If a man wanted to leave a legacy of land to remain forever in its natural state, then he could donate it to the Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org/), a charity that preserves donated nature land in exactly that way.
I’m indebted to a sharp reader who offered this suggestion for proposed parkland for Walworth County. I’ve mentioned the Nature Conservancy before, but sadly forgot the argument for that worthy charity when writing a post about someone who wants millions in public money, professedly to preserve the natural condition of his land. One is always made better by the knowledgeable suggestions of talented people – my thanks to a reader who helped me retrieve what I had carelessly dropped.
(See, about that parkland post from last week, Parkland at a Price of Millions: Bogus Philanthropy at Public Expense.)
A Nature Conservancy donation would preserve the land’s condition without hitting taxpayers for the cost of a private seller’s would-be legacy.
(It would otherwise be a public cost of about two-million dollars, from a seller who – by the account of Walworth County’s Central Services Director Kevin Brunner – actually wanted three million originally, a figure 50% higher than even the most generous appraisal number. So much for a genuine, charitable impulse.)
A Nature Conservancy donation in this matter (as for so many other donors who’ve done the same across America) would be a truly commendable gift to all Walworth County.
Now that would be the right way to do this!
Ha, a donation versus a cash payment. While a good suggestion, I have no reason to believe the landowner will forfeit his opportunity to gorge at the “taxpayer-funded” trough.