Land Conservation

PEC has helped landowners permanently protect over 430,000 acres of rural or natural land. Conservation Easements help ensure that the Virginia Piedmont is always characterized by its open spaces, healthy environment, and cultural resources.

Conservation Easement Enforcement Goes Before the Virginia Supreme Court

Conservation Easement Enforcement Goes Before the Virginia Supreme Court

Posted on by Bri West

UPDATE: On Feb 12, 2016, the Virginia Supreme Court issued a ruling in Wetlands America Trust, Inc. v. White Cloud Nine Ventures, L.P. The decision by the Virginia Supreme Court affirms the validity of perpetual conservation easements in the Commonwealth. Troublingly though, the court clarified the standard of review for conservation easements as “strict construction,” which means the presumption on any ambiguity will be a finding in favor of the “free use of land.”

At a practical level, the ruling will impact how land trusts steward current easements and underscores the importance of specificity in the drafting of future easements.

Go Native Go Local

Posted on by Bri West

This guide provides the residents of the Virginia Piedmont with a listing of businesses, most of them local, that offer products and services that promote our native biodiversity! Go Native Go Local aims to strengthen the local economy and is a sister publication to our Buy Fresh Buy Local guide. If you use this guide, please let the businesses know that The Piedmont Environmental Council sent you!

PEC Response to Threatening Online Posts

Posted on by PEC

In the last couple of weeks, The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) has been the subject of a number of articles published online. The articles relate to PEC’s monitoring and enforcement of a conservation easement on real property owned by Piedmont Agriculture Academy, LLC (“PAA”), of which Martha Boneta is a member. The history of this easement has been posted on PEC’s website for some time and can be found at this link: https://www.pecva.org/land-conservation/conserving-your-land/855-easement-on-ovoka

Making Progress at the Piedmont Overlook

Making Progress at the Piedmont Overlook

Posted on by Paula Combs

It’s been busy at the Overlook these past few months! PEC is in the final year of a cost-share agreement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to improve the property’s habitat and increase its biodiversity. The mar­quee part of this grant is the creation of a 17-acre native grass and wildflower meadow on land that was formerly a pasture dominated by tall fescue.

‘Fracking’ on Conserved Land?

‘Fracking’ on Conserved Land?

Posted on by PEC

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) is an important state public agency that has taken part in conserving land in the Commonwealth since 1966. Today, VOF is the largest easement holder in Virginia, and PEC is proud to have partnered with them over the decades. Over the past two years, however, VOF reviewed and approved a number of new easements permit oil and gas drilling—including the potential for hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. “fracking”)—in areas that have little to no history of energy extraction.

Fracking and Conservation Easements?

Posted on by PEC

Not a Good Fit

Next week, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF), a public agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the state's largest holder of conservation easements, will be reviewing a number of new properties for potential protection. Several of the easements they'll be considering would explicitly permit drilling for oil and gas, including the use of hydraulic fracturing, in areas that have little to no history of drilling.

Allowing this type of industrial mineral extraction on land that has been permanently protected with a conservation easement is contrary to the purpose of most easements.

Ask VOF to Take a Second Look