State-Journal.com - Trust seeks to protect county's woodlands

A well-known environmentalist and an attorney for local developers are working together with others to protect forest and riverbank land in Franklin County and the lower Kentucky River watershed.
In a Woods and Waters Land Trust Inc. organizational meeting Wednesday night, attorney Charlie Jones and Chris Schimmoeller were elected president and vice president, respectively.
Schimmoeller said the inspiration for her to become involved in a nonprofit land trust organization came when her family purchased old growth forestland in Gregory Woods.
"After we helped protect the woods from logging and development, we realized the need to do something to protect it beyond our lifetime," she said. "Gregory Woods is a treasure for all of Franklin County and the region and we were happy to save it in the short-term. But we wanted to do something in a more lasting manner."
They started thinking about a land trust and while talking to others, "we realized there was a real desire of landowners across the county and beyond to have an opportunity to chart a future for their land," Schimmoeller said.
"That is what's so special about a land trust " it allows you to create an easement that is binding and is supposed to exist into perpetuity, to conserve the natural attributes of the land."
Schimmoeller said Jones has been "great to work with on this. A land trust tends to be noncontroversial and unites all aspects of a community. It's been a real pleasure in that regard working with a bunch of diverse people."
Jones said he had an interest in land preservation in Franklin County before he started representing developers.
"Before my wife and I were married in 1987, we were looking for a farm in the Bald Knob area," Jones said. "We both knew that was the lifestyle we wanted. We're proud of the work we've done on our farm and the work of our neighbors in preserving their family farms.
"We also recognize our farm frontage on the Kentucky River has additional value. We feel it places additional obligations on us to protect not only the view shed but also the wildlife and habitat on the river. We want our kids to have that same type of environment " to enjoy the natural woods and river we have known."
A land trust conserves land by holding conservation easements or owning land.
A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits the uses of the land to protect its conservation values. It allows people to continue to own and use their land as well as sell it or pass it on to heirs.
Conservation easements are tailored according to the wishes of individual landowners. The easements can range from restricting any development or extractive use of the land to allowing farming, sustainable logging and/or additional house building for heirs.
Donated conservation easements that are perpetual qualify a landowner for tax breaks equal to the appraised value of the development rights that are transferred to the trust. That can translate into a tax deduction of 50 percent or more of the landowner's federal taxable income for a period of years.
The Woods and Waters Land Trust Board will ask Franklin County Fiscal Court, in Friday's 8:15 a.m. meeting, to approve a resolution recognizing and endorsing the efforts of the land trust.
"Certainly to have the support of elected officials is important to our endeavors," Jones said. "We are hopeful they share the same goals and values of preserving our natural environment in Franklin County. We want them to recognize this is a totally voluntary program. We are not trying to force anything on anybody.
"It's also an avenue to educate the public. I'm confident both Fiscal Court and the Frankfort City Commission will recognize our efforts and support this."
Schimmoeller said staff of the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission and Hugh Archer, executive director of the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust, have helped the steering committee in working to establish a local land trust.
Jones, who owns 400 acres of farmland in the Bald Knob area along the Kentucky River, represents Crumbaugh Properties Inc.; M&W LLC, the owners of Parkside Development, the large commercial and residential center being built in East Frankfort; the owners of the Noel Farm, who plan to develop land behind Franklin Square shopping center into a large commercial and residential center; and other developers in the area.
Schimmoeller was an organizer of EnvisonFranklinCounty, an anti-sprawl group that works to preserve farmland and green space. She and her family collectively own 600 acres of woodlands in northern Franklin County and southern Owen County.
Hannah Helm, a retired state Department for Environmental Protection employee, was elected secretary/treasurer.
Others serving on the land trust steering committee include Keenan Bishop, Andrew Cammack, Chris Fitzpatrick, Bruce Scott, Jane Julian, Natalie Wilkerson, Mark L. Roberts, Melanie Wilson, Lee Colten, Kay Harker, Deborah White and Tony Sholar.
Jones said officers elected Wednesday are temporary appointments because the group wants landowners in Owen and Henry counties to become involved in the land trust, too.
For more information regarding the Woods and Waters Land Trust call Hannah Helm at 1-859-421-9512.