Wilderness bewilderment (Nature Conservancy Eco-Scandal)

Wilderness bewilderment

A leading protector of US countryside has been severely tarnished by an astonishing environmental scandal

Oliver Burkeman in Washington
Thursday May 29, 2003
The Guardian

The world's wealthiest green group may be investigated by the US government in the light of allegations that it has engaged in practices more commonly associated with the enemies of the environment.

Nature Conservancy felled trees, allegedly drilled for gas beneath the last breeding-ground of an endangered bird and sold unspoilt land at discounted prices to its trustees so they could build luxury homes in some of America's most beautiful landscapes, according to the Washington Post, which spent two years investigating its activities.

The conservancy group has $3bn (£1.8bn) in assets and a million members, and is ubiquitous in the US.

Its image as the preserver of the country's wilderness (widely promoted on television and in print using the actor and environmentalist Paul Newman as its figurehead) has been severely tarnished by the investigation.

The paper says the oil company Mobil gave the charity a stretch of coastline in Texas which supports the almost extinct Attwater's prairie chicken. But the Post claims that instead of shielding the land, Nature Conservancy sank a gas well, losing $10m lawsuit concerning another charity's claim to the oil rights, and exposing the birds, in the words of one of Nature Conservancy's scientists, to "a higher probability of death".

The revelations, confirmed by the Guardian, encompass a scheme in which the conservancy's wealthy supporters, among them the chat show host David Letterman, were sold land by the charity at far less than cost, in return for accepting restrictions on how they could develop it.

Often, those buying the land would make up the difference with a roughly equivalent donation to the conservancy, claiming a large tax deduction for the gift, meaning that the US treasury sweetened the deal. The buyer was free to develop the land as long as the charity's environmental restrictions were followed. But they were often not strict enough to prevent the owner installing swimming pools and tennis courts and clearing trees for a better view.

Mr Letterman, a conservancy trustee, bought part of a 87-hectare (215-acre) stretch on Martha's Vineyard, though it was not clear whether he made a parallel donation.

The charity says it has suspended the "conservation buyer" scheme pending a review. But Democrat and Republican senators are seeking an investigation, bringing into the Washington spotlight a long-running debate on how close the green movement should get to big business.

And Nature Conservancy is certainly very close. Among those with seats on its council are some of America's most notorious environmental offenders: Pacific Gas and Electric - the polluting anti-hero of the movie Erin Brockovich - Exxon Mobil and General Motors. It receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year from business, some for letting companies use its name and logo on products.

"Talking philosophically, there's a spectrum, and, yes, the conservancy is very pragmatic," Jordan Peavey, its spokeswoman, told the Guardian. The charity has admitted that it made mistakes, but, Ms Peavey said, "We have our niche, and we're very effective at what we do. That enables us to get work done that groups like Greenpeace couldn't do - not to pick on them particularly, because they can do things that we couldn't."

A former head of land acquisition for Nature Conservancy, David Morine, told the Post: "It was the wrong decision to get so close to industry. Business got in under the tent, and we are the ones who invited them in. These corporate executives are carnivorous. You bring them in and they just take over. [That policy was] the biggest mistake in my life."

It is the Texas gas-drilling which may do the most damage, because it seems so profoundly at odds with the charity's stated mission of "saving the last great places on earth".

The plan was to buy more land for the Attwater's prairie chicken, which the US National Wildlife Federation calls the country's most endangered bird, but little went right. Oil spills and a gas explosion blighted the operation.

There is no evidence that the drilling directly harmed the birds, but the conservation efforts failed, too, and the number of birds has fallen from 36 birds in 1998 to an estimated 16.

Stanley Temple, a Wisconsin University biologist, wrote in a report for Nature Conservancy that he was "shocked to find that one of the release pens is subject to flooding in heavy rains, and that birds have drowned in the pen".

Mr Temple told the Guardian that his remarks had been blown out of proportion, and that his point was that the location was appropriate only for a short-term project. "The Texas City preserve was an absolutely hopeless site to try to conserve the Attwater's prairie chicken in the long run," he said.

Mark Hertsgaard, author of the book Earth Odyssey, said: "I don't see how you could make up a worse scenario than that I think it tells you something about the lack of accountability in the movement, and the lack of an atmosphere in which people are going to call each other on things.

"It really points to a much bigger problem, which is, how do you deal with corporate power and capitalism."

As for the conservation buyer scheme, Ms Peavey insisted that it did not entail selling land to conservancy trustees and donors at a loss, because the development restrictions decreased the value.

"You're giving up substantial rights to develop, in perpetuity - owners hundreds of years from now will still have to abide by those restrictions," she said.

"So while it is true that the land was sold at a cheaper price, it was because it was worth less, by independent appraisals."

As of about four years ago Deerfield Beach elevated the status of their “Crackers” when they changed the name of the annual City Celebration from “Cracker Day” to “Founders Day”.

The name change wasn’t a big deal, but their have been some interesting observations since. During the Cracker Day Parade all the “Crackers” would line up along our main street to cheer the Founding Families of Deerfield Beach. One of those families is the Poitier family, who share direct ancestry with Sydney and were celebrated as much if not more than anyone else.

Today since we elevated the Crackers to the status of Founders, there’s hardly a mention of the Pointiers or any of our heritage. Our local media ignores any of our City’s heritage too.

We have a local Historical Society, but they appear more of a social society. On one Founders Day a Historical Society's representives tried tro kick me between the legs in front of the parade veiwing stand. While I was marching along side the Mayor and City Manager's convertible with a sign that read "Now That Enron Dried Up, The City Wants to Soak The Beach" (City Manager was caught having secret meetings with developers and energy interests & recieved renegotiated contract six months later, city utility taxes went up, his wife is a realtor and we still reelected the frigin Mayor and comissioners.) They deserved the ridicule of my march.

It was hillarious as the Mayor, City Manager, and I started to finish our pass of the reviewing stand this woman dashes out from behind her Beenie Baby booth and starts trying to kick me, I used my sign and Bull fighting tecniques to defend about three passes of the raging bull, the crowd loved it. Couldn't have wished for better street theatre at a better place or time.

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