Good conservation news in the Shenandoah Valley

Valley Conservation Council just sent out their 2011 Annual Report along with their February newsletter, Vision, and both contain great news for conservation efforts in the region. The headliner story - "Region Has Four of the Top Five Conservation Counties for 2011" touts the hard work and successes in acreage conserved by private landowners in cooperation with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF). Leading the list is Rockbridge County (11 new easements in 2011 comprising 2,260 acres bringing the county's total to 35,200 acres) and Bath County (eight new easements comprising 2,567 acres bringing their total to 23,956 acres).  Augusta County (17,777 cumulative acres) and Highland County (11,284 cumulative acres) are also in the Commonwealth's top five.

New Mole Hill Easement
in Rockingham County.
Photo from VCC website.

Virginia's largest agricultural county, Rockingham, is far behind its neighbors to the south with only 3,721 acres in conservation easements with the VOF. But the good news for 2011 is that seven new easements totaling 1,066 acres were added, a 40% increase. Keep in mind that other organizations like the Virginia Department of Forestry have easements (including one of 1,000 acres in Rockingham) that are not included in the totals.

The newsletter and annual report highlight other important work of VCC, which has focused on local and regional policies that, while allowing for inevitable growth, promote minimal impacts on the Shenandoah Valley region's environmental, agricultural, historical, and cultural heritage. You may not own land to place in an easement or be able to attend VCC's programs, but you can donate to their important work that helps sustain what we love about the Valley! Lots of small donations add up... and that ain't chicken feed.

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town

Creigh Deeds and the gubernatorial race captured the attention of Newsweek:

For more than 20 years, [Creigh] Deeds has served the people of Bath County locally and in the Virginia Legislature. They like him in part because he is one of them, and because he's nothing like the picture that pops into your head when you think of a politician. Deeds is the opposite of slick and rehearsed. His accent is country South, not Southern genteel. His campaign speeches ramble. He sometimes tells stories that are funny and endearing, but that don't seem to have a point. "People said a fella from Bath County can't be the nominee," he told a crowd in Danville last month. "Now they're saying a fella from Bath County can't be governor." The punch line of the story: "But I know you gotta do right by people … I grew up on a dirt farm. We ate hogs and deer."

Read the entire article in Newsweek; October 26, 2009; Mr. Deeds Goes To Town.

Welcome to Deeds Country

Welcome to Bath County - Deeds County!

This November all of Virginia will be DEEDS COUNRY.

Deeds Country Homecoming

This ain't chicken feed

Mark Warner and his wife, Lisa Collins, have donated $1.5 million to the Nature Conservancy for its work in the Allegheny Highlands. The Conservancy bought the Warm Springs Mountain Preserve in Bath County for $6.2 million in 2002. Their donation is good bit more than the hundred bucks a year I can muster!! The central Appalachians, from Virginia to Pennsylvania, are known for a diversity of wildlife including bobcat, black bear, and barred owl and for many species of plants. The area of the preserve is also the headwaters to many Virginia rivers and is crucial for assuring clean water for millions.

Thank you Mark and Lisa for your generous contribution!