax deductions, estate tax reduction, and/or capital gains tax mitigation.

15. Pilot Program Goals – Year One * Establish 3 WF-WR Riparian Conservation Agreement pilot projects with eligible landowners in the next year; * Establish one or more stream bank restoration projects in the next year by working with proven experts in this field of conservation such as the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the University of Arkansas and the ADEQ; * Involve community members in a broad-target watershed education campaign, which making watershed maps, installing watershed signage at community parks and producing WF-WR specific outreach materials.

16. Program Goals – Year Two *  Expanded easement enrollment from 3 pilot landowners to 5, for a total of eight at the end of two years time;  *  Conducting an expanded conservation easement clinic for watershed landowners who would like to learn how to write/maintain their own conservation easements (this option isn't tax deductible but it would give those folks who don't feel comfortable with third party land arrangements an option to participate). * Writing and publishing an Upper White River Basin watershed monthly column for the “White River Valley News", a weekly newspaper, which publishes to a target audience in the Goshen, Elkins, Greenland, West Fork and Winslow communities.

17. Protection Option Description Results Income taxdeduction? Estate taxreduction? Conservation Easement Legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust permanently limiting a property's uses. Land's conservation values protected by organization. Owner continues to own, use, live on land. Restrictions bind successive owners. Yes Yes Outright Land Donation Land is donated to land trust. Organization owns and protects land.** Yes Yes Donation of Undivided Partial Interest Interests in land are donated to land trust over several years.  Landowner still shares the ownership. Organization owns and protects land.** Income tax deductions spread over several years. Yes Yes Donation of Land by Will Land is donated to land trust or agency at death. Organization owns and protects land.** No Yes Example of Conservation Menu Options

18. Donation of Land With Reserved Life Estate. Land is donated to land trust, but owner (or other designated) continue to live there, usually until death. Organization owns and protects land during owners and successors life and afterwards Yes Yes Charitable Gift Annuity Land is donated to land trust and sold subject to a conservation easement. Donor receives an income annuity for life. Yes Yes Bargain Sale of Land Land is sold to land trust or agency for a price below fair market value. Organizationowns and protects land. Yes Yes Lease Land is leased for a special number of years to a land trust or individual, with restrictions placed on how it can be used. Development postponed. No No Mutual Covenant A group of landowners agree to restrictions on their land use. May not involve a conservation group. Can be nullified by subsequent agreement of owners. No No

19. Headquarters: Heritage West 201 E. Markham St. Suite 450 Little Rock, AR 72201 501.244.2229 www.ar.audubon.org NWA Field Office 44 N. School Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72701 479.527.0700 mterry@audubon.org