Letter from Dave Skinner
Conservation easements – November 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ed and Martha:
Gee, I wish I HAD gotten that letter from Mark Weston.
There are a couple of things Mark doesn’t mention, actually a bunch.
According to a Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers press release, Mark “has a specialty appraisal practice emphasizing easement and public takings valuation, and is current chair of the Board.” He also “serves as president of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts” and was president of the Dougco Open Lands coalition that “published a concise guide called Establishing an Open Space Program. The 10-page article describes the process which resulted in the successful vote to start a sales-tax [0.17 percent] funded open space program in Douglas County,” according to the Colorado Parks Trails website.
I’m flattered to be ripped by the big guns.
As for Doug’s point No. 2 quibble about “the state” not getting Greenland’s pretty side (the one with trains on it), well, a government entity (aka “the state”) certainly PAID for it. The Dougco News Press reported in 1996 “The county, acting in partnership with the Conservation Fund, received a $10 million Legacy Grant from GOCO in May. Douglas County has committed $250,000 toward that project in 1996, but will need to develop other partnerships within the next six to nine months to demonstrate the ability to match the GOCO grant.”
Any way you look at it, the public (“the state”) paid for something that Mark and his friends at the twenty-something land trusts in Colorado want — just not badly enough to buy it and pay taxes and maintain it themselves.
That’s a scam, and speaking of scams, lottery money supports GOCO. We all know that the lottery is a nasty regressive tax on the poor. Never mind that GOCO’s deputy director these days is Diane Gansauer, who as Colorado Wildlife Federation executive director, didn’t give Colorado ranchers many warm and fuzzies with its support of wolves, among lots of other things.
Mark should tell Colorado Central readers exactly what sort of write-offs and tax breaks were involved in the Greenland transaction. I have an E-mail message that says conservation easements should be 90% of full market, something which Mark seems to disagree with, preferring a standard “based on the sales prices of such comparable easements.” So, did the Conservation Fund and “the state” actually pay 90% of FMV, or was there a huge write-down based on “comparable easements” to be absorbed by, um, “the state?”
Finally, as for fighting words, family farmers and ranchers wouldn’t be pressured into CE’s were it not for lousy prices and the inheritance tax — the repeal of which the Nature Conservancy opposes. What is the Coalition’s position, kind sir?
Dave Skinner
Whitefish, Montana
NOTE: Apparently Skinner didn’t get Weston’s letter, but I forwarded it, honest. Ed