Don Bently donates $750,000
to protect wildlife habitat and agricultural heritage
along carson river
Kirman Field conservation easement allows for
protection of floodplain, continued agricultural operations, and
creation of new recreational opportunities
Gardnerville, Nevada—August 20, 2004
The Nature Conservancy announced today that Don Bently has donated $750,000 in support of its Carson River Project by creating a project endowment fund and agreeing to place a conservation easement over the Kirman Field.
The Conservancy is acquiring a conservation easement over 1127 acres of the Kirman Field, a private parcel in the Carson Valley owned by Bently. The easement allows for continued grazing on portions of the property while new strategies are implemented to protect habitat for birds, fish and wildlife. Public access will be created along a significant stretch of the property’s river frontage.
Located between Cradlebaugh Bridge and the Carson City County line, Kirman Field encompasses four miles of the Carson River and contains extensive willow thickets, which provide critical breeding bird habitat but are becoming increasingly rare along western Nevada’s desert rivers.
According to Laura Crane, The Nature Conservancy’s Carson River Project Director, “Mr. Bently has shown great insight in how to leave a true legacy by working with us to craft a conservation easement specific to the needs of the Carson Valley.”
A conservation easement is a binding, legal agreement in which a landowner retains private ownership while voluntarily conveying certain, specifically identified rights to another entity, in this case The Nature Conservancy. The conservation easement becomes a recorded restriction in the property deed that runs in perpetuity and applies to all subsequent owners of the property.
Bently is donating $500,000 of the conservation easement’s $2 million appraised value to the Conservancy, and paying for all transaction costs. The Conservancy will purchase the Kirman Field easement for $1,500,000 using public funds available through the Nevada Division of Wildlife (NDOW), which has authorized $750,000 of Question 1 funds for the purchase and the Nevada Division of State Lands, which has recommended contributing an additional $750,000 toward the project.
In 2002, Nevada voters passed Question 1: The Nevada Clean Water, Parks and Wildlife Bond, generating $200 million in support of natural and cultural resources across the state.
The Division of State Lands funds require a 50% match, which will be met through Bently’s donation toward the conservation easement as well as an additional $250,000 cash donation to create an endowment fund for the Conservancy’s Carson River Project.
The Conservancy has accepted Bently’s challenge to raise another $250,000 over the next three years for the endowment fund.
“Our partnership with Mr. Bently is a wonderful example of how conservation can be done in the Carson Valley,” said Ame Hellman, state director for The Conservancy’s Nevada Chapter and a ten-year resident of the Carson Valley. “Public and private partners have come together to safeguard important natural resources while ensuring continued economic opportunities for local residents and compatible recreational opportunities for the public.”
Bently agreed, adding that the “opportunity to combine investments and leverage public and private dollars for the common good is very, very appealing.”
Terms of the Kirman Field conservation easement allow for public access on a portion of the property adjoining the Carson River, pending approval of a recreational management plan. Conservancy staff is working closely with the Nevada Division of State Lands, NDOW, Douglas County, and the Carson Valley Trails Association to develop recreational opportunities such as hiking, bird watching, rafting and fishing. Bently is contributing a road easement and a parking lot easement to facilitate access for public recreational use.
Carson City and the Nevada Division of Forestry have also expressed interest in partnering with the Conservancy to expand recreational activities and assist with evaluating the various types of vegetation on the property that create distinct habitats.
Hellman says she hopes the Kirman Field conservation easement will lead to other joint projects with Bently.
“As the largest private landowner in the Carson Valley, Mr. Bently holds tremendous influence over the fate of the Carson River and its floodplain. It is incredibly heartening that this man, who founded one of Nevada's largest and most successful manufacturing companies—which employed 2,100 people worldwide and generated annual sales in excess of $250 million—is now turning his genius for invention, innovation, and business to issues of sustainability here at home.”
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