Governor Perdue Appoints Members to Georgia Land Conservation Partnership

Atlanta - Charged with directing Georgia's first comprehensive, statewide land conservation plan, Governor Sonny Perdue today appointed members to the Advisory Council of the Georgia Land Conservation Partnership (partnership).  The Council was created by Executive Order on December 30, 2003. 

"Growing up on a farm in rural Georgia, I learned early on the most basic principles of stewardship.  I learned them from my father and from the land itself," said Governor Sonny Perdue.  "And that most basic lesson was simply this:  If you take care of the land, the land will take care of you. That is the fundamental idea behind the Georgia Land Conservation Partnership."

The comprehensive land conservation plan will summarize the need for land conservation, describe and identify the most vulnerable and valuable areas for protection, establish goals for land conservation, and develop and describe strategies for land protection.  Included in the plan will be specific strategies for statewide conservation, community greenspace programs, and state, regional, and local partnerships with private individuals, corporations, foundations, land trusts, and conservation organizations.  The Council will make its report and recommendations to the Governor by August 31, 2004.

The Council will also develop a broad policy plan for land conservation to protect water, air quality, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, historic and scenic resources, outdoor recreational opportunities and urban amenities; land that connects isolated blocks of wildlife habitat; and conservation lands that are accessible by the public and surrounded by neighborhoods and communities.

The Department of Natural Resources will provide staff support and will prepare the land conservation plan.

The newly appointed members to the advisory council are as follows:

Clay Long, Atlanta, Chairman of the Advisory Council, Business Representative - Long is Chairman of the law firm of McKenna Long & Aldridge, where his practice focuses on general business and corporate matters.  He also serves as Chairman of Georgia's Community Greenspace Commission.  Long has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of MARTA, President of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Chairman of the Board of the Georgia Conservancy, and Chairman of the Board of the Jekyll Island Foundation.  He has served as director of the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation, Central Atlanta Progress, and the Jekyll Island Authority, and was a member of Governor Miller's Commission on Economy in State Government.  He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and was the first recipient of the Atlanta Bar Association's Leadership Award. 

Robert Barr, 55, Carrollton, Local Government Representative (County) - Barr is currently Chairman of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners.  He has also served with the Association of County Commissioners.  He is Vice-Chairman of the Institute of Georgia Environmental Leadership Board, the West Georgia Regional Water Authority, and the West Area Regional Radio System.

Ralph Callaway, 44, Columbus , Department of Natural Resources Board Representative - Callaway is Senior Vice President of Administration of Callaway Gardens and currently serves on the Board of Natural Resources.  Callaway is also active with the Forest Legacy Program, which is a federal program to protect privately owned working forestlands that are also environmentally sensitive.  He and his wife, Camilla, have three children.

Deke Copenhaver, 36, Augusta, Land Trust Representative - Copenhaver is currently director of the Central Savannah River Land Trust.  He has served with the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area, the Augusta State University Foundation, the Augusta Museum of History, the Family Y of Metro Augusta, the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation, the Kiwanis Club, and Leadership Georgia's Class of 2004.  He is married to Malisa.

Cader Cox, 54, Camilla, Agriculture Representative - Cox is currently the President of Riverview Plantation.  He and his wife, Martha, have three children.

Bradley Currey, 73, Atlanta , Land Trust Representative - Currey is a retired Chairman and CEO of the Rock-Tenn Company and is a Founding Trustee of the Mountain Conservation Trust. During his 24 years with Rock-Tenn Company, he helped conserve over 1 million tons of waste paper a year, contributed to pollution prevention, conservation, and the reduction of by-product waste.  He has four children. 

Linda Eva ns, 48, Rockdale County , Parks and Recreation Representative - Evans is the current president of the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association.  She is the Director of Rockdale County Parks and Recreation and has been involved in local recreation and greenspace protection issues.

Laurie Fowler, 43, Athens , Academic Representative - Fowler is the Director of Public Service and Outreach at the Institute of Ecology and the Co-Director of the Center for River Basin Science and Policy. She is an environmental land use attorney, specializing in water resources and greenspace protection issues.  Fowler and her husband, Tim Johnson, have three children.

Robert Fowler, 65, Covington , Conservation Representative - Fowler is the retired Chairman of Main Street Banks, and still serves as a Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee.  He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Georgia Wildlife Federation and as Chairman for the Arnold Fund, which concentrates on saving Covington/Newton County from urban sprawl.  He and his wife, Mary, have one child.

Joe Hopkins, 51, Folkston, Department of Community Affairs Board Representative - Hopkins is currently President of Toledo Manufacturing Company.  He and his wife, Julie, have two children.

Pierre Howard, 60, Atlanta , Citizenry Representative - Howard served as the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Georgia.  He is a founding partner of Insider Advantage and is also affiliated with the University of Georgia Institute of Ecology, which focuses on issues of river basin protection.  He and his wife, Nancy, have two children.

