Property tax credits for landowners who preserve their natural land might be a way to conserve land and reward farmers.
A three year pilot project conducted by Ducks Unlimited Canada in two Saskatchewan rural municipalities found the idea has merit.
Cynthia Edwards, national manager of industry and government relations with Ducks Unlimited, said landowners were receptive to tax credits.
Credits are readily understood and easy to administer, she added.
“Our premise was that we wanted to help provide an incentive to those people who have retained natural areas,” which include woodlands, grasslands and wetlands.
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Farmers bear the costs of protecting such land without any return.
Edwards said a tax credit, administered through the municipal tax system, might be an efficient way to help landowners with those costs and provide benefits to wildlife and birds.
“Taxes are a good way for the public to contribute to these public goods on private land,” she said.
The pilot project was conducted from 2003-05 in the RM of Morse in southwestern Saskatchewan and Emerald in the east-central region near Wishart.
Participating landowners agree not to clear, break or drain their land for the duration of a tax year. Edwards said farmers enrol a year at a time because Ducks Unlimited recognizes that circumstances change.
“We had a fairly high level of uptake,” she said. “It was well accepted by landowners.”
In Morse, landowners enrolled 66,600 acres of grassland and 13,600 acres of wetland each year on average, representing 74 percent of the eligible acres. There is no wooded area in the RM.
In Emerald, there were 5,800 acres of grass, 9,100 acres of wetland and 4,200 acres of woodland enrolled on average annually. About 40 percent of the eligible acres were included. The total credits paid out in Morse were $250,000, while Emerald landowners received $48,000.
Despite the enrolment success, Edwards said she was disappointed.
“The results weren’t as good as we hoped,” she said. “There was still some drainage and clearing.”
In some areas, landowners didn’t stay in the program for the full three years. Edwards said monitoring and compliance are crucial.
Still, surveys found that half of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that tax credits are positive and could cause them to retain natural
areas.
Edwards also said that this type of program could work in conjunction with others, such as conservation easements, carbon offsets or watershed programs.
One problem the project encountered was the lack of GIS maps to define natural areas. Assessment maps aren’t good enough because boundaries of wetlands fluctuate, for example. Another concern was the inclusion of crown land and who would get the benefit of a tax credit.
Since the project was completed Ducks Unlimited has been analyzing the data and speaking about the concept at conferences.
“There’s certainly interest, not just in Saskatchewan,” Edwards said.
Ducks Unlimited conducted a similar pilot program for riparian areas in Manitoba.
