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Time to stop feeding the beast (Nature
Conservancy)
December 1, 2004
By Julie Kay Smithson
My Official Public Comments to the Brevard County Board
of County Commissioners and all in attendance at the December 7, 2004,
Meeting
Ron Pritchard, Jackie Colen and Helen Voltz:
On December 7th at your next scheduled meeting you will be
considering, among other business, future funding/partnership
with the Nature Conservancy.
It cannot be stressed enough that this 'non-profit' organization is
fast gaining Control of America through its sales pitches about
'protecting', 'managing' or 'restoring' such things as 'America's Last
Great Places' and other equally false statements.
Here's their "List", which I will paste below this email for
you to consider (Gang Greed might be a good nickname for such a vast
land grab agenda):
Please note that, in this list, are contained vast reaches of America,
including ENTIRE Mountain ranges, ENTIRE river basins, the ENTIRE
upper peninsula of Michigan, and much, much more. This is a feeding
frenzy to Control America, one land acquisition at a time, and the
federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is using your taxpayer
dollars and those of every other taxpaying American, to FUND these
schemes, in the form of "grant programs" and the
"awarding" of megamillions of "grants". Truly,
this beast must be stopped, as -- using the old game, Pac-Man, with
the gobbling mouth -- the Nature Conservancy is "Pac-Manning"
America.
Florida has the following that the Nature Conservancy intends to gain
control of: Apalachicola River Basin, Florida
Keys, Lake Wales Ridge, St. Mary's
River (also GA), and the Upper Kissimmee Valley. Please
consider thoughtfully if you would 'trust' such an organization to do
a better job of responsible land/water use and stewardship than the
current private landowners? I do not seek 'consensus', but rather hope
that you will arrive at your own conclusions.
I feel that the following information is vital to your consideration
of ANY further partnering with the Nature Conservancy. The
taxpayers of Brevard County, Florida and the nation have become camels
upon whose backs are being heaped inhuman and inhumane, inordinate and
unconstitutional burdens, while arguably 'non-profits' like the Nature
Conservancy continue feeding at the trough of grant dollars. NO MORE.
Please help others, both in Brevard County and many other places in
America, see the true colors of 'Gang Green' and its insatiable
appetite for more and ever more land acquisition and Control. Brevard
County does not need to collaborate -- which means: "To
cooperate, usually willingly, with an enemy nation, especially
with an enemy occupying one's country." - The Random
House College Dictionary, 1980 Revised Edition, page 263. (Note:
Please, consider when you see this word, collaborate, in plans, agency
documents, etc., and consider its real meaning.) -- with the
Nature Conservancy, an organization that is currently under
investigation for a great deal of fiscal wrongdoing. If anything, all
local, state and federal governments should immediately place
sanctions on this organization.
In Ohio, where I live, the Nature Conservancy operated as, in its own
words, "Nature's Realtor", for more than three years ON AN
EXPIRED CHARTER. I.e., the Nature Conservancy was not licensed to do
business in Ohio, yet it continued to feed its appetite for land
acquisition and was responsible for much land going OFF the tax rolls
in several counties.
This brings the burden of economic responsibility down even harder on
the remaining camels, the remaining taxpayers who are left to 'take up
the slack.'
In Texas in the 1990s, the Nature Conservancy's charter was actually
REVOKED by the state for a period of time for shady and underhanded
'business' dealings by the Nature Conservancy. Please note that
everything below is substantiated.
I ask that you consider this entire email to be my public comments on
Thank you; please email me or phone with any questions you may
have.
Sincerely,
Julie Kay Smithson
London, Ohio
740-857-1239 (voice / no fax)
EELS
– Environmentally Endangered Lands, a “voter approved program that
acquires and manages land identified by the Selection and Management
Committee and approved by the board of County Commissioners; promotes
environmental educational opportunities to the community; provides the
community with passive recreation. Land Acquisition: Participated in
the acquisition of more than 19,000 acres; partnerships with the State
of Florida and the St. Johns River Water Management District. [The]
total funds expended by all partners is $61 million, with the EEL
Program contributing $27 million. FY 2003-2004 budget appropriation in
Brevard County, Florida, is $13,157,319. (pages 14-17) http://countygovt.brevard.fl.us/budgetoffice/presentations/documents/parksrecreation.pdf
This one's a must for folks needing to understand what 'hogs at the
trough' really mean:
The Wild and Free Pigs of the Okeefenokee Swamp
Here's my Nature Conservancy button: http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/tncframes.htm
and here is what the 'Intro' area on the right side of that button
contains (you'll love it!):
The
Nature Conservancy (NatureConnedServancy) 2002-2003 Archives "We do work closely with USFWS
(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). We buy these properties when they need
to be bought, so that at some point we can become the willing seller (to
government). This helps the government get around the problem of local
opposition." - The Nature Conservancy's William Weeks quoted by
syndicated columnist Warren T. Brookes, January 23, 1991
"...Revelations that land trust
groups such as The Nature Conservancy had made big profits off
government land deals led to an investigation by the U.S. Department of
Interior's Inspector General in 1992. The investigation found that the
department had spent $7.1 million more than necessary on 64 land deals
between 1986 and 1991..." Sat, 4 Oct 1997 Tom Gray (tomgray@igc.org) DOSSIER A publication providing succinct
biographical sketches of environmental scientists, economists,
"experts," and activists released by The National Center for
Public Policy Research, 300 Eye St. NE #3, Washington, D.C. 20002, (202)
543-1286, Fax (202) 543-4779, E-Mail ncppr@aol.com,
Web http://www.nationalcenter.inter.net.
