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July
11, 2003
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July
11, 2003
Coffeen-gate?
What's
Going on at the Sierra Club Foundation?
By DAVID ORR
Why are some Sierra Club Board members and Sierra
Club Foundation staff refusing to provide information to Florida
Chapter activists about the proposed transfer of a Florida nature
preserve owned by the Foundation to a new land trust that will
be controlled by adjacent landowners with no apparent connection
or accountability to the Club or the Foundation?
Club leaders may have violated Club policies
and procedures, and are refusing to answer questions posed by
chapter leaders about a questionable land deal on the rapidly
developing Northwest Florida coast.
The matter in question is the proposed
disposition of a property known as the Coffeen Nature Preserve
that is currently owned by Sierra Club Foundation. Club leaders,
and especially delegates of the Gulf Coast RCC (GCRCC) have attended
various Club functions at Coffeen over the years. Indeed, Coffeen
has a reputation in the Southeast as the Sierra Club's unofficial
romantic matchmaking resort. [The land has been the site of at
least one Sierra Club wedding, and is known as the meeting place
for other marriages of Club leaders.]
Club activists are questioning whether
some top members of Club management who are frequent visitors
to and users of this property may have conflicted relationships
with the Foundation and perhaps even with adjacent property owners
who may be positioned to gain control of the preserve from the
Foundation in the near future.
The Coffeen tract is located in a rapidly
developing stretch of Gulf Coast "real estate" bounded
on one side by a state park and on another by mega-mansions.
There is a high likelihood that one or more listed endangered
species are currently occupying the property. The Choctawhatchee
Beach Mouse, for example, is a critically endangered species
that likely inhabits the preserve and is the subject of a lawsuit
recently filed by the Sierra Club against the US Fish & Wildlife
Service.
The Foundation's land transfer proposal
is complicated and still shrouded in secrecy, but here is a quick
summary, based on my admittedly limited knowledge. [Additional
clarifying information is welcome.]
More than 200 acres of this environmentally
sensitive site was donated by Ms. Dorothy Coffeen to the Sierra
Club Foundation prior to her death some years ago. The donated
lands had covenants and deed restrictions that specify the limitation
on uses of the preserve she was creating. A key element of the
restriction was that the land is to be used for nature study
and preservation.
Dorothy Coffeen also bequeathed to the
Foundation her stock in an entity known as the "Four Mile
Village Corporation" which owned some additional adjacent
land. Ms. Coffeen directed that her stock and assets in the corporation
be "liquidated" and the proceeds be used by the Foundation.
Florida Chapter leaders have tried to learn what the Foundation
has done with the corporation's assets, but the Foundation has
refused all requests for this information.
Florida Chapter leaders have learned
that the donor's explicit wish--in her own handwriting--was that
the land was to be transferred to a conservation organization
that would continue to manage the tract for its intended uses
(nature study and preservation).
Blind trust in the
land trust?
The Foundation is now proposing to transfer
ownership of the land to a new land trust that has been proposed
to accept ownership from the Foundation of nature preserve lands.
"Insiders" who are knowledgeable about this process
have stated that there is to be nominal representation on the
land trust board of Sierra Club and/or Sierra Club Foundation
members. However there have been few verifiable facts released
that would confirm the level of assurance or control afforded
the Club or the Foundation on future management of the preserve.
The Foundation has refused requests from Florida Chapter leaders
about the specific terms of the proposed transfer and about the
purpose, structure, and goals of the land trust, or any plans
for future development or any restrictive covenants that may
be attached to the deed.
Unconfirmed reports have already surfaced
that the land trust plans to construct an interpretive nature
center.
A majority of the members of the Board
of the new land trust are reportedly owners of a number of adjacent
residential properties known as the Four Mile Village Property
Owners Association (not to be confused with Ms. Coffeen's Four
Mile Village Corporation). Some questions have arisen about the
role of this property owners association in constituting and
perhaps controlling the board of the proposed land trust. A number
of these adjacent owners have recently constructed mega-mansions.
The Florida Chapter recently passed a
resolution by an overwhelming vote, questioning key details of
Foundation's tentative agreement with the land trust. Reactions
to the chapter's resolution by certain Sierra Club Foundation
staff and Sierra Club board members has been swift and heated.
Rather than provide a reasoned response to the chapter's concerns,
the "insiders" have engaged in an aggressive stonewalling
campaign worthy of Richard Nixon.
About five years ago the GCRCC, without
explanation, asserted itself as the official Club arbiter on
issues surrounding disposition of the preserve and on related
matters of Club policy. No information has yet been offered to
indicate why or when or who among the "powers that be"
in upper Club management decided to bypass the chapter and hand
over all Club decision-making authority to the GCRCC. This move
was apparently made to ensure that the GCRCC, not the Florida
Chapter, would serve as the Sierra Club's official "representative"
to the Foundation on questions that might arise about the preserve's
disposition.
