Vultures In The Nature Conservancy

The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those
who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves,
is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.

CLR INTERVIEW: Christine MacDonald is a journalist who has written for the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, and Chicago Tribune. She also worked for Conservation International’s Global Communications Division. Her new book is Green Inc., An Environmental Insider Reveals How a Good Cause Has Gone Bad. Below is Christine’s interview with the California Literary Review.

What do you think is the main problem with the way environmental organizations are currently run?

It’s impossible to generalize about the entire environmental movement. There are about 12,000 nature groups in this country alone. Many do good work and have strict rules governing corporate fundraising; others are not as scrupulous. In my book, I discuss excesses at about a dozen large groups and take an in-depth look at three organizations that play a huge role in nature conservation not only in this country but in tropical countries such as Brazil and Indonesia.

While Conservation International (CI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) often make important scientific contributions, they cancel out all the good works by taking millions of dollars from corporations in an array of polluting industries. Their contributors include power companies, mining conglomerates and grain traders that are fueling the transformation of the last remaining rainforests in Latin America and the Asian Pacific into vast soybean and palm oil plantations.

World Wildlife Fund draws the line at oil companies. But CI, TNC and groups like The Conservation Fund, which works inside the United States, are beholden to BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and Shell Oil Co.. Corporate moguls including Roger Sant, the founder of AES Corp., which operates dozens of coal-burning power plants, and Rob Walton, the chairman of Wal-Mart’s board, sit on the boards of directors that run the groups.

While these relationships have spawned lucrative new funding streams, the money has essentially bought off the organizations. Groups that take oil money, for instance, have studiously avoided comment on the battle these companies are waging with other environmentalists to open up more of the country to drilling.

The corporate ties also lead to warped relationships. CI and Bunge Ltd., one of the world’s largest grain traders, have a partnership in Brazil that both tout as a “success story.” They are working with soy farmers to set aside some of the savannah lands that the farmers are converting into soybean fields. According to CI, the project has saved about 120,000 hectares (one hectare equals 2.5 acres) over several years. By CI’s own estimates, however, 2.2 million hectares of Brazilian savannah are lost every year. Much of it is being converted to supply Bunge’s soy crushing factories. So, the net positive effect of the project is insignificant. Bunge’s demand for soybeans continues to fuel large-scale habitat destruction. CI is helping Bunge greenwash its image....

Again, it’s impossible to generalize given the number and wide variety of environmental organizations in the country. What I can tell you is that the leaders of several of the country’s largest nature groups make salaries of $350,000 or more, which puts them in the top 1 percent of US taxpayers. Among the highest paid is Steven E. Sanderson, president and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who makes more than $825,000 in salary and fringe benefits, according to his group’s 2006 tax return.

You criticize environmental groups working with large corporations, but isn’t it more effective to engage them than to attack them? Could much have been accomplished without corporate support?

I bought into that notion before I went to work for CI. But after watching environmentalists blatantly engage in greenwashing for their corporate sponsors, I can tell you that once a group takes money from a corporation and comes to rely on the continued flow of those dollars to run programs and pay salaries, it loses its ability to be a critic and a watchdog. One high-ranking environmentalist once told me he shies away from seeking corporate funds because corporate executives “tend to want to buy you up first and talk about conservation later.” I think that is largely the norm.

It’s not that the groups don’t do some good work with the money they get from corporations. While too much goes to pay those six-figure salaries, posh offices and extravagant “fact finding” trips to exotic destinations such as the Galapagos Islands or Pacific Island atolls, some of it is used to conduct scientific studies of endangered species and pay for nature conservation such as CI and Bunge’s partnership to save savannah lands in Brazil. But when you look at the result of that program – saving 120,000 hectares when more than 2 million are lost annually – and so many others like it, they can hardly be considered “success stories” by any objective measure. Meanwhile, Bunge and other companies use their relationships with these groups to paint themselves as an environmentally friendly, which is pure greenwash.

