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Two land conservancy groups honored U.S. Rep. Ron Kind on Wednesday for his support of tax breaks for people who donate conservation easements on their land.

The Mississippi Valley Conservancy and Gathering Waters Conservancy presented Kind with the award at a 12:30 p.m. ceremony on behalf of the Land Trust Alliance.

Land owners who enter conservation easements retain ownership of their land but guarantee it never will be developed. A law that offered tax deductions for the value of that foregone development expired in 2007, but Congress recently reauthorized it.

The Land Trust Alliance, a support organization for local groups that administer conservation easements, recognized Kind for his support of that bill.

Wisconsin has about 55 land trust organizations. Locally, the Mississippi Valley Conservancy oversees 7,200 acres of protected land in seven counties in western Wisconsin.