Clarke County has protected 24% of its land mass through conservation easements. Winkie Mackay-Smith is an important reason why.
Tag Archives: conservation easement
Norfolk museum builds coastal resilience with living shoreline
In the 1930s, a red brick wall stood between the iconic Hermitage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk and several hundred feet of undeveloped shoreline. By the early 2000s, the wall marked the edge of the Lafayette River, which had whittled away the shoreline after several devastating storms and increasingly higher tides due to sea-level rise. …
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VOF and Enrichmond Foundation celebrate Evergreen easement signing at MLK Day cleanup
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the Enrichmond Foundation have closed the deal on a conservation easement that sets the stage for one of the largest restoration efforts of a historic African-American cemetery in the nation.
Claytor Nature Study Center, Bedford County
For all those 3- to 5-year-old adventurers with cabin fever, the Claytor Nature Study Center has a cure: a four-day “Animals in Winter” hike series that will get them exploring the forest throughout the month of February, searching for traces of wildlife and learning about animals’ winter survival strategies. The center, nestled at the foot …
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Announcement planned for MLK Day regarding project at Evergreen Cemetery
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) and the Enrichmond Foundation will announce a major milestone in our efforts to protect and restore historic Evergreen Cemetery in Richmond on January 21, during a community cleanup event that’s part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service. Evergreen is the resting place for thousands of individuals …
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VOF protected 15,928 acres of open space in 2018
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) recorded 70 open-space easements in 41 counties and cities in 2018. The 15,928 acres of newly protected land includes VOF’s first easements in the cities of Alexandria and Richmond. Ten of the projects require permanent public access to the land. These projects received about $1.3 million in funding from the …
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The Clifton Institute, Fauquier County
A ring of children crowd around a kneeling camp counselor, who holds a dragonfly just inches from their faces. “How can you tell this guy is a predator?” the counselor asks. “Big eyes!” one child volunteers. “Spiky legs to hold prey!” another says. This is a typical scene at the Clifton Institute, an environmental education …
VOF’s first easement in Alexandria ensures public access to historic property
The Murray-Dick-Fawcett House in Old Town Alexandria is now permanently protected for the public by historic preservation and open-space easements held by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF). The easements were acquired thanks to $1.25 million in grants from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and VOF’s Preservation Trust Fund. …
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VOF partners with Shenandoah nonprofit to conserve Valley’s Germanic heritage
Virginia’s Germanic heritage story starts with a title dispute. Anxious to settle the Shenandoah Valley, the Colonial Government at Williamsburg began selling off pieces of land west of the Blue Ridge in the 1730s. However, there was a catch: this land had already been claimed from across the Atlantic by the British Lord Thomas Fairfax. He would file suit, but lost his …
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Partnership adds to protection of Brandy Station Battlefield in Culpeper
“As a Civil War site, Hansbrough Ridge is unique,” said Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer. “There are commanding views of the landscape in all directions, which made it a crucial defensive position during the Civil War.”