Edith Wislocki points to hay and bright yellow flowers blowing in the wind.

“This is the meadow that could change dramatically, and this is why,” she said, pointing to a road along a border of her land in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

The street would provide an easy way for housing developers to build a cluster of homes here. Wislocki receives messages at least weekly asking if she wants to sell.

“This is consistent and has been for two years, and I say no, no, no,” Wislocki said. “I always want to say there is a limitation, but that is not the case because it has not happened yet.”

Wislocki is certain: she does not want to sell her property. It includes a therapeutic horse farm and more than 20 hectares of paths through trees and over bridges over streams and swamps.

Wislocki began the paperwork to preserve her land more than three years ago. Now she's on a waiting list for a conservation land tax credit, which gives private landowners up to $75,000 to cover part of the value of their land to developers, as well as the cost of appraisals, surveys and legal fees. In Massachusetts, the program is capped at $2 million a year. When the money runs out, Wislocki's application will be deferred until next year — or maybe even the year after that.

“About every six months I send a text message: 'What's going on?'” she said. “The answer is always the same: 'You're on hold.'”

Fourteen other states and Puerto Rico offer tax breaks to encourage land conservation. These programs have become central parts of climate change action plans and goals because no state is ever expected to completely eliminate harmful emissions. Therefore, Massachusetts and other states must offset emissions by storing carbon in trees and open land.

“All of their future projections fall apart if we don't have the land area to continue to capture and store carbon year after year,” says Laura Marx, a climate scientist at The Nature Conservancy.

In fact, to meet the state's climate goals, Massachusetts needs to double its pace on forest protection. Robb Johnson, director of the Massachusetts Land Trust Coalition, said the state should make better use of the already popular and effective tax credit program.

“The leverage is significant,” Johnson said. “For every dollar invested in the tax credit, over four dollars in land value was donated.”

While Wislocki is holding out for patience, other landowners are giving up and selling to developers. The wait for help with land conservation costs is so long that some landowners said they would never consider the program. But Carol Williams, another Rehoboth resident, is determined to keep her nine acres of land along a gurgling creek wild.

“We need it to renew the earth,” said Williams. “We need green trees, we need good water. We need to conserve our resources to continue to live everywhere.”

Williams wonders if it even makes sense to start the process. She is 81 and would not receive any money until at least 2027.

“I hope I live that long,” Williams said.