Palmer Land Trust Earns State Certification

The Palmer Land Trust was recently certified by the State of Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Real Estate.  The organization is one of only 26 certified non-profits operating in Colorado.

Partly in response to abuses of the popular tax credit program, the Colorado Legislature passed House Bill 1353 in 2008, increasing the amount of oversight for conservation easements. The bill established the Conservation Easement Oversight Commission and required any land trust in Colorado to be certified if they accept a conservation easement where the donor of the easement intends to use state income tax credits.

The Palmer Land Trust completed its application for certification in September 2009 and was certified in December by the Oversight Commission, a nine-member panel.

The State Certification program was designed to pay for itself and use no taxpayer money. As part of the comprehensive application, the Palmer Land Trust paid a $7,600 application fee.