Bob Six is one of two recent additions to the Geneva Lake Conservancy Board of Directors. He serves on the Conservancy's fund-raising committee and is chair of the 2006 Holly Ball Committee.

"I would like to take an active role in giving back to the community in which I live, from a quality of life standpoint, through public service," Bob said. We are certain he will accomplish these goals, and we salute him for undertaking the strenuous but rewarding task that is the Holly Ball.

As a commercial real estate professional, Bob is senior vice president of marketing and leasing with the Zeller Realty Group in Chicago.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago and has been a guest lecturer on commercial real estate in the MBA programs of Roosevelt and Northwestern universities.

Bob, his wife Bridget and their three children live in Fontana, WI.

Generous landowners who donate voluntary conservation agreements, also known as conservation easements, to the Geneva Lake Conservancy are inspired by many things: The property owners love Geneva Lake, they feel connected to their land, and they wish to leave a legacy for future generations.

This inspiration is at the heart of our work to permanently protect valuable natural resources. But for almost all of our donors, donating a conservation easement is a major financial decision, and the federal income tax deduction that comes with a donation helps make easements possible for landowners in our community.

Congress recently passed a new law that enhances the tax benefits of protecting private land for many landowners. The legislation improves the tax incentive for conservation easements by allowing conservation easement donors to:

• Deduct up to 50 percent of their adjusted gross income in any year (up from 30 percent).
  
• Deduct up to 100 percent of their adjusted gross income if the majority of that income came from farming, ranching, or forestry.
  
• Continue to take deductions for as long as 15 years (up from five years) after the initial deduction.
  

Congress also passed tighter appraisal standards for such gifts and stronger penalties for appraisers who violate the standards.
The Land Trust Alliance (LTA) led the effort to get Congress to approve this new law. LTA is a national organization that sets national standards for conservation organizations such as ours, provides training and networking opportunities, and represents the land trust community in Washington, D.C. The Conservancy has been a member of LTA for nearly 10 years.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan has been a strong supporter of our work and was supportive of this effort. Our thanks to LTA and Ryan for their help in winning this new provision for conservation donors.

Each day we are touched by the generous and inspired landowners who work with us. The new law will make it easier for others in our community to build on their love of the land and permanently protect Geneva Lake.

To learn more about these new developments, visit LTA.org

By Thomas M. Ramsey, GLC Secretary

Normally, any amounts you withdraw from an IRA account will be taxable to you. Also, remember that penalty taxes can apply if you withdraw funds from an IRA before reaching age 59½ .

But, the recently enacted Pension Protection Act of 2006 specifies that up to $100,000 per year may be excluded from taxable income as qualified charitable distributions from an IRA for 2006 and 2007 for those people 70½ and older.

Distributions from a SEP or SIMPLE accounts will not qualify, however. The payments must be made directly from the IRA trustee to a qualified charity. Although, in order to qualify, the IRA owner must be at least age 70 ½.

You should consult with your advisors about the impact of the new laws relating to retirement plans, distributions from IRAs and retirement accounts, donations to donor advised funds, charitable contributions (like those given to the Conservancy), tax-exempt organizations, and employee benefits. There are many provisions for which state tax laws will need to be updated, or state tax penalties could apply.

By James V. Celano III, Executive Director

Aside from those who don't care or, worse yet, find the impact from massive new development attractive, I can only say there often appears to me to be a general apathy displayed by the majority of our fellow citizens. Many, I believe, consider this onslaught inevitable, so we should just let it happen.

There are a number of messages offered by the development community and its supporters that mostly serve to confuse, such as, it's good for the economy; it's the jobs, stupid; it'll bring in new taxes; wow, new shopping! The real focus of our attention should be on the capacity of our community and our environment to expand and adapt to the challenges brought on by these issues.

When we at the Conservancy urge a cautious and more studied approach, we find ourselves being labeled as naysayers and obstructionists. When we point out reasonable concerns that simply ask for a bit more research and analysis that could help to prevent significant problems in the future, we are extremists.

We simply seek a more balanced approach to the use of what is collectively all our natural resources. Our message is sidelined too easily because, in my opinion, the message is about prevention and preservation. How do you prove the value of something that doesn't happen? Our society likes shiny and new. That wins the day every time you speak to the public, and woe to the one who calls into question the value of anything to the contrary.

It's sad but true, we are hooked on the religion of consumption and materialism. Nature for many has become something to be dealt with, controlled, and overcome.

Nature has a brilliant way of showing us simple solutions if we are willing to learn, not to over-think the obvious, embrace experiences from our past, and look to the future with the same creativity and zeal that propels us to seek the shiny and new.

By Lynn Ketterhagen, Land Protection Specialist

As mid-October rolled around, it was time for the 2006 National Land Conservation Conference Rally, held this year in Nashville, Tenn. Members of the Conservancy staff packed their bags and headed out for three conservation-filled days. Here are highlights from our time in Nashville:

Thursday was field trip day for all three staffers. Katie and I journeyed into the bowels of the Earth for a spelunking trip at Hardens Cave about 10 miles outside Nashville. Though the weather was a bit chilly as we excitedly awaited our decent into the cave, we learned about the cave's formation and the problems the Southeastern Cave Conservancy has encountered since it acquired the cave.

