Chevron Conservation Award letter from Chuck Winston honoring Dr. John H. Tanton

CHARLES S. WINSTON, JR.
HARBOR POINT. MICHIGAN 49740

November 29, 1989

Chevron Conservation Awards P.O. Box 7753
San Francisco, CA 94120-7753

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am writing in support of the nomination of Dr. John Tanton for the Chevron Conservation Award. Having spent summers in northern Michigan for my entire life, I am well aware of the many things John has done for the conservation cause in the North.

My greatest volunteer commitment since my retirement as President and Vice Chairman of the advertising firm of Foote, Cone and Belding has been to the Little Traverse Conservancy which John Tanton founded. I currently serve as a member of the Conservancy's Board of Trustees, its Executive Committee, and hold the office of Vice-President for Membership and Finance. I became involved with the Conservancy because I believe in its work to protect natural land through direct acquisition, and because I found it to be a first-rate organization with a solid history of accomplishments, a capable staff, and a very clear sense of its mission.

Though many organizations lose their perspective over time and stray into areas not connected with their central mission, the Little Traverse Conservancy has avoided this. We have avoided it thanks in large part to John Tanton's constant admonitions to our Board of Trustees to "focus, focus, focus."

The Conservancy organization which Dr. Tanton founded, nurtured, and continues to serve is a success story in Michigan conservation. You will no doubt learn of his other successful endeavors on behalf of the conservation cause. John Tanton has personally made a difference for conservation. More importantly, however, the organizations he has created continue to have an ever greater and more beneficial effect in helping to promote conservation and put it into practice.

Sincerely,

C.S. Winston, JR.