Recent Comments
Re: “The Triangle Land Conservancy's deep cuts”
I do not understand why so many readers think TLC is acting in such a non-transparent way. TLC may not have devoted enough attention to communicating with donors, but that doesn't mean anyone at TLC had any desire to conceal their plans or activities. One reporter accuses them of being secretive and everyone just believes it? I don't think we can really know what transpired between that reporter and anyone at TLC.
If you've read TLC's response to the Indy article, you know that Kevin Brice has offered to answer all questions submitted over the next few days in a Q&A format. And their forest management policy is on their web page.
At TLC's Green Jamboree three or four years ago, Jerry Gaertner led a tour of the forestry operations at Irvin Farm. TLC invited everyone interested to go on this tour, and Jerry was completely open about the operation.
I've been doing volunteer labor for TLC for several years now, have heard many discussions of TLC's plans for Irvin, White Pines, and Horton Grove, and have never noticed even a hint of secrecy.
So why haven't they made the forestry plans that their hired foresters wrote publicly available? I don't know, but I do have a guess. The forestry plans are the recommendations of the foresters TLC hired to develop them, and that doesn't mean TLC is going to do everything in the plans. There is great potential for the public to seize upon the forestry plan as a specification of what's about to happen, and to cause an uproar over something that was never really on the horizon. But if anyone wants to know for sure why they have chosen not to publish the forestry plans for all to see, why don't you submit the question for Kevin's Q&A?
Re: “The Triangle Land Conservancy's deep cuts”
In case anyone really believes that Kevin Brice has "no more credentials than a conversation with a biologist and some volunteer work one time," you can read about why he was selected for the job in the article at http://www.triangleland.org/about/bricehir…. I, for one, am very glad that the guy who heads up my local land trust knows something about business and finance.
Re: “The Triangle Land Conservancy's deep cuts”
Laura - Jon did NOT say that the clear-cutting at Horton Grove was to reclaim an agricultural field. Read his posting again. He was not confused. His posting was excellent. I hope the Indy will have the integrity to print both that and Kevin's full response - not just his summary.
And a note to everyone who's asking to see TLC's forest management plans -- If you really want to learn what TLC is doing and planning at a site, I think the stewardship plan is the main document you'd want to see. Secondarily perhaps the forest management plan, but looking only at the forest management plan would certainly give you a skewed view. See Kevin's statement if you're unclear about the distinction between these two documents.
Re: “Why Aqua NC customers are furious about their service”
When Aqua took over management of the community wells in my Orange County neighborhood, the water quality and service both improved substantially over what they had been when the developer was handling (or, more often, failing to handle) our water.