<p> News of Spatial Interest</p><p>April 14, 2008 Volume 1, Number 1</p><p>In This Issue Federal Tax Benefits & Conservation Private land conservation, through  Federal Tax Benefits voluntary agreements, has grown  Conservation Registry dramatically. According to the 2005 Survey of the Land Trust Alliance (LTA), local and regional land trusts Tax Topic Links have conserved 12 million acres. Add the national conservation Land Trust Survey organizations, and the grand total HELP! An urgent LTA request for sums to 35 million acres. Land Trusts to complete a survey of transactions for ’06 and ’07. The activity increased during 2006 Donor Impact and 2007, due to Congress passing the Pension Protection Act of st A case example that compares 2006. The enhanced benefits of the Act expired December 31 . current vs. pending federal tax What were the total acres conserved during those two years? The incentives by tax bracket. answer to that question is critical for tax policy discussions with Discussion Congress. LTA needs the help of Land Trusts to complete a survey Post comments on federal income by April 25th (refer to Tax Topic Links). tax incentives.</p><p>Registry Links The Conservation Registry The federal tax policy question is a timely Brochure example related to a Conservation Download a brochure that describes The Conservation Registry. Registry. There is no single source available that records conservation Discussion activities across landscapes in the U.S. Post comments regarding the Defenders of Wildlife has recognized the registry. need. Staff and contract expertise have developed a test version of a Web based Northwest Conference Download the agenda for the Conservation Registry. conference. A brochure describes the system, and a web site documents status of the UNSUBSCRIBE development work. The geographic area To unsubscribe from the newsletter covered by the pilot project includes three states: Oregon, mailing list. Washington, and Idaho. Gina LaRocco, Conservation Registry Program Manager, will be a Contact Us panel member at the upcoming Northwest Land Trust Conference in Winthrop, WA. The conference session is entitled Tools to Inform and Reshape Conservation Across the Landscape. The Registry website provides a good overview. For those attending the conference, Gina has offered to arrange a system demonstration. </p>