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Preserving Your Wetland Landowners who wish to preserve thei, wetlands will find some private, local, state, or federal programs that may apply to their land. These programs may involve incentive payments, easements or out- right purchases, leases, or tax relief. Private programs might include leas- ing or selling your wetland to an organiza- tion such as a private hunting club, a local conservation club, or a national group designed to protect unique areas, such as The Nature Convervancy. If you wish to permanently preserve your wetland you may decide to give it to a non-profit orga- nization, such as a university or a local or national conservation group such as the National Audubon Society. Such a gift could provide you or your heirs with sig- nificant tax deductions. If you wish to retain your wetlands property, yet protect it forever, you could enter a clause in your property deed that would forbid any future owner from drain- ing or otherwise destroying the wetland. Some states, such as Minnesota, provide significant tax relief to landowners who preserve their wetlands. These deductions or other forms of tax relief are given as an incentive for wetlands protection. Most states and some county govern- ments have land acquisition programs that protect natural areas, such as wet- lands. A few will also buy conservation easements that protect wetlands. Selling your wetland to a state or local govern- ment will provide protection of that land. Various agencies of the federal gov- ernment have programs that are designed to assist private landowners in protecting wetlands. In many cases I these programs pay the landowner. Some of these pro- grams, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Waterbank Program, provide short-term protection of a few years for wetlands. Others, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Small Wetlands Program, provide for perpetual easements that will preserve the wetland without taking away many of the landowners' rights to farm or otherwise use the natural wetland. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv- ice also purchases wetlands for waterfowl production or as part of the National Wild- life Refuge System in some parts of the United States. 24