2009 Conservationist of the Year

For Immediate Release, sent 9/28/09
Contact: Stephen Slade, Deputy Director
(831) 429-6116

Bill Locke-Paddon Conservationist of the Year
Land Trust Honors "Catalyst" for Pajaro Valley Protection

On Sunday, the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County gave its 2009 Conservationist of the Year Award to attorney Bill Locke-Paddon.  The award was given in recognition of Locke-Paddon's role in initiating the protection Pajaro Valley farmland. 

The award was presented at the Land Trust's Annual Celebration by Land Trust Board Member Lloyd Williams.  Williams told the crowd of 300 that Locke-Paddon approached him in 2004 about forever protecting the farmlands once owned by the Borina family.  Locke-Paddon is the President of the Borina Foundation.  "I thought it was a fitting way to honor the family's farming tradition," he said, “but it would not have happened without the consent and participation by numerous others, starting with my co-director of the Borina Foundation, Sheila Burke.”   

The protection of over 500 acres mostly owned by the Borina Foundation was the first protection of prime farmland in the Pajaro Valley. One important property is co-owned by the Reiter Foundations who agreed to join with Borina in protecting the land.

"He blazed the trail," said Williams.  Williams said that in the past three years the Land Trust has negotiated similar easements with two other Pajaro Valley landowners and is talking with several more.  "Bill had the vision and the courage to initiate the process and the persistence to successfully persuade the many individuals and entities required to achieve protection ," Williams said.

Locke-Paddon said he remembered trips with his parents through San Jose.  "We passed through miles and miles of orchards then, " he said.  "That same trip today passes through miles and miles of houses and strip malls.  It happened there and it could happen here, unless property owners act to permanently protect some of the world's most productive farm land." 

Locke-Paddon has served as a president  of the Santa Cruz County Bar Association, the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County, the Cabrillo College Foundation and the United Way of Santa Cruz County. He has been honored for community service by the Santa Cruz County Bar Association and the Santa Cruz County Trial Lawyers. •

 

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