Conservation easements up in Va.
Jan. 10, 2012
The amount of land the Virginia Outdoors Foundation put into conservation easements rose by 50 percent in 2011, the foundation said Monday.
In all, the foundation placed 39,000 acres under permanent protection from development or environmental degradation through 215 conservation easements in 66 localities, many of them here in the Valley.
Bath County led the state with 2,567 acres being protected in 2011 by eight easements, followed by Rockbridge County, which had 2,260 acres protected by 10 easements. Augusta County had the fourth most land protected in the state with 1,718 acres placed under 11 easements.
Three Families Conserve 400 Acres of Private Forestland in Greene County
Jan. 3, 2012
The Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) recently recorded its first working forest conservation easements in Greene County. Three families granted to the VDOF four separate conservation easements protecting 395 acres on Snow and Hightop mountains west of Stanardsville.
Collectively, the properties are 97 percent forested and contribute to the large, unfragmented forested landscape in the area. These tracts not only complement the many acres of woodland already under easement in the area, but also the large blocks of unbroken habitat contained in the nearby Shenandoah National Park, ensuring a continued and sustainable flow of natural benefits from the landscape.