FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bob Lazaro
PEC Director of Communications
571-225-0198

1,668 Acres Added to Orange County Easements in 2009

Over 325,000 Acres Conserved in the Piedmont--Madison's Montpelier Protected by Easement

In 2009, residents of the Piedmont protected 18,065 acres of open space through the use of conservation easements. In Orange County, 1,668 more acres were preserved in 2009 increasing the area of privately conserved land in the County to over 29,265 acres. 719 acres of Madison's Montpelier property were protected by an easement in 2009.

The movement to protect privately-held rural land from development has been experiencing tremendous momentum in Virginia's Piedmont region, with landowners conserving an average of 22,270 acres every year for the last five years. The total for 2009 brings the number of acres conserved within the nine counties served by the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) to 325,530 acres, an acreage that is larger than Shenandoah National Park.

"We're immensely pleased at what communities in the Piedmont have been able to accomplish to provide a legacy of conserved open space for our children and future generations," says Chris Miller, President of PEC. "When it comes to conservation, this is one of the most successful regions in the entire country."


The Piedmont region continues to lead the state of Virginia, which is among the top five states in the nation for protecting land through private conservation easements. The nine counties of Virginia's Piedmont -- including Loudoun, Clarke, Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Madison, Orange, Greene, and Albemarle -- have conserved more land than almost any state in the nation.


PEC's Director of Land Conservation, Heather Richards says, "The tremendous gains we've seen in conservation over the last few years reflect the growing awareness among Orange's residents of the importance of their landscape. Conserving green spaces does more than just protecting pretty views. It protects drinking water and air quality, reduces traffic, keeps taxes down and preserves family farms. These benefits are explicitly recognized in Orange County's Comprehensive Plan."

Bob Lee, the Executive Director of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) said, "Working with PEC and others, VOF was able to protect more than 10,000 acres in PEC's region in 2009 and 55,000 acres statewide," said VOF Executive Director Bob Lee. "From historic Montpelier in Orange County to the drinking water supply for the Town of Purcellville in Loudoun County, our easements ensure that Virginia's cultural and natural resources are being protected for future generations."

According to a 2003 study that was done by the American Farmland Trust in Culpeper County, farms and other open lands use only $0.32 in local services for every dollar of taxes paid, while homes require $1.22 for every dollar paid. Land placed under permanent easement also improves the results of the formula used by the state to determine local ability to pay, which increases funding from the Commonwealth for schools and other county services.

Easements also support two major industries of the Piedmont: agriculture and tourism. Like other landowners, farmers can gain needed capital by voluntarily conserving their land and earning a substantial state tax credit which they may either use or sell on the open market. Farmers also benefit from reduced appraisal values on their land, which lightens their tax burden. In Albemarle, Clarke, and Fauquier counties, working farms also have the option of receiving money from publicly supported Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs.

"Those who put their land under conservation easements are the true champions of preserving these values we all hold dear," said Ali Rau, PEC's Land Conservation Officer for Orange County. "Orange County needs to consider adopting a PDR (purchase of development rights) program in order to ensure that landowners are receiving the benefit of all the land conservation options available to them. The PDR program, which cost shares with localities from both state and federal programs, offers landowners direct payment for their development rights. This may be an attractive option for those who cannot take full advantage of the incentives offered through conservation easements," concluded Rau.

Ali can be contacted at 540-764-0056 or via email at arau[at]pecva.org.