|
articles & updates | article
Ethics Plenary Speech
by Stephen J. Small, Esq.
So this is my perspective. Land trust work continues to be good clean ethical honest work but some things are starting to get out of hand and if we are not careful there will be a very significant price to pay.
But let's not talk about me. Let's talk about you. Let's see some hands. Here are some easy questions first.
How many of you are with land trusts or government agencies?
How many of you are on the technical side, that is, attorneys, accountants, appraisers, wildlife biologists and other scientists?
How many of you are landowners?
Is anyone here from the IRS?
Is anyone here from the media? How about from the Washington Post? Well, I am just delighted that the Washington Post is here with us at Rally, because that gives you an opportunity to hear first-hand not just about the problems land trusts are grappling with in good faith but also about some great conservation easements. In fact, I was a newspaper reporter once, and I would like to challenge the Post to do a series on great philanthropic, conservation-loaded conservation easement deals and how some of them have been so important to land protection.
For example, I remember the late Gertie Legendre, who owned Medway Plantation, almost 7000 acres less than one hour from downtown Charleston, South Carolina. The entire property is protected; Gertie donated easements to Ducks Unlimited and Historic Charleston Foundation and set an example for other landowners in South Carolina and elsewhere.
And I remember Bob Woods, Edwin Newhall Woods, who lived on the Vineyard, now lives in California. Bob owned 530 acres of land on Martha's Vineyard, I believe the largest single private landholding on the Vineyard. Bob loved his land, which was left to him by his mother. Bob said, "Mother wanted it protected for the critters." Bob loved his land and loved the local land trust, but he wanted to donate a conservation easement on his beloved property to an organization with the deepest pocket and the strongest national base, in case anyone unfriendly ever tried to mess with his conservation easement. The property is now under easement to the Nature Conservancy.
|
