The Summertree Institute

i volunteer as a director on the morongo basin conservation assn, the oldest conservation voice in the morongo basin. for the past 5 years, mbca has worked closely with the summertree insitute and our experience is directly contrary to mr. wilbur's comments.

summertree institute has earned a stellar reputation of public outreach and has passed government and corporate scrutiny. the non-profit is well-respected by agencies, businesses, and other non-profits and their excellent performance continues to foster long-term, successful partnerships as as testimony of their credibility.

mr. wilbur's offers unspecific, vague inuendos of wrongdoing that on the information highway might cloud confidence in this organization. i urge the public to remember that actions speak louder than words and examine the track record of summertree before taking mr. wilbur's smear as valuable data.

I live in the Morongo Basin and am actively working to protect the desert southwest and particularly the Mojave Desert from the aggressive and ill-informed renewable energy developments. The SummerTree Institute and its ubiquitous influence continually show up. This organization is everywhere and most effective in its efforts to educate the public and raise the level of understanding on critical desert issues: water conservation, desert ecology, native plants and their advantages, responsible land use and responsibly developing the finest quality of live as a desert resident and steward. Should you ever have an opportunity to attend one of the many lectures, seminars, desert tours, offered by the Institute, do it! And if you volunteer anywhere in the Morongo Basin in conservation, natural history, water awareness, or just the protection of our quality of life in the Mojave, you are being served by the SummerTree Institute. I offer here, my strongest endorsement.

I have been a significant and vigilant donor to this organization’s worthy mission, as well as an advisor to the board and its Executive Director since its inception, and can assure anyone their performance has been attentively monitored over the years, with a spotless record of integrity I challenge anyone to examine.

This “Wilber” character posing as a “professional with expertise in the field” has no legitimacy reviewing the SummerTree Institute, much less being capable of constructing a proper indictment. His (or her) grammatically-challenged assertions are absurd, specious and without merit.

It might better serve GuideStar’s own mission if reviews were vetted more carefully, since the dismissive ravings of such crackpots—in this case, disgruntled family members with an obvious grudge implicit in the burden of their review—have no bearing on the facts.

This organization suspiciously appears to be a marketing and fundraising front for other associated 'for profit' business endeavors and individual interests not related to its 'non-profit' status.
The activities, board members and 'Institute' directors need to be more closely investigated and their suspicious motives more clearly defined, unveiled and exposed.
When this process comes to its conclusion, it will be clear that this organization is not playing by the guidelines and rules necessary for its existence to be justified and legal.