A project to protect more than 5,000 acres of forested mountain land adjacent to the Shenandoah National Park has secured conservation easements on two properties, with three more in the works. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The Shenandoah Borderlands Project is a collaboration between the Virginia Department of Forestry, local landowners, the Piedmont Environmental Council, and the U.S. Forest Service. Through the project, five tracts of forestland in Albemarle and Nelson counties that abut the national park, totalling approximately 5,200 acres, will be protected from future development.
The lands are visible from areas of the southern end of Skyline Drive, the Appalachian Trail, and Interstate 64 on Afton Mountain.
JUSTIN ALTICE: There's an overlook called the Moormans River Overlook on Skyline Drive, and the property being protected is very prominent.
Justin Altice is the Department of Forestry's Forest Legacy Program coordinator. The completion of two of these easements is a milestone in a multi-year process, supported by more than $8 million in competitive federal funding.
ALTICE: The Piedmont Environmental Council played a crucial role and was a big partner in the project to develop the proposal … because of their initial relationships with the landowners themselves.
A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement that a landowner makes with a public agency or private land trust that permanently limits development of a property to safeguard its conservation values.
ALTICE: So we are going to be protecting the scenic, forested landscapes … a ton of headwater streams and rivers … crucial habitat for priority wildlife species that were identified in these lands, and those include native brook trout … timber rattlesnakes … and then there are multiple freshwater mussels.
Altice said this project will impact the commonwealth "for generations to come."
