| Funds OK'd to Buy Forested Lands
(Note: This quote, "The Nature Conservancy bought the lands from willing sellers ... " appears in TNC and Dept. of Interior agency reports and press releases, but what private property owners went through in order to become 'willing sellers' is often coercion, bordering on criminal behavior. Consider the amount of control that such amounts of land -- going off the tax rolls -- and water exerts over private citizens. Consider the ever-higher tax burden that falls upon the backs of the taxpayers that are left, while TNC rolls with glee over its increased power and wealth. A nonprofit, you say? Well ... do your own research and consider!) March 3, 2003 By John Henry Arkansas Business P.O. Box 3686 Little Rock, AR 72203 501-372-1443 Fax: 501-375-7933 Congress has approved $3 million for conservation projects in Arkansas that will allow the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to buy two forested tracts in the Mississippi River Delta. The Nature Conservancy, America's largest private conservation organization, said the legislation will help conserve thousands of acres in the Ozark/St. Francis National Forest and the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. The Nature Conservancy bought the lands from willing sellers with the understanding that they would be transferred to the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service when funds became available. Nancy DeLamar, state director of the Nature Conservancy, lauded Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Reps. Marion Berry and Vic Snyder, all Democrats of Arkansas, for their help in securing the funding. The two properties total nearly 6,000 acres. The 1,450-acre Stumpy Point, a native bottomland hardwood forest in Phillips County that includes one mile of Mississippi River frontage and two and a half miles of St. Francis River frontage, will become part of the St. Francis National Forest. The other 4,500-acre tract, which lies within the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge boundaries in Woodruff County, will be added to the refuge. It has more than four miles of Cache River frontage and 3,500 acres of high-quality forest. http://arkansasbusiness.com/news/article.asp?u=%7B832D7F6E%2D875A%2D4169%2D84A9%2D8662354FF540%7D %7B832D7F6E%2D875A%2D4169%2D84A9%2D8662354FF540%7D&cid=15&aid=33229&ct=1 Additional reading: |