"The area was growing. We were surrounded by new housing developments," said the 69-year-old lanky beanpole of a man. "I worried our farm would be shingled over."
Hoping to preserve the bucolic property where he had spent most of his adult life, Hawthorne signed a conservation easement agreement in 2009 with the Montgomery County Lands Trust.
Under the terms of the contract, he gave up all development rights during his ownership and that of anyone who buys the farm in the future. In exchange, he received tens of thousands in federal income-tax credits.
Such agreements - made possible through the U.S. tax code - have become an increasingly popular tool in enticing landowners to preserve their open space, local land conservationists say. But their continued existence is in jeopardy, with the provision establishing them set to expire at the end of the year.
"For a surprising number of large landowners, the value of their property is tied to family, legacy, and quality of life - not how much they can sell it for to a real estate developer," said Molly K. Morrison, president of the Natural Lands Trust, the Philadelphia area's largest conservation organization.
Federal lawmakers first approved the conservation easement tax credit in 2006, allowing landowners who donated development rights to conservancy groups to deduct 50 percent of their income on their taxes instead of the 30 percent traditionally applied for charitable donations. Farmers and ranchers could take up to a 100 percent deduction.
Almost immediately, it quickened the pace of open-space preservation across the country, conservation groups say. Since the credit was established, voluntary land conservation efforts have swelled by one-third, resulting in the preservation of more than 1 million acres a year nationwide, according to the Land Trust Alliance.
