Conservation Easements & Ecological Services – An Update

Flinchum’s Phoenix, 650 Phoenix Road, Athens, Georgia

Sponsored by: Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources

Date: Sep 27, 2023 08:00 AM to Sep 28, 2023 01:00 PM

Brochure

Click here to view the brochure for this course

Purpose/About the Course 

The purpose of this course is to provide a working knowledge and status update on recent trends and legislation involving conservation easements as a land-use tool and ecological services. The course provides guidance on drafting conservation easement agreements to achieve landowner goals for their property and the latest information on conservation easement tax policy and trends. The Georgia-Alabama Land Trust will discuss various philosophies of land use protection and what conservation easements can offer landowners. This course offers a comprehensive overview of legal, appraisal, base line information, tax incentives, updates on the timber and carbon market, and other inputs needed for a successful conservation easement agreement. This year also includes an update on Wild Turkey research, conservation, and management in the Southeast. 

Objectives and Benefits

The objective of this course is to provide guidance for attendees in reaching a sustainable protection agreement for "working forest" and other conservation land. A framework is offered for reaching a successful agreement in the context of legal constraints and tax incentives.

You will learn:

• How easements affect land use

• The advantages/disadvantages of easements on a working forest

• Appraising & selling conservation easements

• Accounting and tax aspects of easements 

• Mitigation banks on easements

• Programs for longleaf pines

• Update on caselaw related to easements

• Update on carbon markets and the use of technology

• More on forest economics-a market update

Who Will Benefit?

Landowners with an interest in maintaining a working forest while protecting it from development or other exploitation and foresters, accountants, attorneys, appraisers, and wildlife resource managers who work with landowners should attend. 

Cancellations

Notice must be received by 5:00 p.m. September 13, 2023 to receive a refund. Please contact James Johnson at 706-308-6396.

Instructors

 David Aughtry
Chamberlain Hrdlika
David Aughtry's practice focuses on civil and criminal tax litigation. He graduated from The Citadel in 1975 with a B.A. in English, from the University of South Carolina in 1978 with a Master's in Accounting and a law degree, and from Emory University in 1982 with a Masters in Taxation (LL.M.). Upon graduation from the University of South Carolina Law School, Mr. Aughtry joined the Internal Revenue Service as a Trial Attorney, Office of the Chief Counsel, where he also served as a Tax Shelter Coordinator. Mr. Aughtry taught Tax Controversy as an Adjunct Professor in the Emory University Masters in Taxation Program from 1987 through 1994 and in the Emory School of Law from 1995 through 1998 and 2003. From 1996 through 2002, he served as an Instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocates (NITA) in its program on "Litigating before the United States Tax Court" and was recently selected as a fellow of the International Society of Barristers. He is recognized as a national authority in tax litigation in Chambers USA and the US Legal 500 Litigation Guide. Mr. Aughtry was Chairman of the Budget and Investment Committees of the State Bar of Georgia (1989-1994) He has served as President and Chairman of the Southern Federal Tax Institute and continues to serve on the Board of Trustees. He is a nationally recognized speaker, including presentations for TEI, Mississippi Tax Institute, American Tax Institute, Georgia Tax Conference, Tennessee Tax Institute, Kentucky Tax Institute, AICPA Valuation Conferences, and various other tax programs.

Dr. Yanshu Li
Associate Professor of Forest Economics & Taxation
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
Dr. Li focuses on federal and state forest taxation, economic issues related to forest investment and management, forest products market analysis and the economic benefits of forests. Among her several degrees are an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. in Forest Economics from Auburn University.

Katherine Eddins
Executive Director
Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, Inc.
Katherine Eddins has served as executive director of our organization since the Fall of 1999. Katherine graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law, Juris Doctorate, and subsequently received a master’s degree in forestry from Auburn University, graduating summa cum laude. She has been published in the Journal of Forestry and has practiced law and natural resource management. Katherine is a registered forester, the past chairman of the advisory committee for Auburn University School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, member of the Leadership Council for the Land Trust Alliance, and is a member of Leadership Alabama.

Jenny P. Pahl
Senior Principal 
Corblu Ecology Group

Jenny is a Senior Principal with Corblu Ecology Group, LLC, where she serves as the Director of Mitigation Markets and Policy.  She specializes in the development of compensatory mitigation projects under a variety of regulatory programs, including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Food Security Act.  Her role at Corblu includes analysis of mitigation markets and strategic planning, ecological and financial feasibility analysis, land entitlement, restoration design, and management of project implementation. Ms. Pahl received her Master’s of Science in Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development from the Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources at the University of Vermont.  

Wendy Ledbetter

Fort Stewart/Altamaha Partnership Coordinator

The Longleaf Alliance

Wendy Ledbetter serves as The Longleaf Alliance’s Fort Stewart/Altamaha Partnership Coordinator in Georgia. Before joining TLA in 2021, Wendy was the Executive Director for the Big Thicket Association. Much of Wendy’s prior experience was with The Nature Conservancy, including positions in Florida, Colorado, and Texas where she served as Forest Program Manager. Her professional experience includes partnership development, preserve management, working forest conservation easements, forest system restoration, rare species management, and education and outreach. Prior to her time with The Nature Conservancy, Wendy’s also worked at Tall Timbers Research Station and the Florida Park Service in central and north Florida. Her lifelong interest in the longleaf pine ecosystem, fire management, and understory diversity began at Lake Kissimmee State Park and Payne’s Prairie State Preserve. Wendy earned her A.A.S. in Fish & Wildlife Technology from the State University of New York in Cobleskill, New York, and a B.S in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Wendy enjoys birdwatching and also working on projects that merge her love of nature and the arts.

