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VOF seeking input for development of new grant initiative

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) Board of Trustees will meet on August 22 at Boar’s Head Resort in Charlottesville to consider draft criteria and guidelines for a new grant initiative being administered by VOF on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The initiative is funded by mitigation agreements between the Commonwealth and the developers of two large natural gas pipelines and addresses forest fragmentation resulting from pipeline construction. The first round of grants will be available for projects in a region affected by the Mountain Valley Pipeline. A grant round for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline region is expected next year.

As one of the agreements’ Forest Mitigation Partners, VOF is responsible for developing grant criteria and overseeing the project selection process. VOF is developing two funds, one for each region, which will be housed in a new program. These funds will each have their own application and selection process. Draft documents outlining criteria, scoring, and guidelines for the first fund, called the Forest CORE Fund (MVP Region), can be downloaded here.

VOF has placed a high priority on public engagement and community participation in developing the initiative. Over the past three months, staff have been traveling through impacted communities meeting with local governments, planning districts, land trusts, and conservation partners seeking ideas on how to best address forest fragmentation, as well as the needs of the impacted communities. VOF has also been soliciting feedback from other state agencies on how to structure and administer a strong grant program based in science but built with community support.

VOF is making the draft documentation available to the public prior to the August 22 meeting in hopes of receiving additional public input. There is no deadline to provide input, but VOF is encouraging people to provide written comments by noon on August 21. Input received after August 22 will be reviewed and considered for subsequent grant rounds.

Please direct input or questions to Emily White, ewhite@vofonline.org, (434) 282-7154.

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.

The easement held by the Board of Historic Resources protects the historic house and garden and will be administered by staff of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR). The Board of Historic Resources holds 19 other historic preservation easements in Old Town.

VOF’s easement ensures that the garden will be permanently open to the public, and is the foundation’s first open-space easement in the City of Alexandria.

The completion of the easements comes approximately one year after the City of Alexandria acquired the property from its owner, Joseph Reeder, using the grants and an equity donation from Mr. Reeder. The city granted Mr. Reeder a lifetime tenancy as part of the acquisition, and he will open the house to the public for special events several times a year. Eventually, the house will be converted into an educational center focused on domestic life in the 18th and 19th centuries.

“This project has been a perfect partnership with VDHR,” says VOF Executive Director Brett Glymph. “Together we are protecting the fascinating historic structure and its adjoining open space. Most importantly, we are helping the City of Alexandria make this treasure accessible to the public for generations to come.”

Built circa 1775 for Patrick Murray, with distinct building campaigns in 1785 and 1796, the Murray-Dick-Fawcett House has long been recognized as worthy of preservation. In 1936 the Historic American Buildings Survey documented the property for its architectural and historic significance, and in 1966 the property was designated as a contributing resource to the Alexandria National Historic Landmark District. The district, now known as Old Town, is a destination for an estimated 3 million visitors a year.

Even within the historic context of Old Town, the house is unique. It is the only existing vernacular, middle-class frame dwelling of its period, and one of the few remaining examples of such a dwelling in any urban setting in Virginia.

The adjacent open-space garden area is also significant. From 1775 until 1970, it served a variety of commercial uses. It was the site of the original owner’s commercial livery, and later re-purposed as a grocery, a laundry, and finally a two-story school/office building used by a nearby church. Preserving the space enhances the historic setting of the house and maintains the historic Old Town streetscape.

The garden is currently open to the public, providing a welcome respite along busy Prince and S. St. Asaph streets. The house will be open to the public on a limited basis at first, with expanded access to follow. Together, VDHR and VOF will steward the house and its open-space, and the City of Alexandria will maintain the house as required by the terms of the easements. The Office of Historic Alexandria will operate the site as part of the city-owned museum system.

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 case in 1786, decades after his death.

The eventual winners of the suit were the farmers who had bought the land — descendants of immigrants who had originally settled in Pennsylvania from areas around the Rhine River in what we now know as Germany. These families had migrated to the Shenandoah Valley in search of more land to cultivate, bringing with them practices that would form the bedrock of early American farming culture.