There are plenty of groups that refuse to take corporate funding and continue to thrive and be effective – arguably more effective. Among them is Greenpeace, which has a much more confrontational approach. It’s also more controversial. But it was Greenpeace – not CI, TNC or WWF – that got Bunge and other international grain traders to agree to a moratorium on buying soy raised on recently deforested Amazon lands. They didn’t do it by being polite.

Similarly, Greenpeace showed up WWF earlier this year with a day of protests at the European offices of Unilever, a manufacturer that uses palm oil to make everything from Knorr soups to Dove soap. Unilever responded by agreeing to stop buying palm oil from Indonesia, where the orangutan has been driven to the point of extinction by plantation expansion. WWF had spent years spearheading corporate-nonprofit roundtable negotiations to coax Unilever and other manufacturers to address the same issue without achieving an agreement. So there is reason to believe that environmentalists are more effective when they act like environmentalists – not like corporate courtiers.

You write in your book about the lack of consideration for Native peoples. Would you talk a little about that?

While international conservation groups like to describe the rainforests where they work as pristine, undiscovered places, the truth is people have lived for millennia in the vast majority of these places. The conservationists often see them as “invaders of the forest” who threaten the plant and animal species they have come to protect. But the natives see the foreign conservationists as the interlopers.

In the last few decades, with the urging of international conservation groups and the enticement of foreign aid dollars, millions of people have been evicted from their ancestral homes around the globe according to sociologists who study the trend, and the land turned into national parks and other protected areas. At the same time, conservation groups have come under fire for cutting deals with corporations operating in these same remote places. The groups often trade their acquiescence of large-scale logging operations, open pit mines, oil drilling and pipeline building in exchange for corporate money to do conservation work nearby. The money is often used to strengthen management of protected areas, which usually includes hiring more park rangers to police the parks and keep local people out.

There is no denying that indigenous communities and the rural poor put pressure on the local ecosystems through hunting and clearing land for subsistence farming. But their impact can’t be compared to the much larger scars left by open pit mines, plantations and oil rigs say Native peoples and their advocates, who accuse the conservationists of hypocrisy. They see a double standard in which the world’s poorest, most vulnerable residents are bearing the brunt of the conservation burden while the rich and powerful are immune....

Profile of the author, Paul Comstock, Editor of the “California Literary Review”

From: "Carole Williams"
To: "Bobby Harmon"
Subject: MI Uranium to be used in Chinese nuclear plants? (U.P.)
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:47:06 -0400

FYI... This might help you connect some more dots, particurlary as to why some of the players in the Kamehameha Schools Trust Fund "intrigue" wanted to get their hands on a lot of acreage in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan so it could eventually be flipped to the State and then to the Nature Conservancy.

Cameco Corp., the Canadian uranium company that is partnered with Bitterroot Resources Ltd. and Trans Superior Resources Inc. to explore for uranium in Michigan's western Upper Peninsula, is negotiating with China to supply uranium for power plants.

Desperate for energy and struggling with air pollution from coal-fired power plants, China plans to build 14 new nuclear reactors in the next five years, according to Steve Halpern of http://www.thestockadvisors.com .

Nuclear power development is an "unstoppable trend," Halpern wrote, and "more than any other company in the world, Cameco is the most direct beneficiary of the build-out of nuclear plants."

On Wednesday Bloomberg reported that shares of Cameco rose after Chinese officials with China National Nuclear Corp. met with Cameco to discuss Canadian acquisitions and partnerships. Cui Jianchun, general manager of the CNNC Finance Co., reportedly said that China is considering takeovers and uranium supply agreements that range in value from ``several hundred million dollars to more than a billion.''

The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund both confirmed that they strongly support the earmark for the wildlife refuge. ...

