“For too long, management of wolves in this country has been caught up in controversy and litigation instead of rooted in science where it belongs. This proposed settlement provides a path forward to recognize the successful recovery of the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains and to return its management to States and Tribes,” said Interior Department Deputy Secretary David Hayes. Read the announcement HERE.

Biologists with tranquilized gray wolf
Photo Credit: William Campbell
URL: http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/u?/natdiglib,3327
USFWS National Digital Library

Related posts:

1. Market Watch: JOE Announces New COOThe St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE) has appointed veteran real...

Andy Smyth is a straight-speaking man, runs a great brokerage business in Idaho, and has become a good partner with The Land Report. Andy recently told me that after experiencing a downward period in the land market the likes of which he’s never seen before, he is finally seeing signs of things turning around for land deals in his neck of the woods.

We asked Andy if he would mind us picking his brain a little bit, and he obliged.

Land Report: What got you into the land business, and how long have you been at it?

Andy Smyth: I was born into it. My great-grandfather Smyth sold his farmland near North Platte, Nebraska and moved to the Boise Valley in 1905. He, my grandfather, my father, and I farmed in this valley from then until the spring of 2008, when I retired from active farming after 34 years. My endeavor in real estate marketing began about 12 years ago as a diversification to my farming business. It seemed a natural outgrowth to my many years of involvement in various agricultural organizations and community service organizations throughout the state of Idaho.

Land Report: What’s are the biggest changes you have seen in your 12 years of marketing property?

Andy Smyth: The first was the run-up in land values beginning in the mid-‘90s that lasted until about the first half of 2008. The second was the decline in activity from then until very recently. During the first period I referred to, it was fairly easy to move land parcels. Since the end of ’08 and beginning of ‘09, it has become very difficult to move large parcels. It now requires a high level of persistence and focused advertising to attract interested buyers with the ability to “write the check.”

Land Report: You mentioned to me the other day that the market seems to be on the up-tick in your area. What are you experiencing?

Andy Smyth: In the last month, mid August until today, I have received more inquiries than I received since the first of the year. I have had several investor groups contact me with inquiries about large parcels. I have had numerous individuals inquire about agricultural properties for investment and primary use purposes. I have had two ranch showings in the last 10 days and another scheduled for the end of this week. I have had four inquiries in the last 24 hours. I have not closed a deal as a result of this activity, but if this rate of inquiry continues, there is bound to be a resulting close coming. I am confident.

Land Report: Tell us about some of your top current listings.

Andy Smyth: I have a number of ranch/recreational/investment quality properties available.

- A 6,080 deeded acre parcel within 1.5 hours of Boise is an exceptional property offering outstanding hunting of all types. It contains 700 acres BLM permanent lease acres adjacent. It is one contiguous parcel in a private setting. Year-round stream, 300-acre reservoir within 1/4 mile of boundary. No buildings.

- A 1,700 deeded acre parcel, offering adjacent permanent lease land access to an additional 5,600 acres. This is a beautiful parcel offering timber at higher elevations and year-round streams. Home, shop, etc.

– 2,646 deeded acres. 1,640 acres BLM permanent lease adjacent. 2 mile by 2.5 mile parcel running to the top of an 8,748 foot peak. Great hunting, access. Irrigation well. Home, shop, etc.

Pictures, more information on these parcels, other available properties at www.smythfarms.com

Land Report: What do you consider your unique strengths as a listing broker?

Andy Smyth: My many years as an active, full-time farmer myself, allows me to fully understand the elements involved in selling the family farm or ranch. I am able to empathize in a way that some brokers can’t. My priority as the listing agent is to protect the interests of the party selling their ranch or farm. I spend the money required to advertise in a way that many brokers do not. Representing the type of property that I do, requires a willingness to advertise in venues where the folks who have an interest in this type of property and who can “write the check” may be found. Not all brokers do this.

That’s why I advertise in The Land Report. It’s an invaluable tool in securing new listings. It is an impressive, high quality publication. When a potential listing client sees my ads in recent issues of The Land Report, it is obvious to them that my commitment to represent their property in a serious way is beyond question.

Land Report: From the buying side, what does your brokerage offer newcomers to your markets?

Andy Smyth: I come from a world where a person’s word is their bond. My role, as someone helping a potential customer select a property, is to provide honest, straightforward information. My responsibility is to provide correct, unbiased answers to their questions so they can make an informed decision regarding what is in their best interests. I take my role and responsibilities very seriously.

My long history in the circles of the ranch and farm community can be very helpful. There are often properties which may be for sale that are not listed or being actively marketed. I also offer financing sources for folks who may not be able or want to write a check for the full amount at closing, but who may have the ability to secure financing for this type of property.

No related posts.

House Bill 262 calls for a 50 percent tax credit on the fair market value of land belonging to a “taxpayer who makes a voluntary conservation donation to a qualified sponsor.” Credits would be capped at $500,000 per donation and $3 million per year for the entire program.

The incentive for landowners is the transferable credits program, which is modeled after similar credit programs in Colorado and Virginia according to Bas Hargrove of The Nature Conservancy. Landowners who don’t have a large tax bill still have an incentive to donate land.

“If you get one of these tax credits, you have the possibility of selling it on the open market,” Hargrove says.

In one example laid out by Hargrove, Joe Rancher could take an easement valued at $1 million and receive the maximum allowable credit of $500,000. He then has two options with his credit. He could take it to the open market and sell those credits or carry them forward and apply them to his tax bill for up to 15 years.

The tax credits can also be divided. A landowner with $500,000 in credits could keep $150,000 for himself and spread them out over 15 years at $10,000 a year and then sell the remaining $350,000 tax credits. In Colorado, those credits are quite valuable.

“What we found in Colorado where this program has been in place is that landowners are getting about 80 cents on the dollar for the credit,” Hargrove says. “It sets up a market for brokers who match buyers and sellers.”

The core idea still remains the preservation of land, which has been rapidly decreasing. Hargrove cites a recent study by the American Farmland Trust that said Idaho could lose up to 5 million acres of farmland in coming years.

Hargrove said comments from lawmakers have been favorable regarding the bill.

“The reception has been good,” Hargove said. “It’s a complex enough bill that we wanted to take time to introduce it last session and start the education process and really make a run at it in the session coming up which starts the first week of January.”

The key has been taking what Colorado and Virginia have learned from the program, both good and bad, and improving on it in the Idaho bill.

“We’ve seen in Colorado and Virginia a tremendous popularity in this program where they’ve grown incredibly fast. So much so that they’ve started putting some checks on it and doing some oversight. We’ve tried to address a lot of growing pains issues in other states on the front end of ours,” Hargrove said. “By virtue of having a cap you have to address what happens to the excess. What we’ve done is set up a tax credit advisory committee. That committee would be responsible for the process of deciding how the tax credits are given out. We envision based on the objectives stated in the act that there would be certain criteria. That way we think we will weed out the abuses that we’ve seen in cases in other states.”

Eventually, the planners would like to see an increase in the $3 million cap on credits according to Hargrove. Displaying the benefits of a conservation program versus tax revenue will be the key.

“Weighing [tax revenues] against the public benefits, clean water, working farms and ranches, that’s really the question that is out there, we want to give landowners the option of staying on the land rather than selling out to the highest bidder,” Hargrove said. “Our history is all about working forests, ranchland and farmland and we’re losing them quickly and this gives us another tool so that landowners don’t have to give up.”

No related posts.