My experience with ACT is so profoundly disturbing and so insanely detrimental to my life that I cannot believe that it is real as it feels like I am trapped in a horrible nightmare and I can’t find anyone to help me.
No human being should ever have to endure such incredible division, discrimination and dehumanization from a conservation trust and also a conservation cemetery. It is not normal. My experience is incredible gender-based violence and discrimination as well as discrimination for autism. I have been asking on repeat to please engage in dialogue, problem solve and build peace for so many years now, but instead, I have been ignored, dismissed, silenced, smeared, slandered, blocked, excluded, repeatedly traumatized by law enforcement and in the legal system. They have paid a female attorney whose father was a judge to repeatedly attack, berate and belittle me in court, which is gender-based violence and profoundly disturbing. She knows nothing about me and my property and she could.care less that I have autism; she has repeatedly attacked me verbally for things she knows nothing about. They have told numerous outright lies, including that ACT met with me to listen to my grievances, which is a lie. Not one single person has ever taken the time to speak with me before throwing me under the bus in the legal system. I never deserved this. I have always had legitimate purpose as a female landowner doing my best on my own. I am also not willful or malicious; I have autism. This nightmare has been happening ever since I volunteered here and became a landowner shortly thereafter. It has been happening ever since they received funding for their Women in the Woods Program and since they have been professing to support women. This is also a falsehood as I have been suffering horrible retaliation the past 8 years, and not just from one individual but from numerous people and pretty much this whole organization- a nonprofit conservation trust.. It has been so detrimental to my life, mind, heart, spirit and soul. Every time I reach out for help, it is compiled and used against me in retaliation and to traumatize even more. I really feel that I need help in this David v Goliath situation.
I can’t even go to Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery if anyone I know dies. I can’t go anywhere near ACT due to a civil injunction because of the former Land Stewardship Director who moved across country over 2 years ago. Why am I still blocked and excluded for a man who moved? It was always based upon lies and exaggerations in order to silence me. I do not understand how literally everyone can turn a blind eye to this abusive situation. I am being treated worse than an animal. The things they have said to me in court are highly abusive and beyond dehumanizing. There is a very serious problem here at ACT for this to be perpetuated for so long and no one is helping me. Instead, there has been incredible cover-up and I now even have some documentation of the extent as it runs very deep and is again profoundly disturbing and unsettling.
Policies and procedures desperately need to change to protect vulnerable individuals here. If you are planning on doing an internship or volunteering here, be forewarned that if you have any problems, you will be turned into the problem by this whole entire organization and pretty much the whole community since ACT is so popular. They do many good things and many nice people work here but there is also a very serious problem here.
Also, there really needs to be term limits for board members as this is the heart of the problem in addition to the policies and procedures. Some board members have served on the board for a decade or more and they would do anything to protect the reputation at ACT, even if it means throwing an autistic female landowner under the bus which has happened to me. This is exactly how and why we have the Me, Too movement- because of bylaws that value an organization over individuals and human beings in our community.
Alachua Conservation Trust is an accredited land trust. Accreditation means Alachua Conservation Trust meets national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. Alachua Conservation Trust has demonstrated to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission its commitment to excellence. Accredited land trusts meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. These land trusts demonstrate their commitment to excellence by adopting Land Trust Standards and Practices, the ethical and technical guidelines for the responsible operation of a land trust, and meeting the accreditation requirements drawn from them. Learn More: http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org/about.
Review from Guidestar
Recognized for its collaborative and innovative efforts
The Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT), a small Florida land trust that took a chance and advocated successfully for a county tax bond referendum, was selected by the Land Trust Alliance from among more than 1,700 land trusts across the country to receive its National Land Trust Excellence Award. The award was presented at Rally 2013: The National Land Conservation Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, on September 17, 2013.
“Alachua Conservation Trust is honored to be chosen to receive this award. It is a reflection of the years of dedication, creativeness and perseverance of our talented staff, board members, volunteers, partners and generous supporters that allow us to carry out our mission of protecting Florida's natural and scenic places each day. ACT has benefited tremendously from the leadership, energy and ingenuity of its past executive directors Robert ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson and Lauren Day,” said Tom Kay, executive director.
ACT, an accredited land trust, is being recognized for its collaborative and innovative efforts in policy and creative funding as well as its broad education and outreach initiatives. Since 1988, ACT has helped to preserve more than 50,000 acres of land in North Central Florida. ACT’s success in spearheading the Alachua County Forever property tax bond referendum enabled it to acquire over 18,000 acres of natural areas. ACT operates four public preserves, conducts dozens of environmental education classes annually and operates Prairie Creek Lodge for art, cultural and alternative health education. ACT continues to build a family of organizations and programs to expand the reach of its conservation mission in the community.
ACT’s family of organizations and programs includes Conservation Burial, Inc., Tuscawilla Learning Center, Sandhill Stage, Forage Farm, Springs Eternal and Historic Haile Homestead, Inc. The efforts of its partners have expanded ACT’s reach in the community, and ACT is grateful for all the enthusiasm, cooperation and passion of its partners. Together the organizations complement one another’s missions and are committed not only to conserving more of Florida’s special places, but also to building a better community along the way.
When presenting the award, Michael Dowling, Land Trust Alliance chairman of the board, said “Today’s tough national political climate is having consequences on the ground throughout America and, in response, we are seeing some innovative and amazing initiatives. This year’s National Land Trust Excellence Award celebrates the work of this small but effective land trust in central Florida.”
About Alachua Conservation Trust
In Florida, ACT is one of only two local land trusts that are in the top 50 nationwide in both acres and value of lands protected. In 2009 they became accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. ACT has set the curve in diversity of projects – from easements, to historic preservation, to outright acquisitions, to environmental education. ACT has partnered with many conservation organizations along the way, including ongoing projects with The Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land, The Conservation Fund, Putnam Land Conservancy and the Conservation Trust for Florida.
ACT has become the institution that most clearly projects this community's steadfast support of north Florida's natural beauty and rich heritage, on which we all agree is a legacy we must take responsibility for passing on to future generations. Learn more »
About The Land Trust Alliance
The Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works in three ways to save the places people love. First, we increase the pace of conservation, so more land and natural resources get protected. Second, we enhance the quality of conservation, so the most important lands get protected using the best practices in the business. And third, we ensure the permanence of conservation by creating the laws and resources needed to defend protected land over time. The Land Trust Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and has several regional offices.
Contact: Rob Aldrich, Director of Communications
202-800-2225 | raldrich@lta.org
Photos available; email pressroom@lta.org
Review from Guidestar