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Recipient: The Nature Conservancy Recipient Type: Non-Profit City: Concord State: NEW HAMPSHIRE Recipient Comments: Was this a first time earmark?N ...
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Earmark Description: Funding for the Tampa and Florida panhandle field office. Program: Coastal Programs Amount: $19000 Recipient: Nature Conservancy ...
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May 12, 2008 ... The earmark allows the Nature Conservancy to claim a $250 million “tax refund” – even though, as a non-profit they don’t actually pay taxes. ...
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Nature Conservancy's Weed it Now (WIN) Initiative. 1 recipient will receive $198000. This is a continuing earmark. Year Enacted: 2005. Code: FY05-CO-49 ...
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The earmark would allow the Nature Conservancy to claim a $250 million “tax refund,” providing incentive for the group to purchase the land from Plum Creek. ...

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May 22, 2008 ... Company in Montana sell a parcel of land to the Nature Conservancy. ... Moran: Ban Earmark Amendments Because a "Handful of Right-Wing ...

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San Pedro River Ecosystem Project – The Nature Conservancy - $285000. This funding will be used by the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Legacy Program to ...

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15 recipients will receive $495000. This is a continuing earmark. Year Enacted: 2005 ... Nature Conservancy. Recipient ID (DUNS# or OTHER) (72656630) ...

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Senator Kohl earmarks $2 million for project in Senate Appropriations Committee. Madison, Wisconsin—6 July 2006—The Nature Conservancy, State of Wisconsin...

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Northwest Airlines has launched its EarthCares program with The Nature Conservancy as its founding partner and China as one of its funding targets.

Northwest Airlines is making a US$1 million gift on behalf of its employees and customers to The Nature Conservancy, in equal payments, over the next three years. The airline says the gift comes at the request of NWA's corporate and individual customers, many of whom have voiced support for programs to offset and reduce carbon emissions. EarthCares will be Northwest's program for implementing new environmental initiatives, such as The Nature Conservancy donation, which will protect land in the Mississippi River Valley from future development and sequester and store carbon.

NWA's funds for China will be directed to Pudacuo National Park, China's first national park. Located in one of the most biodiverse regions of the world, China's first national park was established with the help of The Nature Conservancy. Pudacuo National Park in China's Yunnan Province will serve as a model for a new Chinese national park system.

The EarthCares program builds on many environmental initiatives that Northwest has already taken. Through NWA's US$6 billion fleet modernization program, the airline has reduced its carbon emissions by 25% since the year 2000.

"The Northwest Airlines EarthCares program is just one way we are doing our part to protect the environment — which is a priority for the airline, our employees and our customers. We are proud to bring together The Nature Conservancy and our customers in support of these strategic environmental land and water conservation projects," said Doug Steenland, Northwest's president and CEO.

WWF Lauds Senators Inouye and Stevens for Leadership on Reauthorization of Coral Reef Conservation Act

WASHINGTON DC –Members of the world’s leading environmental organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, today hailed the leaders of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for approving S. 1580, the Coral Reef Conservation Reauthorization Act (CRCRA), and in particular including a new program with dedicated funding for international coral reef conservation.

In a joint letter sent today, WWF, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy and Wildlife Conservation Society expressed their appreciation to Committee Chair Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Ranking Member Ted Stevens (R-AL) for their leadership in gaining committee approval for the bill, which protects corals reefs in the U.S. and around the world.

The CRCA is a significant tool in conserving coral reefs, which are deteriorating at alarming rates around the world. Coral reefs are often referred to as the “rainforests of the sea” because they are vital to the health of oceans and critical to the continued existence of the world’s most important fisheries.

“With a new program on international coral reef conservation, this legislation will help establish the US as a clear leader globally, creating invaluable synergies with many efforts currently underway to improve coral reef conservation around the globe, including in the Coral Triangle Initiative recently endorsed by leaders at the summit for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation,” said WWF Government Relations Vice President Jason Patlis. “This is more than just a grants program. It requires the government to develop an overarching strategy to protect coral reefs overseas to ensure that funding is well spent. We applaud Chairman Inouye and Ranking Member Stevens for their support of this critically important legislation. ”

The Nature Conservancy and Finch Paper Announce Adirondack Woodlands Transaction

Keene Valley, NY — June 18, 2007 — The Nature Conservancy (“TNC”) and paper manufacturer Finch Paper Holdings LLC (“Finch Paper”) today announced that TNC has purchased all 161,000 acres of Finch’s forestland in the Adirondacks. The transaction includes an historic 20-year Working Forest Agreement that will ensure a fiber supply to the Glens Falls mill and continue to support the jobs associated with timber harvesting.

