“Finch,
Pruyn & Co. is Sold to Connecticut Holding Company; Soon
All 161,000 acres of Timber Land Go to The Nature Conservancy” - News Brief, PRFA, August 2007
“The Environmental Trust Bankruptcy” - by Darrel Beck (Reprinted by permission from newsletter
of Citizens for Private Property Rights, Santa Ysabel, California,
Sept. 2005)
The San Diego-based land trust called The Environmental Trust
filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy last spring, leaving behind debt
exceeding #13 million, many unrecorded conservation easements,
incompletely deposited endowment funds, and inadequate financial
ability to protect “critical habitat”
on lands it was obligated to manage.
“IRS to Audit Nature Conservancy From Inside”
By Joe Stephens and
David B. Otttaway
Washington Post, Jan. 17, 2004
“A team of IRS examiners will move into the global headquarters
of the Nature Conservancy in Arlington to begin auditing the
charity, the world’s largest environmental organization.”
Full article
“Land Trust Bonanza in ‘Faith Based Initiative’
Blocked Again in Congress”
- PRFA, September 2003
The House Ways and Means Committee approved HR 7, Pres. Bush’s
Faith Based Initiative, but
struck out a land acquisition/conservation easement provision
for a capitol gains break that would
benefit the land trusts to the tune of a billion dollars.
October 23, 2002:
“The
Nature Conservancy Gets 11,000 Acres of Great South Bay Bottomlands”
December 15, 2001:
Citizens of Tiny Arizona Town Battle The Nature Conservancy to
Keep Water Rights-
A December press release
from Randy Heiss on behalf of Unidos Hacemos Fuerza, (address)
a grassroots group whose name signifies the strength that comes
from unity, describes their struggle against the Nature Conservancy
(TNC) to protect the water rights of the residents of the town.
The citizens are using a ballot referendum to try to stop TNC
from grabbing rights to more water flow than is regularly available
from the Sonoita Creek. TNC claims its stream flow data are more
accurate than that of the USGS. TNC wants to use the water to
preserve the endangered Gila topminnow, according to Mr. Heiss.
Press Release-Unidos
Hacemos Fuerza
See Also
Essential Books
& Publications
Ron Arnold, Undue
Influence—Wealthy Foundations, Grant-driven Environmental
Groups, and Zealous Bureaucrats That Control Your Future,
(The Free Enterprise Press, Bellevue, Washington, 1999). Available
from: Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise
address
Carol W. LaGrasse, The Property
Owner’s Experience-New York’s Arbitrary and Excessive
Environmental Regulation of Private Land and Resources (PRFA
1998). Copies still available at $10.00 plus $2.00 p&h from
PRFA.
Publication Order Form
Paragon Powerhouse, monthly newsletter published by The Paragon Foundation,
Inc.
address
“Perverting the Trust-Private
Charitable Land Preservation Organizations as Government Acquisition
Agents” - Positions on Property, Vol. 2, No. 2, Apr.
1995. (PRFA, $3.00 including p&h)
Publication Order Form
Additional Resources
“Notprofit Land Bank Amasses Billions—Charity
Builds on Corporate Partnership” — By David B. Ottaway and Joe Stephens, Washington
Post Staff Writers, Sunday, May 4, 2003: page A01 (First of three
articles)
This link is to a superbly documented article exposing The
Nature Conservancy’s corrupt business boondoggles; its giant
financial transactions with its governing board members; its
sale of choice conservancy land to past and present trustees,
often at steep discounts; its coincidental silence on major environmental
issues coinciding with interests of board members; and big industrial
polluters on its board.
The
Nature Conservancy’s “No Fishing” policy
Letter from Brenda Hunt, Land Steward,
TNC Eastern New York Chapter, to Brian Gilbert, August 4, 1992.
