QUALIFICATIONS OF THE APPRAISER: N. CLARK WHEELER, ARA

AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE

Mr. Wheeler has managed both dry land and irrigated farms in the Gallatin Valley, and was active in the management of cropping plans, farm plans, budgeting, and accounts.

SPECIALIZED APPRAISAL WORK

The firm has been a regional leader in the development of appraisals related to conservation easements on rural lands. Mr. Wheeler has an extensive amount of experience in the appraisal and defense of conservation easements throughout the Western United States. Since 1981 he has been involved in the appraisal of over 1000 conservation easements. Mr. Wheeler has also been retained as a consultant in numerous instances to defend existing conservation easement appraisals and has had a substantial amount of success in overcoming IRS objections. In 1997, a substantial federal tax court ruling, S.K. Johnston, et. al v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Tax Court Docket No. 16668-94, was issued relative to a large conservation easement donation on a ranch in Wyoming in which Mr. Wheeler successfully defended a 55% reduction in value. This was the first federal tax case of its kind in which a conservation easements directly related to a western ranch was ruled upon.

Mr. Wheeler teaches courses relative to conservation easement valuation and has taught courses at the national level for the Nature Conservancy as well as the American Land Trust Rally. He is a frequent lecturer for various seminars and workshops in Montana.

He has completed conservation easement appraisals on properties from 40 acres to over 100,000 deeded acres in size. Easement appraisals have been prepared for tax deductions, easement sales, bargain sales and complex trades with state and federal governments. These reports have been successfully defended to the IRS and have formed the basis of government land or easement acquisitions.

In another federal tax court ruling in May of 1999, Katherine Strasburg v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Mr. Wheeler again successfully defended a conservation easement appraisal in federal tax court. At issue was a valuation of a western recreational property in Montana that was comprised of 320 deeded acres. The court upheld the Wheeler report and a 43% diminution in value against a 10% loss claimed by the MAI expert retained by the IRS. The ruling also established important precedents relative to valuation issues regarding amended conservation easements.

Mr. Wheeler is also actively involved in the appraisal of fractional ownership interests and minority discounts relative to land holdings in Montana and Wyoming. He also has completed numerous reports for large federal and State land exchanges including the 1998 - 110,000 acre BSL - Forest Service exchange in southwestern Montana. Within these processes his appraisals have been reviewed and approved by the forest service at the national level in Washington DC and utilized for testimony before federal legislative committees. Mr. Wheeler is regularly used by organizations for federal appraisals and has been reviewed and accepted for federal Yellow Book compliance as recent as August of 2006.

EXPERT TESTIMONY EXPERIENCE

Mr. Wheeler is qualified and has testified as an expert witness in district and federal courts in Montana, superior court in California, and in federal tax court. Additionally, he has testified before federal commissioners' hearings on matters related to real estate and values, and has made valuation presentations to the Internal Revenue Service at the national level. He has also been involved in real estate partition hearings in Montana and has served as a commissioner for mediation hearings.

APPRAISAL TRAINING AND EDUCATION

Mr. Wheeler received intensive appraisal training under the direction of Norman C. Wheeler, ARA, and Mr. Robert Kellogg, retired Senior Appraiser with the firm. He has successfully completed numerous professional schools and education programs sponsored by the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, the American Institute of Real Estate Appraisers, the Society of Right of Way Appraisers, and the Montana State Cooperative Extension Service. A complete list of Mr. Wheeler's coursework and continued training is attache

LICENSED REAL ESTATE BROKER

In addition to appraisal work, Mr. Wheeler is involved in the Montana real estate market and is in touch with current market trends and developments in the state. As a broker, he has been actively involved in property purchases, sales, lease negotiations, and property management since 1982.

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