A new bill in Congress will help conserve land for future generations, while giving the current generation a break on their tax bills.

The Conservation Easement Incentive Act of 2009 will extend a provision to encourage landowners to protect their land from development. This bill is supported strongly by Ducks Unlimited, but time is of the essence—the current incentives to protect waterfowl habitat expire at the end of the year!

More than 100 members of the House and Senate already have signed on to back this bill, supporting incentives to protect land from development and keeping it for wildlife and waterfowl habitat.

Contact your senators and representatives and ask them to support the Conservation Easement Incentive Act of 2009 (or the Rural Heritage Conservation Extension Act of 2009, as it's known in the Senate) and tell them to be a co-sponsor of this bill.