This history is being preserved in part by Hottel-Keller Memorial, Inc. (HKMI), a nonprofit educational organization that owns the Hottel and Keller homesteads in Shenandoah County. HKMI runs the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum on the site with volunteers from the Shenandoah County Historical Society.

“When Bill Jake Keller left the property to HKMI, his vision was to have a working farm and a museum building so that future generations could see how people used to live off the land, using technologies that influenced modern farming,” says Karen Cooper, the founding president of HKMI.

Thanks to a $400,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s Preservation Trust Fund, the site is now protected permanently with an open-space easement. The funding will be put toward the construction of a dedicated museum building, the restoration of the farmstead, and the expansion of educational programs that demonstrate pre-Civil War Farming practices.

The architecture that remains on the site is central to Keller’s vision. The remains of the old Hottel and Keller homes illustrate the layout of a typical Shenandoah Rhinish house, and the 1750s-era spring and loom houses are perfect examples of 18th-century know-how. Additionally, period artifacts remain that can tell the story of daily life on the farm.

“We have a good collection of items that would be useful in the early American kitchen, as well as old tools and other items that may have been used for carpentry, cigar molds and various other items. We are just now learning how to interpret many of them,” Cooper states.

The property’s natural functions are also essential to the project. “We want to encourage and preserve the habitat that exists here for migratory birds, butterflies and bees, get rid of invasive plants, and replace them with native ones,” she says. Future plans also include creating a trail on the property that would connect with the Big Blue trail in the adjacent George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.

“As we see more and more housing come up in this area, we really feel that there should be something preserved so that people can imagine what life might have been like back then,” Cooper adds.

Laura Thurman, a VOF easement manager who served as the project lead, agrees. “If you drive by this place, you remember it,” she says. “It exemplifies what is wonderful about the Valley—farmland next to mountains, springs and streams and the stories of the families who lived here before us. I love that this place will be shared and that the folks who own it feel such a strong sense of stewardship.”

Partnership adds to protection of Brandy Station Battlefield in Culpeper

The southern edge of Hansbrough Ridge in Culpeper County has been known by some colorful names: Devil’s Jump, Wicked Bottom, and, in a short-lived attempt to rebrand the area for clean living, Temperance Hill. The names indicate a rich history, one that the Civil War Trust (CWT), the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR), and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) are working to preserve by recording two conservation easements on 174 acres that include the ridge and its slopes, which are part of Brandy Station Battlefield.  

While both easements are designed to protect the property permanently from development and will guarantee public access, one will be administered by VDHR and contains additional provisions protecting the historic aspects of the property.  

“The Department of Historic Resources is pleased to partner with VOF in the ongoing stewardship of this site to preserve and interpret it for current and future Virginians and visitors to the state,” said VDHR director Julie V. Langan. 

The VOF easement contains restrictions that prohibit division of the property, protecting its scenic and natural values and the historic setting and landscape of the battlefield.  

The landscape around the battlefield site is a vital link to the past. After the Battle of Brandy Station in 1863, the influx of more than 120,000 Union soldiers dwarfed the population of Culpeper County (12,000 in the 1860 census, more than half of whom were slaves). Over the course of five months, thousands of these soldiers camped along the crest of the ridge, home not only to infantry and cavalry troops but also to soldiers’ visiting family members and large hospitals where doctors, nurses and volunteers treated sick and wounded men. 

VDHR listed Hansbrough Ridge as a Virginia Historic Landmark in 2001, and in 2008 the site was named part of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area, a federally designated 175-mile corridor that extends across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.  

“As a Civil War site, Hansbrough Ridge is unique,” said Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer. “You just have walk up to the top of the ridge to see how special it is. There are commanding views of the landscape in all directions, which made it a crucial defensive position during the Civil War.” 

