Remembering Bill Clapp

In January of 1994 one of the largest remaining tracts of undeveloped land along the lower St. Croix River came up for sale. The owners reached out to Verna Kragnes and Rick Hall from Philadelphia Community Farm to see if they would be interested in a conservation sale which would help protect this 1100-acre property. The initial offer came with a one year time limit, after which time the land would go on the market. 

“We had a daunting task of starting a land trust, recruiting like-minded people to join the effort and raising a considerable sum of money in less than a year’s time”, Verna recalls. 

Finding people with experience in land protection on this scale proved to be a challenge. However, a number of Marine on St.Croix residents said they knew the perfect person. That person was Bill Clapp. 

Bill grew up spending summers at his family’s river cabin where he enjoyed swimming, canoeing and learning that the St. Croix was a regional treasure. In adulthood, Bill never wandered far from his beloved St. Croix. As an environmental lawyer, Bill had first-hand experience with the challenges of protecting our natural resources. 

Within days of hearing about the proposed sale, Bill toured the land and offered his expertise in creating a new land trust. Bill helped draft by-laws, served as the new organization’s treasurer and quickly tapped his vast social network to recruit new board members. 

When board discussions wandered, Bill was quick to keep us on task. When we had to raise significant funds for a matching grant, Bill gathered a group of friends and neighbors to sign as guarantors. Bill was an impeccable bookkeeper and he invested considerable time in cultivating relationships with donors to ensure that Standing Cedars was on firm financial footing. Bill was instrumental in starting an endowment fund that provides our organization with on-going financial support to protect and restore additional land. 

We acknowledge that Standing Cedars would be a very different organization without Bill’s leadership and hard work. We mourn Bill’s passing and we dedicate ourselves to being stewards of this beautiful yet fragile river that he loved so much. Thank you, Bill. You will be missed. 

Bill died on August 18, 2019.