Jan Jones, 45, Alpharetta, Georgia Legislature Representative (House) - Jones represents District 38 in the Georgia House of Representatives.  As a mother and native Georgian, Jones has focused on quality of life issues to ensure that future generations will have an opportunity to appreciate Georgia's rich natural assets.  Jones and her husband, Kalin, have four children.

Cecil Pruett, 65, Canton, Local Government Representative (Municipal) - Pruett is the Mayor of Canton, where local greenspace protection has been a priority.  He and his wife, Myrna, have two children.

Monte Simpson, 48, Phenix City , Forestry Representative - Simpson is currently Public Affairs Manager at Fiber Supply and Wood Products, MeadWestvaco, Coated Board Division.  Simpson's experience includes 25 years of operational forestland management and 8 years of dealing with the public on critical forest issues.  He has three children.

Wade Shealy, 48, Atlanta , Coastal Representative - Shealy is a managing member of Hampton Island Preservation LLC.  He and his wife, Joy, have one child.

Ben Slade, 66, St. Simons Island , Conservation and Land Trust Representative - Slade is CEO of Slade-Hancock Insurance Agency of Brunswick and has served as founding chairman of the St. Simons Land Trust, which started in 1999.  He and his wife, Sylvia, have four children.

Joyce Stevens, 58, Good Hope, Historic Preservation Representative - Stevens is currently owner of an art gallery.  She has served on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Board and Executive Committee for the past 10 years.  She and her husband, John, have two children.

Ross Tolleson, 47, Perry, Georgia Legislature Representative (Senate) - Tolleson represents District 18 in the Georgia Senate. Tolleson serves as Vice Chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee and is a member of Economic Development and Tourism, Retirement, Public Safety and Homeland Security, and Reapportionment and Redistricting committees.  Tolleson and his wife, Sally, have three children.

Tom Williams, 47, Atlanta , Developers Representative - Williams is currently Vice President of Operations for Capital Resources and Properties and Vice Chairman of the Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance.  He has two children.

Text of the Executive Order

WHEREAS:     The State of Georgia is rich in natural assets that make it a desirable place for people to live, work and play; and

WHEREAS:     Georgia's population is the fourth fastest growing in the nation, rapidly converting wildlife habitat, farms and woodlands into suburbs and cities; and

WHEREAS:     Georgia ranks only twelfth among sixteen southeastern states in the percentage of land and water that is publicly owned; and

WHEREAS:     Georgia must protect more of its natural assets, in order to preserve its quality of life and maintain its economic competitiveness; and

WHEREAS:     The independent efforts of the State, local governments and private parties to conserve Georgia's land and water resources have thus far been insufficient to protect our important natural resources and to ensure the State's long-term economic competitiveness; and

WHEREAS:     Georgia today has an unparalleled opportunity to create a public-private partnership for land conservation that will preserve Georgia as an attractive place to live, protect our natural resources, and increase the State's economic competitiveness; and

WHEREAS:     The Georgia Land Conservation Partnership shall consist of (1) state acquisition of large, strategic parcels of land, including fee or less than fee interests; (2) state grants to counties and cities for greenspace acquisition and protection; and (3) state support and incentives to increase land conservation by private landowners, land trusts, and philanthropic organizations;       

NOW, THEREFORE, BY VIRTUE OF THE POWER VESTED IN ME AS GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

The Governor's Advisory Council for the Georgia Land Conservation Partnership is hereby created, whose purposes shall be to oversee the development of the state's first comprehensive, statewide land conservation plan, to ensure that all interested parties have full opportunity for involvement and input into the State's first comprehensive land conservation plan, and to advise the Governor concerning the implementation of the plan;

BE IT FURTHER ORDERED THAT:

The Council shall develop a broad policy plan for land conservation on a statewide basis to protect (1) water quality, air quality, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, historic and scenic resources, outdoor recreational opportunities and urban amenities; (2) land that connects isolated blocks of wildlife habitat; and (3) conservation lands that are accessible by the public and surrounded by neighborhoods and communities; and

BE IT FURTHER ORDERED THAT:

The Department of Natural Resources shall provide staff support to the Council and shall prepare the Land Conservation Partnership Plan, coordinating as needed with other agencies of state government, state authorities, units of local government, and private organizations and individuals that have an interest in land conservation in Georgia.

BE IT FURTHER ORDERED THAT:

The comprehensive land conservation plan shall summarize the need for land conservation, describe and identify the most vulnerable and valuable areas for protection, establish goals for land conservation, and develop and describe strategies for land protection

BE IT FURTHER ORDERED THAT:

The Council shall make its report and recommendations to the Governor by August 31, 2004.

SO ORDERED THIS 30th DAY OF DECEMBER, 2003.

Signed:  Sonny Perdue
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GOVERNOR