L ILI ROBBINS' Juy 21 op-ed, titled "Developers, Act on Your Commit- ment: Save Crow's Nest," raises an important issue and merits a response.

Finding a way to "save Crow's Nest" has indeed been a subject of discussion on a number of occasions by the membership of the Stafford Council for Progress. Crow's Nest is owned by a private corporation that must be reimbursed for the value of the property if it is to be "saved" or, more accurately, protected. There are fundamentally three ways to place all or a portion of Crow's Nest in some form of protected trust or conservation easement.

First, the government or some other entity can purchase Crow's Nest. Such a purchase has been attempted on at least a couple of occasions, but such an effort has not come to fruition because insufficient funds have been available or, at least, could not be paid to the owner on an acceptable schedule. Stafford County recently considered borrowing funds to purchase a portion of Crow's Nest, but has not done so, probably because it would be too significant a debt for the county to undertake. It should be noted that due to rapid increases in property values in the area, the value of Crow's Nest has and will continue to appreciate significantly.