Your Action Needed — Say “NO” to Sunday Hunting

JANUARY 26, 2011 — We heard you loud and clear: You don’t want to share private horse trails with hunters on Sundays (85% of voters in our recent survey said they oppose Senate Bill 45). Therefore, EPIC will oppose the bill at today’s hearing. President David Tobin will submit testimony on behalf of EPIC members. You can read the content of the testimony below.

TAKE ACTION
This hearing is only the beginning. Your state senator is a critical vote on the committee that will be considering this bill. Please make a brief, polite phone call to your state senator and express your opposition to Sunday hunting in Maryland. Click here to find your state senator’s phone number. You can simply say, “I am a constituent and I oppose efforts to expand hunting on Sundays in Maryland.”

After making your phone calls (please do not skip that crucial step!), send a follow-up message to your state legislators. Elected officials receive a lot of e-mail, so be sure to edit your message so it stands out. You can send your own message by filling out this helpful form from the Humane Society of the United States or using it as the basis for your own letter.

We need YOUR voice to keep Maryland’s riding trails safe. Thanks for your help!

Sunday Hunting in Maryland–Yes or No?

Bill SP45 (click bill name to view) was just introduced into the Maryland State Legislature. If passed, this bill would allow Sunday hunting on private property in Montgomery County from October through January. Please complete this simple poll to let us know YOUR view.

There will be a hearing January 26, 2011. We encourage you to convey your view to the Montgomery County delegation: www.mdarchives.us/msa/mdmanual/07leg/html/gacomo.html. (Find your legislative district HERE.)

[polldaddy poll=4422540]

Winter 2010/2011 EPIC Newsletter

Find out what’s going on in Montgomery County, Maryland’s Agriculture Reserve for equestrians. Click HERE to read the winter 2010/2011 EPIC newsletter.

How the Enhanced Tax Incentive for Conservation Easements Benefits You

By Rand Wentworth, President, Land Trust Alliance

After a year-long lapse that left many important conservation donations in limbo, Congress has renewed the enhanced tax incentive for conservation easements! As soon as President Obama signs H.R. 4853 (http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/111_satohr4853_txt.pdf), the incentive will be in effect through December 31, 2011 and be retroactive to January 1, 2010.

We’d like to say a big “Thank you!” to each and every person who made a phone call, visited their member of Congress, financially supported our work, or otherwise played their part at the local, state or national level. This has been a true community effort which would not have been possible without our national coalition and the help of many land trusts. Your hard work made renewal of the incentive possible and has laid the groundwork for bipartisan legislation to make it permanent.

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Let’s Make the Most of This News!

We must act quickly to ensure that landowners in your land trust’s priority areas hear about this incentive. Here are 4 steps you can take immediately:

- Alert local media using our sample press release (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/documents/9-Press%20Release%20Template.doc) or letter to the editor (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/documents/2-ltr-to-editor)

- Spread the word to landowners with the Grassroots Toolkit (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/policy-toolkit)
- Thank Congress – and urge them to make this incentive permanent! (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/policy-toolkit)

- Forward this alert to your board, staff, members and supporters

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Details on What Was Extended

The incentive, which now applies to donations in 2010 and 2011:

- Raises the income tax deduction a landowner can take for donating a conservation easement from 30% of their income in any year to 50%;

- Allows farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their income; and

- Increases the number of years over which a donor can take deductions from 6 to 16 years.

This package also extends the S Corporation donation incentive (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/conservation-donation-rules) and the IRA Charitable Rollover (http://independentsector.org/ira_rollover) through 2011.

Although the estate tax incentives (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/estate-tax-reform-and-land-conservation) for land conservation we championed did not make it in, this package does extend the 2001 law that removed the geographic limitations from the section 2031(c) estate tax exclusion for land protected by a conservation easement, through December 31, 2012. That means, even with a $5 million unified credit and 35% rate, landowners may still realize up to a $175,000 estate tax benefit for donating a conservation easement.

For complete details please see our Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/incentive-faqs) and Conservation Donation Rules (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/conservation-donation-rules) pages.

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Working to Make the Incentive Permanent Next Year

While this extension is good news, it’s also important to convey the message that land conservation projects can take many years to put together and the uncertainty that comes from renewing the enhanced incentive year to year prevents it from reaching its full potential. Working together with land trusts across the country, and our coalition of 65 agricultural, sporting and conservation organizations, we’ll be working hard to make the incentive permanent next year.

