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Jim Crews: What? Me Retire?
by Jimmy Emfinger, Ducks Unlimited, Inc.

Jim Crews is a retired businessman from Memphis, Tennessee, but if you spend a little time with him, it becomes clear that he doesn't understand the meaning of the word "retired." By day, prior to retirement, Jim was the owner and manager of a physicians' health group in Memphis. He also had another job, moonlighting as a conservationist.

His destiny to become a conservationist started in the 1950s, when Jim and his father first leased land to hunt. It started innocently enough, but soon he was in love with that land—the property associated with Ward Lake. This special place in Coahoma County, Mississippi, just took hold of his heart.

As time passed, things changed in the neighborhood of the Ward Lake Hunting Club, and the changes didn't bode well for the property's future. He realized that the only way he was going to have a life-long relationship with these lands was to buy them, so that's what he set about doing. In the 1980s, he, family, and friends made a series of acquisitions until they had amassed 3,300 acres of Ward Lake lands. So far, so good. But what would the future hold for the land after they were gone? They decided not to take the chance that it might fall into uncaring hands.

The next step was a commitment into perpetuity. In 1999, Jim and his partners talked with Ducks Unlimited, Inc., (DU) about a conservation easement. Jim's son, "Little Jim," an attorney, looked over the easement language and concluded, "Dad, you just got one heck of a tax break for giving up nothing." Jim and his partners kept all the recreational and timber-management rights and gave up the development and subdivision rights, which they never intended to use anyway.

Jim and the Ward Lake Land Company board are the managing partners of the easement. They developed a management plan involving timber sales, road construction, recreational use, and habitat improvement. They put the easement's resultant tax savings back into the property, acquiring an additional tract adjacent to Ward Lake.

Placing a conservation easement on the Ward Lake lands was an experiment for Jim and his partners. They had some initial skepticism, but as the process moved along, they found it user friendly and deemed the final outcome a success. So, in 2001, they placed the additional tract of 1,077 acres under easement, too.

The easement process required the landowners to pay for a biological report, appraisals, and legal fees. This cash outlay and part of the easement value became match for a $100,000 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, which was used by DU to acquire easements on another 25,000 acres. Jim has voluntarily attended DU workshops at his own expense to relate his experience to other landowners and bring them on board.

Jim has accomplished much for habitat conservation and, in the meantime, forged his own definition of "retirement."

For more information, contact Jimmy Emfinger, Ducks Unlimited, Inc., Southern Regional Office, 193 Business Park Drive, Suite E, Ridgeland, Mississippi 39157, (601) 206-5434, jemfinger@ducks.org.