The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit conservation group that has been working locally in the Adirondacks for 36 years, purchased the 161,000-acre property for $110 million, or $683/acre. The purchase was financed in part through loans from the Open Space Conservancy, the land acquisition affiliate of the Open Space Institute, and from John Hancock Life Insurance Company. TNC will launch a major private fundraising campaign for this landmark purchase.

The land sale was made concurrently with the close of Finch Paper Holdings LLC’s acquisition of Finch, Pruyn & Co., Inc. Finch Paper Holdings LLC is owned by an investor group led by Atlas Holdings LLC (“Atlas Holdings”) and Blue Wolf Capital Management LLC (“Blue Wolf”). Richard Carota, previously CEO of Finch, Pruyn, is an investor in the new company and will continue as CEO of Finch Paper.

On the forestlands, TNC will take responsibility for local taxes, and much of the forests will continue to supply fiber to the Finch Paper mill, which employs approximately 850 people. This fall, TNC will renew the year-to-year recreational leases on the property for the upcoming year. In keeping with its conservation mission, TNC’s objectives are to preserve the property’s biological diversity while maintaining working forests and seeking to enhance public recreational opportunities.

“We came to know these lands when Finch, Pruyn contracted with the Adirondack Chapter in 2001 to conduct an extensive ecological inventory as part of the company’s ‘green forestry’ certification. We discovered extraordinary biological richness, inspiring TNC to step up and play the leading role in this property’s future,” said Michael Carr, Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy’s Adirondack Chapter, based in Keene Valley.

“The property is linked to the Adirondack economy and our way of life here. Over the next 12 - 18 months, we look forward to working with communities, recreational leaseholders, and other stakeholders to chart the course toward achieving our critical conservation objectives in ways that are compatible with sustainable forestry and responsible recreational uses,” Carr added.

“We’re extremely pleased to have reached an agreement that will continue the proud multi-use traditions of this land for years to come,” said Andrew Bursky, chairman of Atlas Holdings, which owns four paper mills and nine packaging plants. “Not only will the land remain as open space, it will continue to support our Glens Falls paper mill and provide jobs and recreational opportunities for the Adirondack economy.”

Adam Blumenthal, Managing General Partner of Blue Wolf Capital Management, said, “We are proud to have made the responsible sale of the forestland an integral part of this transaction. For many years, divesting forestland has been a strategy undertaken by most successful paper companies. We are pleased that today’s announcement provides for ongoing stewardship of the land with a focus on recreation and conservation while allowing Finch to focus on the successful, long-term management of its paper mill.”

Day to day management of the land will remain business as usual. Foresters will continue to supervise the harvest of timber in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable Forestry Initiative certifications. Recreational leaseholders will continue to hunt and fish. Sightseers will continue to enjoy the scenic views along the Blue Ridge Road and other travel corridors bordered by Finch lands.

Commenting on the financing and nature of the purchase, Henry Tepper, New York State Director of The Nature Conservancy, said, “This historic conservation opportunity came together very swiftly. We were so pleased when Atlas and Blue Wolf contacted us to gauge our interest in the land. The Conservancy quickly mustered all of its resources to acquire this important property. By extending loans with favorable terms to TNC, OSI and John Hancock provided critical pieces of the financing for what is now our largest land purchase ever in New York State.”

“We applaud TNC’s acquisition of the former Finch lands” said OSI President Joe Martens. “It represents a new era of conservation in the Adirondacks that will take into account local, regional and statewide needs.”...