Developers saw an opportunity to market those views in 2015, when they bought the property with the intention to develop a dozen residential lots. Reacting quickly, CWT negotiated a purchase of the tract before any development occurred, seeking support for the $900,000 acquisition from VOF and the American Battlefield Protection Program, with the addition of a noncash donation from the owners that put the purchase price within reach. 

A conservation easement on the ridge adds to the preservation of numerous significant battlefield properties in Culpeper County, including Culpeper Crossing—12 acres of historically significant battlefield land offering recreational access to the Rappahannock River. VOF’s trustees approved funding for an easement on Culpeper Crossing at their February meeting.  

Ultimately, the goal is to incorporate these properties within the Brandy Station and Cedar Mountain battlefields into a state park with educational and recreational opportunities. The views from Hansbrough Ridge will once again provide perspective. “From the top of the ridge, people will be able to read about the events of that period and survey the landscape,” Lighthizer says. “It will be an amazing way to see the history of this place.” 

VOF helps create new waterfront park in Virginia Beach

Nine acres on the Elizabeth River are set to become a waterfront park, thanks to a partnership between the Living River Restoration Trust (LRRT), the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the City of Virginia Beach.

LRRT bought the site late last year, securing $141,525 from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, $73,475 from the City of Virginia Beach Open Space Program, and $55,000 from VOF’s Preservation Trust Fund. VOF placed an easement on the property, and LRRT gifted the parcel to the city. The easement, which was recorded in January, limits development on the site while also requiring permanent public access.

“This has been such a unique opportunity not only to conserve some of the last lands on the Elizabeth River but also provide public access to one of the most scenic portions of the river,” said Diana L. Bailey, chair of LRRT.

Urban sites like this one are becoming increasingly vital to state and local conservation efforts. The Elizabeth River shoreline provides drainage for the city’s built areas, helping to prevent flooding in surrounding neighborhoods and protect water quality in the river. And access to the river means a healthier city in other ways as well.

“Projects like this are important because research tells us, and common sense supports, that there is a direct correlation between mental and physical health and access to nearby open space for people who live in urban environments,” said Brett Glymph, VOF’s executive director.

The park will be the first in the city to offer access to the southern shore of the Elizabeth River for public recreation, with a kayak launch, trails, parking and other potential amenities managed by Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation. The city expects to open the park later this year.

The Living River Restoration Trust was set up by the Elizabeth River Project in 2004. It is the only locally based land trust in the Elizabeth River watershed. Learn more at https://www.livingrivertrust.org/.

VOF allocates $548,000 for public access projects

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation is directing $548,000 from its Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund (PTF) to facilitate the acquisition of four open-space easements that will increase public access to natural areas. The projects are located in the cities of Richmond and Suffolk and the counties of Gloucester and Culpeper.

Open-space easements are voluntary agreements between landowners and an easement holder to permanently restrict development on a piece of land. In this case, the easements also require public access to all or some of the land for recreation and education.

The projects were selected from applications received through January 15, 2018. Staff evaluated nine projects based on the extent of public access to be provided, the population served by this access, the conservation value of the site, and demonstrated community support and readiness.

Based on these criteria, staff recommended funding for four of the projects. The project proposal package can be found here. The remaining five projects will need to be developed further before they would be ready for review by the VOF Board.

The funding is split into two parts: $530,000 to cover easement purchase costs, and $18,000 to cover transactional costs associated with creating and managing the easement agreements.

Project summaries:

 
Project Name: Suffolk Park
Locality: City of Suffolk
Acreage: 6.12
Easement Cost: $200,000
Transactional Costs: $4,500

Description: The City of Suffolk is requesting assistance to acquire a parcel of land to create a city park adjacent to the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. A contact station, environmental education facility, and wetland restoration area are planned on an adjacent site by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The project will create a strong connection and access point between downtown Suffolk and the refuge.