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Get a Head Start Today

You can help lay the ground work for next year by thanking your members of Congress for providing this extension today! Regardless of how your Senators and Representatives came down on H.R. 4853 (http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/111_satohr4853_txt.pdf) , the important thing for us is to thank the 274 House and 41 Senate co-sponsors of H.R. 1831 and S. 812 (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/tax-matters/cosponsors) — bills to make this incentive permanent. Their support helped ensure that our extension was included today and your thanks will remind them that we’ll need their help next year.

The updated Grassroots toolkit includes a sample thank you letter (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/documents/11-Sample%20Thank%20You%20Letter%20to%20Your%20Representatives.doc) , but it’s even more important to thank them publicly! All press materials in the toolkit include sample language for thanking your delegation and you might also consider inviting your Rep. and the media to visit a conserved property in the spring (http://www.landtrustalliance.org/policy/advocacy-tips/meet) .

By helping modest income landowners deduct the full value of their contributions, this enhanced tax incentive has increased the pace of private, voluntary land conservation by about 250,000 acres a year nationwide, and is especially important now that the latest reports show that America is losing land to development at the rate of 1.5 million acres per year. Today’s renewal will create a permanent legacy of conserved land across America, and your work made it possible.

Foxhunters’ Focus on the Future: Land

By The Equiery Staff

Open land is disappearing at a rate of 6,000 acres per day, according to the Equestrian Land Conservation Resource.

There is no greater threat to the equestrian community than the loss of land. We need land for pasture and hay, for raising foals, and for our horse sports, including (but not limited to) trail riding, eventing, foxhunting, driving, and that most Maryland of all equestrian sports, steeplechase.

In Maryland, no single equestrian group has done more to preserve open space than foxhunters. Perhaps because foxhunters were traditionally landowners and farmers themselves, they seem to have understood – better than any other sporting group – that in order to preserve agriculture, it is critical to preserve contiguous productive land. It is not enough to save a patch here, or ensure a trail through there…one farm here with another farm three or five miles away. In order for farmers to farm, they must be surrounded by ag land. In order for farmers to have farm services (such as tractor repairs), there must be enough farm business for the support businesses to remain. Too many farmers these days in central Maryland must travel the distance of two or three counties in order to have their tractors repaired. This is not sustainable agriculture.

But foxhunters do seem to understand that contiguous farmland – while crucial for open space – is critical for the preservation of sustainable agriculture. For almost 100 years, foxhunters have been the driving force behind almost every large swath of open land in Maryland.

Read the rest of the article by clicking HERE.

Bombproofing Clinic with Sgt. Rick Pelicano to Benefit EPIC

Maria Tobin rides Splash past mattresses at the 2010 Bombproofing Clinic with Sgt. Rick Pelicano

Learn the same techniques used to train horses and riders by the mounted police to confidently maneuver past, over and through scary objects you might encounter while out on the trail.

Breezy Hollow Farm
Bucklodge Rd., Boyds, MD (next to the Potomac Pony Club field)
Sunday, March 20, 2011
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; registration begins at 9 a.m.

Cost: $200 EPIC members; $250 nonmembers
(Save money: Become a basic member for just $25 when you send in your clinic fee, and receive the member price!)
Light breakfast/refreshments included.

Auditors welcome! Free for EPIC members; $25 for nonmembers (includes one-year basic EPIC membership!).

To sign up as a rider or auditor, e-mail Stacey Wigmore at epicstacey@gmail.com. Space is limited! (All riders must wear ASTM/SEI-approved helmets and bring proof of negative Coggins.)

To read more about Sgt. Rick Pelicano and his bombproofing clinics, visit www.rickpelicano.com.

Is Hunting Allowed on EPIC Trails?

We recently received the following e-mail:

“I want to take my new horse out this weekend on the Breezy Loop and Little Bucklodge Branch Creek Trail. I know deer hunting season is opening, and I am wondering if hunters are allowed there.”

The short answer is, yes. During hunting season, hunters are allowed in the areas through which the EPIC trails run.

Region B white-tailed deer firearms season 2010-2011

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