Environmental Activist: The Nature
Conservancy Founded in 1951, The Nature
Conservancy (TNC) is indisputably the wealthiest organization in the
environmental movement with an budget approaching $300 million per year.
The group's mission is to save environmentally valuable land through
private acquisition. This private sector approach has earned The
Conservancy praise from liberals and free market advocates alike. But
The Nature Conservancy's approach to the environment is not as free
market and mainstream as the group would have its supporters believe.
Over the years, TNC has developed cozy relationships with conservation
agencies at all levels of government. Not only have these relationships
allowed The Conservancy to finance many of its supposed
"private-sector" land purchases with taxpayer money, but,
according to numerous accounts, it has allowed the group to profit
handsomely from such deals. According to a June 12, 1992, Washington
Times report, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials paid The Nature
Conservancy $4.5 million in 1988 and 1989 for land in the Little River
National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, $1 million more than the land's
appraised value. In 1989, the Bureau of Land Management gave The
Conservancy $1.4 million for land the group had purchased for just $1.26
million in a simultaneous transaction. Washington Times author Ken Smith
noted, "Up to the point of the transaction, The Conservancy had
forked over exactly $100 for a purchase option agreement on the land.
Wall Street investors in jail for insider trading never got a $140,000
return on a $100 investment." No doubt the deal was lucrative
enough to make even Hillary Clinton, who turned a $1,000 investment in
cattle futures into $100,000, green with envy. Revelations that land trust groups
such as The Nature Conservancy had made big profits off government land
deals led to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Interior's
Inspector General in 1992. The investigation found that the department
had spent $7.1 million more than necessary on 64 land deals between 1986
and 1991. There have been other government
reports critical of Nature Conservancy land deals as well. In 1991, the
Missouri state auditor found that the state "paid $500,000 more
than necessary on six land purchases from the Conservancy,"
according to a June 19, 1994 Newhouse News Service report. "The
auditor claimed there was a conspiracy to jack up the sales price on
these tracts to help the organization regain $400,000 in losses claimed
on two state park deals that went sour. That was a violation of state
financial regulations..." The Nature Conservancy's favorable
land deals may be more than mere coincidence. William Moran, a U.S. Fish
and Wildlife whistle-blower reported to Congress that his superior
continued to handle land deals with The Nature Conservancy, while
applying for a job with the organization. In another apparent case of
conflict of interest, a director for a state office of the Bureau of
Land Management presided over complex land deals involving The
Conservancy while serving a member of the Conservancy's state board of
directors. The Conservancy has other ways of
tapping into taxpayer funds as well -- and for purposes that have
nothing to do with land acquisition. In 1993, for example, the group
received a $44,100 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration for a Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary outreach
program. This "outreach" included developing and directing a
"plan to counter opposition's push for county-wide referendum
against the establishment of the sanctuary" and recruiting
"local residents to speak out against the referendum at two Board
of County Commissioners hearings." In other words, The Conservancy
used taxpayer dollars to lobby. So much for the group's moderate
reputation. But government land deals and grants
aren't the only controversies surrounding The Nature Conservancy. The
group has frequently been accused of using intimidation tactics to force
private landowners to sell their land. In one of the most flagrant cases
of intimidation, a state director for The Conservancy threatened to have
the government condemn a landowner's property if he refused to sell it
for annexation to the Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge. "If
your land is not acquired through voluntary negotiation, we will
recommend its acquisition through condemnation," wrote The
Conservancy's Albert Pyott in 1993 to the landowner, Professor Dieter
Kuhn, a resident of Marburg, Germany. Perhaps the greatest controversy
involving The Conservancy occurred in 1994 when the group was found
guilty by a federal judge of undue influence over a dying man. The man,
Dr. Frederic Gibbs, a medical researcher who developed the
electroencephalograph and conducted research in epilepsy, willed a
95-acre farm to The Nature Conservancy. Officials with The Conservancy
apparently assisted Gibbs in changing his will after he had become
mentally incompetent. Despite its much-vaunted concern for
preserving the environment, The Nature Conservancy nonetheless accepts
contributions from such environmentally-harmful businesses as oil
companies. The group is not particularly a friend of America's most
disadvantaged Americans -- minorities. In 1990, it teamed up with the
National Audubon Society to oppose a sheep grazing program by poor
Chicanos in New Mexico even though the grazing was essential for an
economic development project. Selected Nature Conservancy Quotes A Nature Conservancy official
explaining how The Conservancy helps government agencies circumvent
democracy.... "We do work closely with USFWS
(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). We buy these properties when they need
to be bought, so that at some point we can become the willing seller (to
government). This helps the government get around the problem of local
opposition." -The Nature Conservancy's William Weeks quoted by
syndicated columnist Warren T. Brookes, January 23, 1991 The Nature Conservancy making a
German landowner feel at home -- in Nazi-era Germany, that is... "If your land is not acquired
through voluntary negotiation, we will recommend its acquisition through
condemnation." -Albert Pyott, former Illinois state director of The
Nature Conservancy, threatening Dieter Kuhn of Marburg, Germany, quoted
in The New Orleans Times Picayune, June 19, 1994 Version Date: March 29, 1996 All correspondence to Dossier should
be directed to: The National Center for Public
Policy Research 300 Eye Street, N.E. Suite 3 Washington, DC 20002 Tel. (202) 543-1286 Fax (202) 543-4779 E-Mail ncppr@aol.com Web http://www.nationalcenter.inter.net. Copyright 1996, The National Center for Public Policy Research. ===== ===== The Nature Conservancy's Incomplete and
ever-expanding List of "Last Great Places" http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/nature_conservancy1.htm |