As Katie and I crawled around the cave, Jim found himself on a long bus trip to the Walls of Jericho. Although a few detours slowed his progress, when the bus finally arrived and the hike began, the final look at the marvelous 1,000-foot limestone bluffs made the wait and detours worthwhile.

The field trips reminded us of the diverse areas around the country that need protecting andwhy we do what we do.

Friday found staff in daylong seminars studying various aspects of conservation, which we plan to implement at the Conservancy. Katie spent her day learning about "Recordkeeping and Tax Exemption." In the morning, she gathered information on how to create, collect, retain, store, protect, and dispose of the organization's important materials as well as written policies that should be in place to ensure this is all done properly. The afternoon brought on the major requirements for an organization to apply for and maintain their tax-exempt status at both state and federal levels.

I spent Friday getting "The Legal Perspective on Planning and Managing Conservation Easements." I received information on the different legal issues that come with conservation easements, especially as they relate to second-generation and third-generation landowners, and how to approach difficult situations such as violations, resolutions, and amendments.

My ears perked up at the baseline documentation discussion, which detailed the need for a written policy that dictates how these final documents are stored. This process lends the document more credibility in the event of a court case.

Saturday was a day full of informational workshops. Katie started her morning in the workshop "Build and Live in A Conservancy." She learned how residential conservation is necessary to demonstrate what is worth preserving around the nation, or in a region, and how homes can be built to work in harmony with the surrounding topography.

Katie continued on to "So Much Data, So Little Time." This seemed quite relevant, as the Conservancy has just started to implement a new database in the office. This workshop covered what the database is really meant to accomplish regarding stewardship of a land trust's donors, and how to overcome the data-entry discrepancies that many people find troublesome when importing one database into another.

Katie ended her workshops on Saturday with "The Soulful Landscape, Writing with a Sense of Place." This gave Katie a chance to get back to what motivates conservationists to do what they do, getting away from the intricate topics of tax-exemption, recordkeeping, standards and practices, etc., and returning to the desire to see land protected in perpetuity.

I began my morning with "Making Spatial Data and GIS Serve Your Land Trust's Needs." This was an interactive workshop that put the attendees into groups to work through different situations a land trust could encounter and how to define specifically what the organization wants and needs out of the data it possesses or how to acquire data you could use. Emphasis was put on the importance of knowing the specific objectives, resources, options, and capabilities the organization has for each GIS project.

I continued on to "A Survey of Land Surveying Issues." This workshop was extremely informative and touched on many different aspects of surveying and the importance of having accurate surveys for conservation easements. The presenters spoke about how to take a digital survey and program it into your GPS system and take it out to the conservation easement properties for easier and more accurate monitoring and for more efficient baseline documentation data acquisition.

The rest of my afternoon was spent in "GIS Tools for Land Protection." This workshop taught the attendees about how using GIS in a land trust can help to strengthen cases for land protection in your community or region, and to show people what we have protected and what areas should be protected.

Jim noticed there was a calm and relieved atmosphere in Nashville due to the passing of the federal conservation tax incentive for conservation easement donations and the realization that legislators must follow through on the promises they made.

In the seminars and workshops he attended, Jim noted that in order to keep the public interested, effective advocacy encompasses many different aspects, including making full use of the Internet, to build better relationships with local governmental officials and offer our knowledge on the environment to them. Also emphasized was that we, the conservation community, must act as the "honest broker" in the many matters that affect our communities.

He also realized that in many places across the country there is an increased support for open-space conservation measures. Communities finally are finding they cannot afford to do without the costs linked with the acquisition of land and/or development rights. The primary concern for those polled asking why they support these public measures was fresh air and clean water!

We all returned safe to Wisconsin refreshed and ready to make the Geneva Lake area an even more wonderful place to live and visit. We have new ideas to implement to make us an even better conservation organization.

Next year's rally is Oct. 3-6 in Denver, Colo.

We at the Conservancy, our Board, Advisory Board, and staff express our most sincere thank you to those of you who give year in and year out to our organization. We owe each of you our deepest gratitude and a continuing promise to do our best for conservation throughout the lakes area.

With your valuable gifts, we are making a difference in the way people see, hear, and think about conserving these precious lands we find so appealing.

Please share with others who would find your example of leadership worthy of their support as well.

Gwen Ferrari - Gwen's tenure at the Conservancy ended at the beginning of October, but her work - cleaning up the duplicated monster of a database - was instrumental to the efficient backroom operations at the Mill House. Her efforts have prepped the old decrepit databases for the transfer to the new-and-improved model. Thank you, Gwen. We hope to work with you again soon!

This winter the Mill House is our primary concern. It is an old house in need of constant repair to keep it in the beautifully restored shape former owners Phil and Jean Harvey envisioned. We love our home, so won't you help us keep it beautiful?

Painters Needed! Although plastic surgery is all the rage, it isn't vanity that is prompting us to request painters or underwriting the cost of such: The "Old Girl" really does need a facelift! Wisconsin's winter weather has taken its toll on the Mill House, and before another year is out, restorative two coats of paint will help keep her in tip-top condition!