Members Energize a New CLF Century.

• Author: Banerji, Chitrita
• Position: Conservation Law Foundation - Brief Article

Are we ahead of the times or behind the times? A self-analytical query suitable for the first Annual Meeting of the millennium was raised by CLF Chairman Charles C. Cabot, Jr., in his welcoming address to members and staff on May 3. Assembled at the Boston Exchange Conference Center, the group could enjoy the shimmering sunlight over Boston Harbor and distant views of East Boston and Logan Airport. But as if to remind them that the world is not just about human beings and their doings, a lone pigeon fluttered around the wooded framework of the skylight overhead. The harbor, said Cabot, was a reminder of what could be accomplished by passionate and dedicated environmental activists whose thinking was ahead of the times. CLF's 1983 lawsuit had led to the cleanup of the harbor and turned it from a polluted embarrassment to a national jewel.

CLF's Massachusetts Advocacy Center Director Stephanie Pollack spoke at the meeting about the issues surrounding the development of the South Boston Seaport. As competing plans are presented for approval, CLF is interested in making sure that five environmental values are taken into consideration in the decision-making process--environmental democracy, the Public Trust Doctrine, public access to the harbor, preservation of open space, and public transportation options. As New England's oldest environmental watchdog, CLF is prepared to sue if these values are disregarded, but we hope to achieve our ends through negotiations and discussions about how to make a city for the new century.

The Annual Meeting also provided the venue for the presentation of two awards. John Davenport received the Volunteer of the Year Award. As Douglas Foy pointed out, Davenport, formerly the associate general counsel at Liberty Financial, had logged an amazing 2,000 hours, working with CLF Services. The John Chafee Excellence in Environmental Affairs Award was created last year by CLF "in recognition of the late Senator Chafee's outstanding environmental leadership of the nation and the world." This year, the senator's eldest son Lincoln Chafee reminded the audience that his father believed in Theodore Roosevelt's precept of "leaving this land a better one than it was for us."

This year's recipient of the award was George Masters Woodwell, a founder and currently president and director of the Woods Hole Research Center in Woods Hole, Mass. In presenting him with the award, long-term friend and colleague John Teal, who is also the...