“Finch, Pruyn has been an outstanding steward of this beautiful and bountiful land. We look forward to carrying on the company’s proud tradition of sustainable forest management while also preserving the property’s natural and scenic riches,” said Meredith Prime, Board Chair of The Nature Conservancy’s Adirondack Chapter.

John Hancock Life Insurance helped to facilitate both the land and business sales announced today. Hancock provided significant debt financing to The Nature Conservancy to facilitate the purchase of the woodlands and equity and debt financing to Finch Paper Holdings for the purchase of the manufacturing facility assets of Finch, Pruyn.

Ken Hines, team leader of the Paper and Forest Products team at Hancock, said, “We have been a lender to Finch, Pruyn since 2004 with a mortgage on these lands. This marks one of several conservation transactions we’ve done with The Nature Conservancy. We have been fortunate to be a partner with Atlas on its previous paper investments and are very pleased to be partners again at Finch Paper Holdings.”

570 Seventh Avenue, located in the heart of New York's fashionable Garment District, is a 20 story full-service building catering to both the fashion industry and professional services organizations. This property, on the southwest corner of 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, is strategically located at the crossroads of the world, the beautiful and dynamic Times Square District....

The building contains spaces ranging in size from approximately 800 square feet to full floors offering 8,250 rentable square feet. Our collection of first class tenants includes Andrew Marc, Louis Feraud International, The Nature Conservancy, and Fusion Public Relations, Inc.

No wonder there isn't much Upper Peninsula land left in the hands of the "little Yooper people"...

Another step has been completed that may bring hundreds of jobs back to the Western Upper Peninsula. Canadian-based Bitterroot Resources has been looking at bringing mining back to the Western Upper Peninsula for quite a few years. It was just last fall that the company did numerous core samples. Y-101 News has learned that just a few days ago Bitterroot Resources Ltd's drilling contractor completed 1,322 meters of core drilling in seven holes in the Upper Peninsula. The drilling program successfully tested five unconformity-hosted uranium targets.

Core logging and sampling will continue this month with analytical results not expected before late April. It was last November that the Michigan Natural Resources Commission, NRC met with representatives from the DNR, Bitterroot and several other significant stakeholders. They reached consensus on the final wording of the DNR's revised metallic minerals lease document.

The metallic minerals lease document has been updated following more than two years of extensive consultation with various stakeholders, who collectively represent all sides of the issues concerning the future of mineral exploration and development in Michigan.

"...Bitterroot has been involved with the U.P. since 1996 or before, and signed on as an option/joint-venture partner with Kennecott Exploration involving certain goodies found while exploring mineral leases claimed by a Yooper exploration service.

Bitterroot is also involved in a “Great Michigan Peninsula Joint Venture” with Cameco, a Saskatchewan based global giant. Cameco boasts of being the world’s largest uranium producer and claims it will dominate nuclear energy by producing uranium fuel.

The venture is a complex deal, said to slant in Cameco's favor, which covers an interest area encompassing 784 sq Upper Peninsula miles, of which Bitterroot has mineral right title to only 132. Cameco has the option to earn 65% of everything within the area of interest by spending $23.6 million over 18 years. The agreement is more detailed, but for expediency’s sake, we’ll forego the nitty-gritty.

In reality, Cameco is allowed to vest in various U.P. land units by spending $1 million to $10 million depending on the land unit. Through the deal made, it’s possible for Cameco to "sterilize" exploration on the entire package by focusing on one claim area where its vesting cost is only $1 million.

These low-cost units tend to be public lands within an interest area that Bitterroot didn’t have title to when the deal was signed. Because of this, Cameco has been most eager to focus exploration on public land for which applications have already been made, but has been somewhat held up because Michigan is “reviewing” its mineral leasing laws.

At present the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, Nature Conservancy, et al, are scrambling to convince the Michigan Supreme Court to reverse an Appeals’ Court decision that the State did not and does not have title to mineral rights on tax reverted land when mineral rights were and are severed from property rights; mineral rights are not taxable and cannot be seized for non-payment of property taxes.