Mike Heneghan

Director of Stewardship

Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, Inc.

Mike joined the Land Trust in 2017 and is our Director of Stewardship. He has a Bachelor of Science in Forestry from Northern Arizona University and a Master of Science in Natural Resource Management from Auburn University, where his research focused on assessing public attitudes toward black bear populations in Alabama. While in Arizona, Mike worked as a wildland firefighter on the Coconino National Forest and managed a captive breeding enclosure for endangered Sonoran pronghorn with the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Mike has also worked on a number of research projects including data collection on Samango monkey habitat selection in South Africa and most recently as a Wildlife Ecologist with Virginia Tech, where he monitored wildlife disease ecology and ecosystem dynamics in Botswana. In his free time Mike enjoys searching for and photographing wildlife, traveling, and martial arts.

Sharon Swagger

State Easement Specialist

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Sharon Swagger is the State Easement Specialist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), where she has been the lead program manager for conservation easement programs in the state of GA since 2010. Prior to that, Sharon was a Private Lands Biologist with the GA Department of Natural Resources (2007-2010.) Sharon graduated from the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources and 2007 with a Master of Science in Forest Resources, both with an emphasis in wildlife habitat management. Sharon is also the proud wife of a sheriff’s deputy, and a mom of 2 spoiled kiddos, a teenager and a toddler!

Michael Odom 

Certified General Appraiser
Odom Real Estate Appraisal, Inc.

Michael grew up in the northeast Georgia Mountains, graduating from White County High School and later receiving a BBA in Economics from the Terry School of Business at the University of Georgia. Michael’s career in property appraisal began over 20 years ago at a well-regarded firm in Athens, Georgia. In subsequent years Michael contracted independently with reputable firms in the Athens and metropolitan Atlanta areas.

Working exclusively on commercial and complex appraisal reports during this time, Michael actively pursued unique and challenging appraisal assignments, each of which offered its own insights into valuation theory and practice. This background culminated in the forming of Odom Real Estate Appraisal, Inc. in January of 2008, which remains a small practice of two fee appraisers.

Conservation easement appraisal has long been an area of focus for Michael. His work experience with conservation easement appraisal began sixteen years ago (2004) with the Farm & Ranchland Protection Program (replaced by ACEP-ALE). Since this time he has completed at least 130 conservation easement appraisal assignments protecting tens of thousands of acres for both private donors and public agencies including the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the National Resources Conservation Service. These reports have been prepared for both state and federally-funded acquisition programs, for the substantiation of federal tax donations, and for state tax credits applications. Likewise, the reports have been subjected to scrutiny from a variety of state and federal reviewers. Michael has participated on at least 30 such reports that were federally reviewed in connection with programs including WRE, HFRP, ACUB, and FRPP/ACEP-ALE.

When he isn’t working Michael enjoys recreating with his family and visiting the mountains of western North Carolina.

Joe Byrnes

Vice President

Kimmeridge/Chestnut Carbon

Bio: Joe Byrnes works as a Vice President at Kimmeridge, an energy-focused private equity firm that manages over $4bn of assets. Joe works on the investment team at Kimmeridge, responsible for sourcing potential deals and executing on investment opportunities. Joe works closely on Kimmeridge’s investment into Chestnut Carbon, a US developer of afforestation/reforestation carbon projects. Prior to joining Kimmeridge, Joe served as an Equity Research Associate at Citigroup covering exploration and production companies. Joe holds a B.B.A. in Finance from James Madison University.

Patrick Wightman

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Dr. Patrick Wightman is a post-doctoral research associate in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. He earned his M.S. from Louisiana State University and B.S. from Paul Smiths College. Patrick completed his Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology and Management from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at UGA in 2022. His graduate research focused on different aspects of male wild turkey ecology and management. Patrick grew up in Steuben County, New York where his love of the outdoors and wildlife originated via hunting, fishing, and volunteering with local wildlife biologists. He is a passionate turkey hunter who believes science-based management is critical for conserving the species for future generations.

Gary Boteler

Partner

Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC

Gary provides tax, accounting, auditing, and general consulting services to individuals and businesses. Gary primarily serves businesses in the hospitality, not-for-profit, and real estate industries. Gary’s excels in supplying his clients with creative ideas to help them achieve their business goals.

Agenda

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Thursday, September 28, 2023

Registration

The last day for early registration is 09/13/2023

The last day for registration is 09/22/2023

After 09/13/2023, Registration

Regular registration through September 22, 2023 for those receiving professional credits…….…....$310.00

Registration cost for no professional credits.............$150.00 

Additional costs for specific types of professional credits:

 Real estate credits are an additional $50.00

 Legal credits are an additional $48.00

Continuing Education Credits

12.0  Continuing Forestry Education (CFE) – Category 1 (approved)

12.0 Continuing Logger Education (CLE) – Category B (approved)

12.0 Credit Hours TBD GA Real Estate Agent/Appraiser hours (approved)

12.0 Credit Hours GA Legal Education Credits (CLE)  (approved)

Instructor(s)

Katherine Eddins

katherine@galandtrust.org