On the left, Gerald Barber. On the right, Hans Carlson.The Commission is honored to announce that Gerald Barber and Hans Carlson have joined the board of commissioners. The Commission is governed by a diverse board of 18 volunteer commissioners involved in land conservation around the country. Gerald and Hans bring with them years of knowledge and expertise in land protection.
Gerald Barber
Gerald is a certified general appraiser, registered landscape architect and real estate broker. Since founding Barber and Mann, Inc. in 2002, he has performed conservation easement and other specialized appraisals and provided real estate consulting on environmentally sensitive lands for landowners, non-profits and agencies in the Southeast U.S. His firm has provided expert testimony in numerous tax court cases for the Internal Revenue Service, and they are consulting on multiple cases in progress. After 16 years as President of Oak Lane, Inc, a landscape architecture, land planning, and development firm, Gerald served 28 years as the elected Tax Assessor of Madison County, Mississippi. He honorably served in the U.S. Army 733rd MP Criminal Investigation Division.
Gerald has volunteered for over 52 years for several state, regional and national conservation organizations and served as Chairman of the National Wildlife Federation Board of Directors from 1998 - 2000. To date, he has appraised or reviewed 264 conservation easements and has served as an instructor for multiple conservation easement seminars across the Southeast.
Gerald is an avid hunter, angler and gardener, father of two children, and grandfather of four. He and his wife Diane live in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
Hans Carlson
Hans is a forest and environmental historian, and holds an MA from the University of Vermont, and a PhD from the University of Maine. He is currently the executive director of Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust, in the Lake Sunapee area of New Hampshire. Previously he has been executive director of Blue Hill Heritage Trust, on the Blue Hill Peninsula in Maine, and Great Mountain Forest in northwest Connecticut. Before becoming involved in nonprofit conservation, he taught at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in the Department of American Indian Studies.
Hans has lived most of his life in rural New England, where issues of land use and the environment have been lifelong concerns. He has traveled extensively in northern Quebec and Labrador, since the early 1980s. He has worked closely with First Nations people, focusing especially on where land-use in New England impacts Indigenous lands in the north. He is an avid outdoorsman, sportsman, woodworker, and boat-builder.
Interested in volunteering as a Commissioner?
Have you ever thought about serving as a member of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission or do you know someone who you think would be a good commissioner? Serving on the Commission is a great opportunity to work with a dedicated group of volunteer conservation leaders from around the country and be part of a national program that fosters excellence, trust and permanence in land conservation.
If you or someone you know is interested, please read the commissioner job description. Commissioners volunteer approximately 2-3 days a month reviewing applications and governing the organization.
