The tax-writers are at it again in Washington, and one of the many oxen up for goring this season is the land trust community. A recent “alert” from Maine Coast Heritage Trust informs us of a proposal to “drastically cut back tax benefits for donations of conservation land and easements.” Just how the cuts would fall isn’t clear, but if they’re significant the effects on private land conservation would be serious. It’s ironic that the Republicans who control Congress, devoted as they claim to be to private property rights, also seem determined to cut off private land conservation at its knees. Most of the effort to protect land on the Maine coast and its islands, beginning a century ago with Acadia National Park, has been the result of private efforts. To hamper these efforts by scaling back tax benefits for donations is short-sighted at best.