Critical Lands Incentives

Communities around the State are learning that critical land conservation is not an expense, but an investment that produces important economic benefits.  Some of the incentives for conducting critical lands planning and conservation include:

• an improvement of the taxable value of adjacent properties 
• quality-of-life amenities that attract and retain "footloose" industries
• safeguarded drinking water, cleaner air, stabilized slopes, etc
• protection for agribusiness
• "facilities" for outdoor activities (supporting exercise)

The Utah Quality Growth Commission espouses a policy of "net-gain" of private land in Utah.  This is important in many parts of the State because it would provide additional revenues to local governments from taxes on private land.  The Commission recognizes that not every acre of public land is critical, and those acres that can, ought to be transferred to private ownership.  However, the Commission also recognizes that there are private lands, particularly along the Wasatch Front but also across the State, that need to be preserved in order to protect critical watershed, wetlands, wildlife habitat, recreation, historic or other values.  This tool kit will allow communities to identify those lands so that they can be conserved.  In the future, we hope to create a tool to identify public lands that don't support the mission of the federal landholder and could be transferred to private ownership.  This will be a crucial step in promoting net gain

Utah's infrastructure-related state agencies have provided financial incentives for cities, counties, and special districts that participate in the Quality Growth Communities program.  One of the requirements of the program is that applicants demonstrate that they have conducted critical lands planning.

The LeRay McAllister Critical Land Conservation Fund is an incentive program providing grants to encourage communities and landowners to work together to conserve their critical lands. The fund targets lands that are deemed important to the community such as agricultural lands, wildlife habitat, watershed protection, and other culturally or historically unique landscapes.  Applicants to this program are required to demonstrate the critical nature of the parcels they want to preserve.

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