Public Benefit Eligibility Guidelines

The NCDNCR will coordinate the review of public benefit eligibility, relying on other agencies with relevant expertise for certification. Below are guidelines that will be used by agency experts.
Agency experts may contact the landowner and/or applicant for additional information or to arrange a site visit if necessary.
Lands required to be dedicated pursuant to local governmental regulation or ordinance and dedications made to increase building density level permitted under a regulation or ordinance are not eligible for conservation tax credit.
 

Forestland and farmland
Evaluated by the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Forestland and farmland properties must be engaged in commercial growing of trees or actively engaged in commercial production or growing of crops, plants, or animals.
The following land will be eligible for conservation tax credit as forestland or farmland:

  • enrolled in Present Use Value (PUV)
  • eligible for enrollment in PUV, or
  • that meets the sufficient evidence provisions for a bona fide farm in §160D 903
     

Fish and wildlife
Evaluated by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.
All property must provide or be able to provide a healthy, natural habitat to support wildlife with proper management. The property must be managed under a plan that includes wildlife as a primary objective. Qualifying management plans include wildlife management plan, Forest Stewardship Plan, or a forest management plan.
In addition, at least one of the following must be true:

  • 25 acres or more
  • Contains priority habitat for fish and/or wildlife as identified by the NC Wildlife Action Plan
  • Contains a priority species (SGCN) as identified by the NC Wildlife Action Plan, that would be helped by the conservation of the property
  • Is adjacent to (borders) protected conservation areas or serves as a corridor between existing protected areas

Public trails or access to public trails
Evaluated by NC Division of Parks and Recreation.
Definition of Trail: The term "trail" means a thoroughfare or track across land, water, or snow open for public use.
Definition of Public Access: Legally allows members of the public use of the land for trail use purposes in perpetuity.
All property must provide land for a public trail or provide land that will increase access for a public trail. Trail types include hike, bike, paddle, and equestrian.
If the property is donated to NC Division of Parks and Recreation, the following are needed:

  • Letter of support from the trail manager being connected to
  • Support of the community and partners (part of a plan approved by a governing body)
  • Letter from agency agreeing to the long-term maintenance of the trail
  • Letter from emergency services in the community agreeing to provide emergency response
     

Military buffer
Evaluated by personnel from the appropriate military base.
Each property will be evaluated for unique benefits and exact restrictions needed to meet the public benefit of buffering military training, testing, or operations on a military installation or training area.
In general, activities incompatible with military training may include residential or commercial development, tall buildings or towers, upward shining lights and activity that creates glare or concentration of birds (such as ponds) that may be dangerous to aircraft operations.
 

Floodplain protection
Evaluated by the NCDNCR.
Donations must limit negative impacts to the floodplain.
Only property in a county that in the five years preceding the donation, was the subject of a Type II or Type III gubernatorial disaster declaration, as provided in G.S. 166A-19.21, as a result of a natural disaster are eligible for tax credit under floodplain protection.

  • The following counties are currently eligible for tax year 2025: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Beaufort, Bertie, Brunswick, Buncombe, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Carteret, Catawba, Cherokee, Chowan, Clay, Cleveland, Columbus, Craven, Dare, Davidson, Davie, Duplin, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Gaston, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Hertford, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, Iredell, Jackson, Lee, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Nash, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Polk, Randolph, Robeson, Rowan, Rutherford, Sampson, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Union, Watauga, Wayne, Wilkes, Wilson, Yadkin, Yancey

Historic landscape conservation
Evaluated by the State Historic Property Office.
Current historic status and potential historic significance will be considered. For example:

  • Is the land within or partly within the boundary of a resource listed in the National Register of Historic Places?
  • Is the land within or partly within the boundary of a resource listed in any county or city local historic designation program?
  • Is the land associated with a historically significant event (like a battle) or a pattern of events, like farming, mining, recreation, fishing, etc.?
  • Is the land associated with a historically significant person?
  • Does the land have a historic association with architecture, either formal landscape architecture or informal, vernacular design?

SHPO will rely heavily on the National Register of Historic Places which states “Landscape characteristics are the tangible evidence of the activities and habits of the people who occupied, developed, used, and shaped the landscape to serve human needs; they may reflect the beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and values of these people.” 
The National Register enumerates those landscape characteristics as eleven specific characteristics: Land Uses and Activities; Patterns of Spatial Organization; Response to the Natural Environment; Cultural Traditions; Circulation Networks; Boundary Demarcations; Vegetation Related to Land Use; Buildings, Structures, and Objects; Clusters; Archaeological Sites; and Small-scale Elements. Not every historic landscape will display all eleven characteristics, and there is no magic number of characteristics a landscape must possess in order to be considered historic, however, every historic landscape will possess some of these eleven characteristics.
Maps (including informal sketch plans or sketch maps), photographs, and written descriptions that describe how these characteristics manifest themselves on this particular landscape will be required. Written descriptions can be presented in narrative or in simple lists or bullet points.
 

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