Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Tax Deductions for Conservation Easements
This Act, Tax Deductions for Conservation Easements (26 U.S.C. 170) -- Section 6 of P.L.
96-541, approved December 17, 1980, (94 Stat. 3204) extended and redefined the deductibility
of contributions of conservation easements.
Under this Act, a taxpayer may take a deduction for a "qualified real property interest"
contributed to a charitable organization exclusively for conservation purposes protected in
perpetuity. In no case where the donor retains the mineral interests in the land may the minerals
be extracted by surface mining methods.
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