 

Captain Sinclair Recreational Area
Locality: Gloucester County
Acreage: 40.84
Easement Cost: $180,000
Transactional Costs: $4,500

Description: The Captain Sinclair Recreational Area is a 97-acre property with more than a mile of frontage on the Severn River near Mobjack Bay, gifted to the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority[k1]  in 2013. The property contains a[e2]  coastal ecosystem, featuring a mix of hardwood and pine forest, tidal wetlands, and non-tidal wetlands. The county approved a waterfront recreational site plan in 2015, but the lack of basic infrastructure and maintenance funds has hampered its implementation and use by the public. The funds from the easement purchase on a 40-acre portion of the property will help create fishing access and other recreational opportunities on the waterfront.

 

Project Name: Culpeper Crossing at Rappahannock Station
Locality: Culpeper County
Acreage: 12.37
Easement Cost: $150,000
Transactional Costs: $4,500

Description: Situated on the south bank of the Rappahannock River at the Town of Remington, Culpeper Crossing is historically significant for its strategic importance to Union and Confederate soldiers seeking to control the territory around the river. The property is highly visible and provides public access opportunities for heritage tourism and waterfront recreation. The Civil War Preservation Trust has a purchase contract on 200 acres that includes this tract and intends for it to be included in their proposed Brandy Station-Cedar Mountain state park.

 

Project Name: James River Trail
Locality: City of Richmond
Acreage: 8.38
Easement Cost: $0 (easement is being donated)
Transactional Costs: $4,500

Description: This highly visible, privately owned parcel on Riverside Drive fronts on the south bank of the James River and includes a strip of land between the river and the public road that is informally used by the public as a walking path. The owner is donating an open-space easement to prohibit further development, and is offering permanent public access on the strip along the river’s edge. This could further city plans to create a connection between Pony Pasture and Huguenot Woods, two parks on the James River. It also assists with safety concerns, as visitors must either walk on the private property or on a public road to get from one park to the other.

VOF volunteer team celebrates “A Day of Service” at Evergreen Cemetery

A team of nearly a dozen VOF staff, family, and friends, including executive director Brett Glymph and trustee Viola Baskerville, headed out to Richmond’s Evergreen Cemetery for a cleanup on January 15 to honor Martin Luther King Day. Taking place each year on the third Monday in January, the MLK Day of Service is the only federal holiday that is also a national day of service — a “day on, not a day off.” Governor Ralph Northam came out to meet and talk with volunteers about the community effort.

In all, 119 people came out to work, braving the frigid temperatures to clear decades of overgrowth and debris from walkways and grave markers in the historic African-American cemetery. The Enrichmond Foundation organized the day’s activities, part of a long-term project to ensure that Evergreen will reemerge as a point of pride for the city.

“There’s no better way of honoring the legacy of Dr. King,” said Ted Maris-Wolf, Enrichmond’s caretaker for the site. “Our volunteers include East End Richmond neighbors, as well as folks from western and northern Virginia who wanted to connect with something larger than themselves and be of service to others.”

Having acquired the 60-acre cemetery in May 2017, Enrichmond will place it under a conservation easement with VOF to protect the site from future development. Over the next several years, the nonprofit will continue efforts to restore the site, making it more accessible to visitors with help from community partners.

“We are so proud to be part of this effort,” said VOF’s Brett Glymph. “Watching the community come together to restore dignity to this special place gives us great hope for the future.”

VOF protected 23,446 acres of open space in 2017

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) recorded 75 new conservation easements in 2017, protecting 23,446 acres of open space for farming, forestry, and recreation in 47 localities.

Conservation easements are voluntary agreements between landowners and qualified government or nonprofit organizations that limit future residential and industrial development while keeping the land in private ownership.

One of the largest easements is on Bacon’s Castle Plantation, a 1,260-acre farm in Surry County that surrounds the oldest documented brick dwelling in the United States. The house, now owned by Preservation Virginia, was built in 1655 for merchant Arthur Allen and later became known as Bacon’s Castle because it was the site of an uprising against the Colonial government led by Nathaniel Bacon. The owner of Bacon’s Castle Plantation, a 10th-generation Surry County farmer whose mother grew up on the adjacent property that is now Chippokes Plantation State Park, worked with VOF, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service to complete the easement.