Unidos Hacemos Fuerza
address
Websites
Charity navigator
Find the salaries of executives of non-profit organizations.
link
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- “Senators
Betty Little & John Bonacic Stand Firm” - By Carol W. LaGrasse
(Reprinted from N. Y. Property Rights Clearinghouse, Summer
2003)
The Nature Conservancy, other non-profits attack New York
State Senators’ real estate tax reform bills. Washington
Post article exposes Conservancy corruption.
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In-Depth Information
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 “Are
People Still Contributing to The Nature Conservancy?”
- By Nate Dickinson (PRFA, February 25, 2004)
After reports in the Washington Post about The Nature Conservancy’s
questionable financial practices, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee
headed by Sen. Charles Grassley recently investigated widespread
accounting problems, violations of the Internal Revenue Service
regulations, and conflicts of interest including selling scenic
properties to trustees who reaped large tax breaks.
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- “An
Unexpected Visit from The Nature Conservancy” - By Nate
Dickinson (PRFA, October 21, 2003)
A solicitation letter from TNC tugs at the heartstrings, but
relies on the “emotional, gullible segments of society”
to believe that they are “saving the last great places
on Earth.”
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- Bush Administration
signs a Memorandum of Understanding with The Nature Conservancy
to jointly manage the nation’s National Forests
The U.S. Forest Service and The Nature Conservancy announced
a watershed memorandum of understanding (MOU) on November 16
to share the management of the entire National Forest system.
The agreement includes inventorying, monitoring, protection and
restoration of forest, grassland and aquatic habitat for fish,
wildlife and plant resources. According to the official press
release, the underlying goals of the memorandum of understanding
include preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem management,
rather than production of raw materials to feed the nation’s
economy. Two key MOU directives are to utilize prescribed burns
and to combat invasive species. The MOU can be expected to reinforce
the previous administration’s road closure policy.
(November 2001)
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- “Has The Nature
Conservancy Run Amok?” — By Nate Dickinson (PRFA,
October 2002)
Wildlife biologist Nate Dickinson tackles bad science, deception,
and play on emotions used by the most heavily endowed of the
environmental organizations, which is “entering the
ranks of the most successful real estate brokers.”
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- Asst. Sec. of
U.S. Dept. of Interior responds to LaGrasse (DOI Letter,
June 18, 2002)
Commenting specifically on LaGrasse’s March 10,
2002 letter to DOI, Lynn Scarlet, Asst. Secretary, Policy, Management
and Budget, responded, “With respect to your recommendation
that endangered, threatened and rare species restoration should
be contracted out, the President’s Management Agenda
does call for a greater focus on competitive sourcing...We share
your desire for transparency and a wide range of partnerships
for conservation.”
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- “Unjustified Privileges
of Environmental Non-Profits” - By Carol W. LaGrasse,
The Rhodes Real Estate Review, January 1999. Reprinted
by permission.
Marie and Joe Hill were destroyed by the results of an environmentalist
campaign to preserve their Massachusetts farm to the group’s
tastes. Another land preservation group, Scenic Hudson, has tied
up the future of a family-owned concrete block plant in New York,
and cost the owner over $2 million on permits, in the name of
protecting nearby rattlesnakes.
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- “Aggressive
Non-Profits - Recently Revealed Land Trust Obstruction of Private
Property Owners” - By Carol W. LaGrasse (PRFA Background
Brief, July 1998)
Scenic Hudson’s tactics in the Fishkill Ridge
have obstructed Montfort aggregate mine application for 8 years,
costing the small firm $2 million so far. Mohonk Preserve, Friends
of the Shawangunks and Open Space Institute team up against young
couple. ABC story exposing The Nature Conservancy tactics in
Florida Keys is spiked.
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 “Preservation
Group Straps Massachusetts Farm Couple” — By Carol W. LaGrasse
(Reprinted from the New York Property Rights Clearinghouse,
Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring-Summer 1997, PRFA)
Bankruptcy court appeal may be the final chapter for Marie
and Joseph Hill, an elderly couple who are being evicted from
their scenic dairy farm in South Dartmouth on Buzzard’s
Bay, after losing a battle with a local preservation group, FORM.
Hill Farm
Photo Gallery
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