Several GCRCC delegates over the last
five years have also held prominent leadership positions in the
national Club (including at least one current national Board
member and a former national Board member). At least one past
GCRCC delegate is a member of the Sierra Club Foundation Board
of Trustees.
Keeping secrets?
Many of the questions I've cited recently
surfaced at the Board level as news of the Florida Chapter resolution
trickled out to Club activists in other parts of the US. Subsequent
events have revealed deep divisions in the Club's Board and a
vigorous effort by the Club President to censor discussion of
the matter by fellow Board members.
One Board member from California requested
that the Coffeen issue be placed on the agenda of the upcoming
July Board meeting. Surprisingly, the Club President and some
of the Coffeen "insiders" on the board reacted angrily
and tried to block repeated attempts by the questioning board
member to have some discussion at the Board level.
A provision in national Sierra Club bylaws
mandates that any issue must be considered by the full board
when five members request it. At least five board members have
since signed on to the request for discussion of the Coffeen
issue. It appears that the Club President admitted defeat this
week, and has reluctantly agreed to accept the issue on the Board's
July agenda.
This request for a place on the agenda
for Coffeen has resulted in repeated attacks by the Executive
Director of the Sierra Club Foundation against the Club Board
member who dared to request that the Coffeen controversy be discussed
at the Board meeting.
What role the GCRCC?
The GCRCC apparently continues to support
the transfer of the land to the land trust despite the expressed
concerns of the Florida Chapter. And it is not clear why the
GCRCC was given control over the Club's policy on Coffeen in
the first place. It should not have happened.
Under national Club policy, a conservation
issue that arises around a location that's entirely within the
boundaries of a single chapter is considered to be a matter for
the chapter to decide official Club policy or position on (see
the Policy on Policies). It would appear that the GCRCC as a
matter of Club policy has no authority to decide Club policy
on questions about the Coffeen Preserve--especially over the
Florida Chapter's opposition.
The GCRCC seems to be acting out of turn
not only from the standpoint of internal Club decision-making
process but also because the unanswered questions raised by Florida
Chapter activists suggest that the transfer may violate the express
intent of the donor of the Coffeen Preserve. The GCRCC should
be supporting the Florida Chapter in seeking answers to the important
questions that would enlighten us all as to the details and terms
of the proposed land transfer, the makeup of the land trust board,
bylaws of the land trust, and other matters.
The GCRCC's vote was, according to Florida
Chapter activists, not to endorse the Florida resolution. However
the Foundation and some Club Board members are apparently interpreting
the GCRCC vote as overturning the Florida Resolution. These longtime
Club leaders don't seem to understand that this issue was not
within GCRCC's jurisdiction in the first place.
It is not clear why the Foundation has
chosen to ignore the Florida Chapter's objections nor is it clear
why the GCRCC believes it has any authority to assert itself
as the Club's appropriate policy body.
The Foundation proposes to transfer ownership
of this tract--not sell it--to the land trust, but the Foundation
has offered no assurance that the land trust board would not
violate the conservation easements in the future, nor has there
been assurance that the board would be required to manage the
tract in a manner appropriate for such environmentally sensitive
lands.
The Foundation has stated they will put
conservation easments on the property, so theoretically they
should not be able to develop it. However, when Florida Chapter
activists asked that they give the easements to an outside conservation
organization, that would be able to enforce them, the Foundation
refused.
No one disputes that the Foundation has
legal control over the property nor is it in dispute that the
Sierra Club may only advise the Foundation Board of Trustees
on disposition of the tract. However this controversy raises
a suite of questions about whether proper Club process was followed
in determining what specific advice the Club should give the
Foundation, and whether the Foundation is pursuing disposition
of the property in accordance with the donor's intent. There
are questions about the apparent secrecy that surrounds the process
and the aggressive attempts by Club management to obstruct key
Club leaders from obtaining information and answers to important
questions.
The Coffeen Preserve has been a regular
and frequent meeting place for the GCRCC in recent years. Club
activists presumably would want to ensure maximum protection
for this sensitive locale. No one I've talked with can understand
why the Club Board President and Foundation staff have actively
shunned input from the Florida Chapter and rebuked the Club Board
member who asked questions on behalf of the Chapter.
What's the rush to unload the land? The
Sierra Club would be threatening a lawsuit against the feds if
this were public land that was going to be transferred to private
hands without full disclosure and involvement in the process
by local Sierra Club activists. It doesn't make sense that top
Club officials would stifle internal discussion and try to ram
this transfer through when serious questions have been raised
by local activists.
We need some answers!
David Orr
is a long-time environmental organizer. He lives in Knoxville,
Tennessee and can be reached at: DavidOrr@aol.com
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