PERRYSBURG – The Black Swamp Conservancy, headquartered in the city, in 2010 passed the 9,000-acre mark
of lands it has conserved. And more protected lands may be on the way.
Kevin Joyce, the conservancy’s executive director, noted that a 131-acre farm located in Sandusky County,
west of Fremont, was added in August, putting the organization over the top.
"Well, every acre is important," he said of the 9,000-mark’s importance. "And it’s a major
accomplishment for a small organization like ours."
And with the addition of two farms in Fulton County, a preserve in Sandusky County near Fremont, and a
waterway and wetland in Oregon, "we just passed 9,400 acres" as of Dec. 21.
According to a recent press release, the conservancy, founded in 1993, has lands protected in 12 counties
in the Northwest Ohio region.
"When landowners donate a conservation easement to Black Swamp Conservancy, they maintain ownership
and management of their land, and can sell or pass the land on to their heirs, while foregoing future
development rights," the release noted.
Speaking on the 9,400-acre accomplishment, Mary Krueger, president of the conservancy’s board of
trustees, said that "what I think it means for the residents of Northwest Ohio is that there are
9,000 acres that have been preserved that will remain in the condition that they are now, they won’t be
developed," and will remain as agricultural, wetland, woodland, and other areas. It goes on in
perpetuity "and will benefit generations to come," she said.
Joyce said that donations of conservation easements to the conservancy have "been a trend over the
last several years. There’s been some enhanced federal income tax incentives" as well as
significant amounts of State of Ohio land conservation funding that has become available. These have
spurred landowner’s interest in donating the easements "and all that’s combined to give us more
opportunities to protect the land."
The income tax incentives for private landowners were recently renewed by Congress, according to the
release. The "enhanced incentive" increases the deduction for donating a voluntary
conservation agreement to 50 percent, up from 30 percent; allows farmers to deduct up to 100 percent of
their income; and allows deductions to be taken over 16 years up from six.
"Well, that’s been one of the important factors that has helped us protect more lands
recently," Joyce said of the renewed incentives. It provides a "financial incentive to
landowners of moderate means who can benefit by placing their land under permanent protection like what
we offer."
Of what reaching the 9,000-acre mark means, Joyce said that "one is that we’ve begun to create some
important corridors of preserved farmland. We’ve got over 3,000 acres" that the conservancy is now
protecting in Fulton County, and much of that is south of the city of Delta. Additionally, in Seneca
County north of Tiffin "we’ve got a couple thousand acres there."
That acreage is important for protecting what Joyce said were hundreds if not thousands of jobs in the
agricultural industry in those communities.
"Agriculture’s the number one industry in Ohio," he said. He continued by saying there are
"a number of really important natural areas in Northwest Ohio where we work including coastal
wetlands, migratory bird stopover habitat, the Oak Openings area, along some of the rivers, and on the
Lake Erie Islands, and we’ve been able to protect more and more of those locations as well."
Joyce noted there are significant, if not well-known, economic benefits of land conservation.
"Farmland preservation protects the agricultural industry and all those jobs there," he said.
Wetland and forest protection additionally keeps "our water and air cleaner and at a lower cost
than through any means that man has created."
Parks have also been created.
"A number of the properties that we’ve protected are now public parks and nature preserves."
Parks, he said, increase outdoor activities, which in turn reduce health care costs.
Additional lands may also be in process to be added to the conservancy.
"In fact, we participate quite a bit in the state’s farmland preservation program. And we’ve got a
number of farms that were accepted into that program in 2009 and 2010 that haven’t yet had an easement
placed on them but they’re in the process of doing that," he said, going on to note that "we
have, I think, probably a couple thousand acres of potentially protected lands" in process right
now.