As fanatical environmental organizations go, The Nature Conservancy, believe it not, is worse than the CBD. But it seems they can be bought...

Nature Conservancy to sell donated woodland

By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com

Woodbury – Katherine Stainton dedicated herself to keeping her town green.
She served for years on the parks commission and donated land for a town park.
When she died, two of her children gave their shares of her 178-acre estate to the Nature Conservancy.
The nature preservation group plans to sell the mostly wooded property to a developer.
"We are selling it, and we have an offer that we have accepted," said John Dwelley, dispositions manager for the conservancy, which is based in Arlington, Va.
Dwelley wouldn't reveal the sale price or identity of the expected buyer, except to say the buyer is well-known for his projects in Woodbury.
Sources confirmed the buyer is Wayne Corts, who's building the luxurious Greens of Woodbury, a 63-home development off Smith Clove Road.
Corts didn't return calls for comment.
Dwelley said the conservancy always planned to sell its portion of the Stainton property - which is off Dunderberg Road and near Monroe-Woodbury High School - since it harbors no rare plants or animals and has no special ecological significance.
There are several vacant homes and other buildings on the property. Part of the land was once farmed.
"It's not like it's a pristine piece of property," he said.
But the sale irks John Baranowski, a neighbor of the estate and a board member of the Orange County Land Trust, a land-preservation group.
He said the land should be preserved because Woodbury needs open space for passive recreation to balance the population growth in town.
And he feels the conservancy may have overlooked environmentally significant features of the property.
Besides, he added, its selling land to a developer "just seems to run so counter to what they're about."
The Nature Conservancy viewed the estate as "trade land," useful mainly for the proceeds that could be raised by selling it. It often sells assets it's given - including land, houses and condominiums - to finance efforts to protect more significant property, Dwelley said.
Locally, the conservancy is working to protect the Shawangunk Ridge and the 60-mile-long Neversink River.
Stainton, who died in 1994 at age 90, belonged to the wealthy Cornell family, which has deep roots in Central Valley.
She was a longtime member of the Woodbury Parks Commission. In 1970, she bought 100 acres around Earl Reservoir and donated it to the town, creating what is today a beloved town park.
After her death, two of her children, Edward Stainton and Katherine Evans, agreed to give their portions of the estate to the Nature Conservancy. A second daughter, Sally Cleaver, had separate plans for her third of the land.
In October 1998, the three heirs agreed in Orange County Surrogate Court to divide the land into three shares of equal worth, if not equal size.
In January 2000, the conservancy first went before the Woodbury Planning Board for approval to subdivide the land. But by the middle of last year, after 2½ years before the board, the conservancy gave up.
By then, the three heirs had agreed to sell the property without subdividing it. Cleaver would get a third of the proceeds, and the Nature Conservancy would take half of the remaining two thirds. The final portion would go to another, unspecified charity.
In the end, the conservancy spent "several hundred thousands of dollars" on property taxes and fees for lawyers and engineers while seeking subdivision approval, Dwelley said.
Even so, the organization hopes to make some money from the deal in order to fund its preservation work.
"We are optimistic," Dwelley said, "that there will be some left over."
Edward Stainton, who lives in Philadelphia, said by phone Tuesday that he and his sister knew the conservancy would sell their portions of the estate. And he had no objection to a developer buying it.
"We gave it to the conservancy so they could sell it to whoever they wanted," Stainton said.
"It's old farmland. There's nothing very special about it."
But Baranowski said Katherine Stainton's work in preserving open space in Woodbury only heightens the irony of a land-preservation group selling her property to a developer.
"It's like a double or triple irony to me," he said.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Vicki

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The Nature Conservancy viewed the estate as "trade land," useful mainly for the proceeds that could be raised by selling it

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Which is what "most" green org.'s are about now, MAKING MONEY!

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Besides, he added, its selling land to a developer

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I'm shocked! NOT!

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preserving open space in Woodbury only heightens the irony of a land-preservation group selling her property to a developer.
"It's like a double or triple irony to me," he said

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Sounds like hypocritical business as usual to me!

LIVE FREE OR DIE!