North Carolina boasts a number of firsts: first in flight, the nation’s first public university and the first colony to officially sanction independence in 1776.
And more than four decades ago, North Carolina added another first: the first state in the country to offer a tax credit to support land conservation efforts.
The credit was a tool used to incentivize the donation of land to an eligible nonprofit or state agency for preservation from 1983 to 2013. Now, under the Farm Bill signed into law this week, the credit, which was reinstated on a two-year basis in 2024 will extend through 2031.
“Agriculture is a key driver of North Carolina’s economy, and I appreciate the General Assembly’s collaboration on this law. I am grateful that it strengthens the preservation of North Carolina’s natural and agricultural lands by extending conservation tax credits until 2031,” Governor Josh Stein said in a press release.
The credit allows donors to receive a tax credit for up to 25% of the fair market value of the donated land. The credit can’t exceed $250,000 for a single person or $500,000 for a business.
In the three decades before the credit was revoked in 2013, the effort helped protect more than 260,000 acres of land in North Carolina, according to estimates from the N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.
“We're not against all development, but we feel like there are those special places that really give Western North Carolina and the community we work in a special character. These public lands that attract tourists, are great for the local economy, create these recreational healthy ways to get outside and do some healthy outdoor activities for our local residents, Conserving Carolina executive director Kieran Roe said. “So, we feel like that's a priority for us to protect those places and enhance them.”
One project in western North Carolina leveraged the credit last year: a 20-acre tract along the Green River in a Game Lands area.
The 14,000-acre Green River Game Lands are owned and managed by the State Wildlife Resources Commission on the Polk-Henderson County line. This easement will create a buffer between the game lands and nearby development, Roe explained.
A new cap and statewide impact
The 2024 Farm Bill brought back the conservation tax credit for the first time in 2025.
“I am pleased to say that despite the program being on a hiatus for over a decade, we had strong demand during the first year,” Will Summer, Director of the Division of Land and Water Stewardship at the Natural & Cultural resources department, told NC Local in an email.
“It was a great value to conservation and to the NC taxpayer, delivering at least 6 dollars’ worth of land protection for every dollar of tax credit,” Summer said.
In 2025, the N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources certified 43 applications for the Conservation Tax Credit, which totaled 4,129 acres conserved.
Summer said roughly two-thirds of the applications were for working farmland and forestland projects while one-third was for fish and wildlife habitat. There was one additional project that was certified for historic landscape conservation.
The program caps the credits at $5 million cap for these credits across the state each year, but the 2025 program did not exceed the threshold, according to Summer.
If 25% of the conserved land reaches that $5 million cap then donors will receive a proportionate amount of tax credit based on their donation, according to the statute.
“While estimated value for the donations was over $30 million, the cost of the program in tax credits will not be more that $5 million – coincidentally the same six to one benefit to cost ratio we saw during the first 30 years of the program,” Summer said.
The tax incentive motivated donations in prior years, Roe at Conserving Carolinas, which serves primarily Henderson,Transylvania and Polk counties, said. The end of the credit prompted a rush of donations in 2013.
“I think 2013 may have been our single busiest year for projects. I think we did over 20 in that single year,” Roe, who has served as the director for 27 years, said.
While the tax break provided motivation, Roe said most people donate land because they value conservation.
“Western North Carolina is one of the most biodiverse places in the country, if not the world,” Roe said. “If you're going to work in conservation, I always feel like this is a great place to work. People not only appreciate the bounty of nature, but tend to have an emotional connection to these lands, to the mountains, to the beautiful, natural landscapes that we have.”
The conservation has built more than 100 miles of trails and 50 miles of two new rail trails which follow historic rail lines like the Saluda Grade Trail.
Roe said the five-year extension in the Farm Bill will help property owners plan how to move forward.
Get involved
Own land and curious about the credit?
If you own land and want to take advantage of the Conservation Tax Credit program, you may donate land or a conservation easement to an "eligible public benefit to a qualified recipient" and receive a credit of up to 25% of the fair market value at the time of the donation, according to the N.C. Natural Heritage Program.
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.