Clock ticking for government to accept gift of 420-acre lakefront property in Vermont

Vt. man bequeaths lakefront property to government

DERBY, Vt. — Time is running out for the U.S. government to accept a 420-acre lakefront estate on the U.S.-Canadian border bequeathed by a wealthy man who wanted the land to be available to campers and hikers.

When he died in 2007, Michael Dunn stipulated that Eagle Point Farm be sold if the federal government fails to take ownership of it within three years. The deadline is Sept. 1.

“The clock’s definitely ticking,” said Gil Livingston, president of the Vermont Land Trust.

The government has a proposal for how to use the land. On Tuesday, the land trust, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources gave tours of the parcel on Lake Memphremagog and answered questions.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes that it become owner of the land and the state Fish and Wildlife Department manage it.

One or two primitive camp sites and possibly a boat launch would be added. Hunting, fishing and hiking would be allowed; ATV use would not.

“What we’re always concerned about is we don’t want to see condominiums along Eagle Point Road. … And so we’re all very in favor of it going to, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife taking it,” said John Burgess, a professor of medicine at McGill University who owns a summer house nearby.

Burgess, who had known Dunn for many years, wasn’t surprised by his generosity.

“I think it was always his intention to have it become a nature preserve of some kind,” he said.

Dunn, who lived in Montreal, moved in 1978 to the property his grandmother had bought as a vacation home.

“Michael was a collector of art, watches and land,” said Stephen Marsh, president and CEO of the Derby-based Community National Bank. “When it came to his land he always had an interest in wildlife and in making it available for hiking, hunting and fishing.”

The property includes more than a mile of lake frontage; 260 acres of wetland, woodland, and riparian land; and 220 acres of agricultural land.

The will states that the land be offered to the federal government to be held for at least 50 years in an open state, available for use by hikers and campers.

A state legislator has raised concerns over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan to turn the area into a national wildlife refuge. Rep. Duncan Kilmartin, says that doesn’t fit Dunn’s intentions.

“Conservation is not the primary goal of Michael’s will,” said Kilmartin, a Republican from Newport.

The provincial government of Quebec has accepted Dunn’s gift of 420 acres in Canada. But the U.S. government has been slower to take the donation.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is about halfway through its 30-day public comment period on its proposal.

If the government doesn’t accept it within three years, the property will be sold and the proceeds will go the beneficiary of Dunn’s financial fortune — the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, which received $10 million from his estate this fall.

“That’s plan B at this point,” said Mark Frederick, president of Community Financial Services Group in Newport. “There are no other options. And it would be sold to the highest bidder. And if that happens to be somebody who is very interested in preserving it as it is, great. If it happens to be Disney and they want to build a park here…”