Updates on Land Conservation & Financial Strategies for Professionals and Landowners featuring Stephen J. Small
The Enhanced Incentive for Conservation Easement Donations was made permanent by Congress at the end of 2015. This was a monumental victory for the conservation community. There will be no more doubt about the value of easement donations or whether the incentive would be renewed by Congress for a short term, retroactively or at all! With this news so timely and its potential impacts so great, the Land Alliance invited Stephen J. Small, Esq., the nation’s leading authority on private land protection options and strategies, to Long Island for two days of seminars. He was great!
On May 11th, Mr. Small spoke to nearly 60 landowners and their advisors about preserving land, reducing taxes and protecting quality of life in our community.
On May 12th, Mr. Small taught a three-hour seminar for approximately 80 lawyers, realtors, wealth advisors, appraisers, accountants and conservation professionals. His presentation included an extensive and technical review of land protection tools, financial strategies for landowners and a thorough explanation of how the tax benefits of land conservation can help landowners.
Mr. Small, who has helped the Land Alliance twice before, is a tax attorney at his own firm in Boston, MA and an author of three books. More than 150,000 copies of his book, Preserving Family Lands, are in circulation. His most recent book, titled The Business of Open Space: What’s Next? provides a forward-thinking perspective on the future of land conservation.
Before going into private practice, Mr. Small was an attorney-advisor in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C., where he wrote the federal income tax regulations on conservation easements. He has been counsel to landowners and easement holders in 45 states on 400+ transactions. He has been involved in the protection of more than 1.5 million acres of land including serving as counsel on the largest conservation easement transaction to date.
Steve has worked tirelessly to educate conservation practitioners throughout his professional career, delivering in excess of 400 speeches to date. In 2015 Steve Small received the Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award, the highest award bestowed in the conservation community, for setting a national standard for donations he continues to facilitate to this day. Conservation has been Steve Small’s professional life’s work and the land conservation community, including the Land Alliance, is in his debt. He has made a vast difference in America’s landscape.
The Land Alliance is most grateful to The Claire Friedlander Family Foundation for underwriting Mr. Small’s appearance and Ursula and Bill Niarachis of the Hoffman Center for hosting our events.