Leases to resource exploration and extraction companies fuel the Natural Resource Trust Fund that, in turn, abets land grabbing, but it now appears the State may not own title to mineral rights on some of its public land.

According to a September 2, 2004 online “Kaiser-Bottom-Fishing” report written by market analyst John Kaiser, the then recent weeks of excitement over uranium was drawing attention to Bitterroot’s interest in the U. P., and it’s President and Director was none too happy about it. He’s concerned about land acquisition competition and publicity that would fire up the NIMBY (not in my back yard) bunch.

Much of what follows regarding Bitterroot can be attributed to Mr. Kaiser, but it’s supported by information found elsewhere.

Bitterroot is looking for uranium in the Jacobsville Basin, which covers most of the Western U. P., including the historic Menominee Co. winter deeryard area the MI-DNR is so eager to have.

Though few know it, radioactivity has been found in some Copper Country drinking water and for that reason the Western U. P. District Health Department recommends testing well water in areas east of the Keweenaw Fault, which runs from the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula down to the Wisconsin border. This includes portions of Ontonagon, Gogebic, Baraga, Houghton, and Keweenaw Counties, but particularly a line north of Jacobsville in Houghton and Keweenaw County where conservancies and land trusts have been very busy controlling land.

In 1996, Bitterroot gained access to a patchwork of claims in a portion of their “targeted area” from a group that could trace its origins back to the Civil War. By the late 1960’s an access road had been built into a rugged portion of the property near the Silver River in Houghton County’s Laird Township. Land in several of the township’s contiguous sections had been subdivided into a patchwork of many 10-acre parcels and a few larger ones, and surface rights had been sold. Bitterroot refers to this patchwork as “Voyageur Lands.” (The Silver River Reserve is a part of these "Voyageur Lands" ~ Cj)

Some land between the Voyageur Lands belongs to the State of Michigan and although prospecting permits can be granted for state owned land through an application process, the privately owned land presents a problem.

In his 2004 report, Kaiser claimed that Bitterroot’s president had already spent 10 years trying to sort out the land ownership situation because geophysical anomalies pay no attention to mineral title boundaries. Therefore, in order to gain access to the coveted resources, a great deal of secrecy and land acquisition cleverness is a must.

Simply put, Bitterroot targets what land it wants first and then sets about getting it without sounding an alarm, sort of like the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is now doing with their public land boundary review, and what the Conservancy is doing with their “conservation puzzle” all over the U.P.

Bitterroot has two wholly owned Michigan subsidiaries: Voyageur Land Corporation (1996) and Trans Superior Resources (1995), which purchased all Voyageur shares in 1997.

Trans Superior properties include 100% interest in mineral rights on 461 square miles of land extending from the Keweenaw Peninsula and White Pine, south to the Wisconsin border. This includes 204 square miles of Copper Range Lands and 257 square miles of Voyageur Lands.

It’s Kaiser’s contention that the Jacobsville Basin's potential to host high grade unconformity style uranium deposits hasn’t been proven yet, but should it be, Cameco will need Bitterroot's “land skills” to forge ahead with an aggressive land acquisition campaign. And, once that happens, the market will be beating a path to Bitterroot's door..."

Part 1 of my article (above) ended up here. Hawaii's Gov. Linda Lingle was expected to testify regarding her business, professional, personal and political relationships with Jennifer Granholm, among many others, including Ben Benson, listed at the link below. You can draw your own conclusions, but I smell some rather large land-grab facilitating rats in the Copper Country & Western U.P. No doubt they've been rewarded handsomely with pocket change and/or positions of influence:

Governor, State of Hawaii; former Mayor, County of Maui, Hawaii; Maui County Council member in 1980's; Chair, Hawaii Republican Party, 1999-2002; worked in Honolulu as a public information officer for the Teamsters and Hotel Workers Union; formerly married to Maui attorney, William Crockett....