Land Legacy Inc

The largest program services provided by Land Legacy are for our military partners at Fort Sill Army Base and Tinker Air Force Base. Urban encroachment along the perimeters of military installations is an increasingly common concern for installation operations and training activities. Fort Sill and Tinker are no exceptions to this concern as new residential development along the bases' fence lines are becoming more and more common. To prevent this situation from compromising Fort Sill's future operation, the U.S. Army implemented the Army Compatible Use Buffer (ACUB) Program. This program is designed to create an essential buffer zone surrounding Fort Sill and provide for important conservation and outdoor recreation benefits. One of the main benefits for Fort Sill was noise mitigation. The initiative developed by Land Legacy for Tinker to create an essential buffer zone surrounding Tinker was similar in structure with the primary rationale being to create a safety zone for potential plane crashes. Roughly 20,000 acres of open lands around Fort Sill have been identified for protection through the purchase of conservation easements. The area around Tinker is more developed, but over 1,000 acres adjoining the base have still been identified and prioritized for potential buffers through conservation easements. Easements restrict subdivision and development of properties while allowing continued private ownership, agricultural uses, ranching, utility infrastructure, non-intensive industrial uses and passive outdoor low-intensity recreation. There are also significant tax incentives available to landowners who wish to donate all or a portion of the conservation easement value. Land Legacy makes regular trips to the military bases to meet with base personnel, meet with prospective landowners, and perform annual monitoring of completed easements. The second largest program services area of Land Legacy is in drinking water protection for the City of Tulsa water and wastewater group. The Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority (TMUA), in an effort to preserve water quality and to preserve working agricultural lands, developed the Eucha-Spavinaw Watershed Protection Initiative. The Eucha-Spavinaw watershed provides drinking water for much of northeastern Oklahoma. The watershed also provides habitat for numerous endangered and threatened species unique to the region. This effort consists of a long-term land conservation program within the boundaries of the watershed in both Oklahoma and Arkansas to acquire, through purchase or donation, permanent conservation easements. As of the end of 2015, Land Legacy has worked diligently with landowners in the area to have nearly 5,000 acres in Oklahoma and Arkansas that is protected in perpetuity through conservation easements. In addition to Land Legacy's work, there is an additional 30,000 acres under protection from various other agencies such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife, State of Oklahoma, and City of Tulsa. The TMUA Board has many initiatives to protect Tulsa's drinking water. The conservation easements require continual conversations with city staff, state and federal officials, and landowners. In addition, Land Legacy has been doing outreach work partnering with Delaware County Conservation Commissioners by working to provide information about conservation easements through meetings of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. The third area of program services provided by Land Legacy deals with willing landowners looking to conserve their land and take advantage of the tremendous tax credits offered. The Conservation Easement Incentive Act is considered by many to be the most important conservation legislation in the last 20 years. This Act, part of the American Gives More Act, encourages landowners to place conservation easements on their land to protect important natural, scenic, and historic resources. Lands placed into conservation easements continue to be farmed, grazed, hunted, or used for outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation. These lands also remain on county tax rolls, strengthening local economies donating a voluntary conservation easement.