The Marin Agricultural Land Trust secured a key vote of confidence last month with the renewal of its accreditation by a national commission. The Land Trust Accreditation Commission gave MALT the seal of approval for the third time after first recognizing its work in 2010. Trusts can do their work without accreditation, but MALT sees the national recognition, which will guarantee the trust’s good standing for five more years, as vital to sustaining the trust of donors and local government.
“MALT was the first agricultural conservation organization in the country, and it’s important that we continue to meet those standards and be a model for other organizations,” said Jennifer Carlin, the trust’s interim executive director. “The third-party perspective is really important so that the public has confidence in how we manage our finances, making sure we’re conducting ourselves ethically, practicing good governance and being good stewards of the land.”
To meet the commission’s standards for re-accreditation, MALT had to submit a list of all farmland preservation easements it purchased during the last five years, financial information and communications with donors. The commission also reviewed MALT’s policies and bylaws, and public comments for and against the trust, which it said are confidential.
“Accredited land trusts have demonstrated fiscal accountability, strong organizational leadership, sound transactions and lasting stewardship of the lands they conserve,” said Catherine Rawson, chair of the accreditation commission.
MALT has struggled to fortify its public image since coming under fire over conflicts of interest in 2020, and critics still see the trust as an insiders’ club that uses the vague threat of development to funnel taxpayer money into the pockets of private landowners. Since the passage of the Measure A sales tax, most of MALT’s easement purchases have been matched with county funds, but Marin County Parks will cut its allocation for those acquisitions in half when the measure returns to the June ballot. The move was a response to public input that leaned against easement spending.
Many opponents of MALT’s taxpayer funding cited the fact that in 2016, MALT obtained two appraisals for the Dolcini-Beltrametti Ranch, partially owned by board member Sam Dolcini, but only told the county about the higher estimate when applying for a $830,000 matching Measure A grant. The trust returned the money at the county’s request; executive director Jamison Watts and director of conservation Jeff Stump resigned soon after. A North Bay Bohemian/Pacific Sun investigation later found that over the years, millions in MALT easement spending had benefited board members or their families.
MALT denied wrongdoing, and three legal bodies declined to investigate claims that the trust artificially inflated appraisals. But in 2019, MALT amended its conflict-of-interest policy to bar the purchase of easements from the immediate family of board members. Extended family members, former MALT staff and former board members can still sell easements to the trust.
“MALT has definitely taken an introspective look into its practices regarding things that have happened in the last few years,” Ms. Carlin said. “We had already been following best practices around recusals of board members from conversations having to do with easement transactions with members of their family, but we tightened it up so that we don’t do transactions during the board members’ terms of service.”
The new policy helped the trust meet the commission’s updated standards for accreditation. “A land trust needs to show it appropriately managed any transactions with insiders so there is no private inurement,” Ms. Rawson said. “Transactions include when a land trust accepts donations of or purchases land or conservation easements from an insider or enforces or amends a conservation easement on a property owned by an insider.”
Since its last accreditation, MALT also tightened its requirements for helping potential landowners buy a property. Until last year, the trust’s policy had allowed it to help facilitate the purchase of a ranch by buying an easement from a potential buyer. Ross resident Kenneth Slayen had been hoping to secure a MALT easement to help buy the Dolcini-Beltrametti Ranch in 2015. The trust declined, later buying an easement from the Dolcini family on the same property, and Mr. Slayen’s subsequent accusations of impropriety eventually led the county to ask MALT to return its easement subsidy.
The trust’s new policy specifies that easements can only go to current landowners or prospective buyers who are already in contract.
MALT has also been shaken by staff turnover that continued after Mr. Watts and Mr. Stump resigned. Six job openings are now listed on its website, including for executive director, director of operations and senior land acquisition specialist.
The most recent executive, Thane Kreiner, resigned in January after less than a year in the job, during which he used the title “C.E.O.” His departure came a few months after conservation director Kathryn Lyddan left the trust.