But a bill may help keep urban sprawl at bay.

By SUSAN HYLTON

Tulsa World

Oklahoma ranks in the top half of states in the amount of prime farmland it loses each year to urban sprawl and other land uses.

Some of the best farmland, because of soil type and climate, for growing food is being lost in and around Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

But some would like to curb that trend by offering agricultural landowners a financial incentive to preserve their land by donating a conservation easement, as opposed to selling to developers.

State Rep. Lucky Lamons, D-Tulsa, is the author of House Bill 3247, introduced this session, that would allow a tax credit of half the fair market value of the land.

The credit would be capped at $100,000 a year initially, and $250,000 starting in 2011.

Lamons said quality farmland is not the only thing being threatened. Urban sprawl also negatively impacts the state's military bases.

Lawton officials in particular are interested in the new law because Fort Sill is the state's major military base for the Army. Any land taken up around the base could prevent it from expanding, Lamons said.

The bill is with the rules committee for now, but Lamons hopes to get a hearing before the revenue and tax committee by Thursday.

The tax credits could be sold to a corporation, for example, each year for an instant cash benefit or used as a generous tax credit.

"In other states that have these programs, they are selling those tax credits and transferring the easements into cash," said Robert Gregory, executive director of Land Legacy, a nonprofit land conservation organization.

Gregory said the new law would offer a better benefit than the current tax deduction for a preservation land easement.

"So many fall into that general category of land rich and cash poor. The agricultural community tends not to be thriving financially. They say, 'I've been operating at a loss for five years; the last thing I need is tax cut,' " Gregory said.

Gregory said a landowner could continue to own the land and use it for farming or ranching; they just would not be able to build anything on it or subdivide it.

"It would keep it preserved for agricultural and open space values," Gregory said.

If the landowner were to sell the land or hand it down to the next generation, the new owner would be subject to the same conservation rules.

Bixby and areas around the Arkansas River bottomlands, in particular, are considered especially outstanding for growing food.

"The thought that this wonderful resource is being used for nonagricultural purposes which could occur anywhere is a very significant loss to our entire state," Gregory said. "A home or a gas station or a shopping center can be built on any type of soil pretty much, but food cannot grow in any soil."

Bixby leaders say they embrace the growing city's "garden spot" image and that new developers' inclusions of greenbelts and the existing open spaces of the floodplains will help preserve that image.

Gregory said farmers typically do not prefer to sell to developers -- it is just that they cannot afford to do anything else.

Land values are good in Bixby, which has made conservation easements there more difficult for conservation groups to purchase and more lucrative for landowners to sell.

"If we can offer a savings on their federal income tax and $250,000 from the state, then I'll guarantee we'll have a significant number of landowners say, 'Well, it may not be as much money as we would get from developers, but it's good enough,' " Gregory said.

"These landowners take such pride in their farms and ranches, and they really do want it to stay a farm or a ranch. Oklahoma's lucky that we still have a lot of farmland left we can preserve. If you go to other states, you can see that it really is too late."

Some of Land Legacy's acquired conservation easements:
• Northwest Passage: 151 acres of protected land in northwestern Tulsa with views of downtown, forests, streams and open space.
• Lewis Avenue Greenbelt: Extends three blocks along Lewis Avenue from Third to Sixth streets in Tulsa's Kendall-Whittier neighborhood.
• Tomsen Arkansas River Easement: 80 acres of shoreline in southern Tulsa County eventually to be part of Tulsa River Parks and trails system.
• Valley Park: 49 acres of prime farmland near the Port of Catoosa in Rogers County.
• Downtown Tulsa Park: A half-block along Sixth Street between Main Street and Boston Avenue (under construction).
• Wild Mountain: 290-acre property in Sand Springs creating a greenbelt throughout new residential developments.
• Fort Sill Private Lands Initiative: 10 ranches and about 20,000 acres adjacent to Fort Sill to protect the base from urban encroachment and interference with military activities. Includes 300-acre Ryder Ranch west of Lawton.