News Article

Land conservation has long been a passion for Womble Carlyle attorney Mike Leonard. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Conservation Fund, a national organization committed to preserving large tracts of America’s forested, natural and historic places.

Leonard had the chance to discuss his conservation work on Friday, Sept. 28th, when he was the featured guest on WFDD 88.5 FM's "Voices & Viewpoints" radio program.

Leonard has helped negotiate and facilitate deals that have saved more than 170,000 acres of undeveloped land for future generations to enjoy. Some of the projects he has worked on include Chimney Rock and Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina and the Pinhoti Trail in northern Alabama and northwest Georgia, which links Alabama to the Appalachian Trail.

The political environment for land conservation is much better than it was when he began this work more than 30 years ago, he told host Denise Franklin.

"In the South, particularly in states like North Carolina, where we've had so much urban growth in the past 20 years, we have begun to realize what we were losing," he said.

Leonard said the goal of land conservation isn’t to end development; rather, it is to strategically focus land preservation so that key natural and scenic areas remain preserved and untouched.

Leonard has been recognized as one of the "Best Lawyers in America" in Mass Tort Litigation, and he said that his work as a product liability attorney is a good fit for his voluntary role as a conservationist. "As attorneys, we are asked to solve problems, to move strategically from point A to point Z," he said.

WFDD is the National Public Radio affiliate for the North Carolina Triad (Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point). To hear the complete 30-minute interview, click here.