Another new easement is on a 9-acre tract in Virginia Beach, protected in partnership with the Living River Restoration Trust, the City of Virginia Beach, and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The property, a mix of wetlands and forest, will eventually will become the first public park in Virginia Beach offering paddling access from the southern shore of the Elizabeth River.

In addition to the new easements, VOF amended 27 existing easements to increase protected acreage and improve restrictions. The foundation also took ownership of 1,100 acres of high-value conservation land as mitigation for impacts to 11 easements from two proposed federally regulated natural gas projects.

VOF now protects more than 820,000 acres of open space across Virginia. These lands help to protect more than 4,100 miles of streams and rivers, 230,000 acres in ecologically significant landscapes, 375 miles along designated scenic roads and rivers, 325 miles of threatened and endangered species waters, and 80 miles along designated hiking and biking trails. Since being established by the General Assembly in 1966, VOF has preserved open space at a rate of nearly two acres every hour. About 95 percent of all Virginians live within 10 miles of VOF-protected land.

Updated: VOF goes to bat for conservation on several electric transmission projects

As utility companies expand and upgrade Virginia’s electrical grid, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation has been involved in the review of upgrade projects to determine and mitigate any potential impacts to existing VOF open-space easements. In several recent cases, VOF has helped to influence the eventual design of a project to reduce and minimize impacts to conservation lands.

Remington-Gordonsville Project

Dominion Energy’s Remington-Gordonsville transmission project aims to resolve electric reliability issues in the Piedmont region west of Interstate 95 and east of Shenandoah National Park. The company has proposed using its existing 38.2-mile transmission corridor from the Remington substation in Fauquier County to the Gordonsville substation in Albemarle County.

The project originally proposed to replace single-circuit wooden “H-frame” towers with double-circuit steel monopole towers. The wooden towers are about 50 feet tall on average, whereas the steel towers would be more than 100 feet tall. The existing right of way passes through 26 VOF easements, and in some cases the right of way would have needed to be expanded from 70 feet to 100 feet.

As part of its review of the project, VOF submitted comments to the State Corporation Commission (SCC) outlining its concerns regarding the potential impacts to VOF open-space lands and their viewsheds. VOF asked Dominion Energy and the SCC to consider, among other things, shorter towers and non-glare materials to minimize impacts.

On June 13, 2017, the SCC hearing examiner issued a report that included VOF’s recommendations where feasible. The final decision rests with the three SCC Commissioners, who are responsible for issuing the certification of public convenience and necessity that would allow Dominion to begin construction.

VOF has written to VOF easement landowners along the line where it has been determined to be technically feasible and reasonable to install shorter towers. If landowners are interested in the shorter tower option, they may work with Dominion and VOF to determine if additional right of way can be accommodated on VOF easements.

“We are pleased that the SCC and Dominion have been receptive to our recommendations,” says Martha Little, VOF’s deputy director of stewardship. “We look forward to working with them and the landowners to find ways to reduce the impact to the surrounding landscape as much as possible.”

Cunningham-Dooms Project

VOF also provided comments to Dominion Energy and the SCC on the Cunningham-Dooms rebuild project, which affects portions of the Piedmont. Project details can be found here.

VOF expressed concerns about the use of galvanized steel lattice towers in this area and the impacts to conservation resources. VOF asked for alternatives to be explored for siting, height, and tower construction materials that would avoid or minimize visual impacts.

On May 5, 2017 the SCC issued its final order for the rebuild project and required that Dominion Energy use chemical dulling of the tower finish to reduce visual impacts.

Norris Bridge Project

VOF staff was requested to provide testimony at the SCC hearing on this rebuild project, which would upgrade a power line that crosses the Rappahannock River at Norris Bridge between Lancaster County and Middlesex County. The section of line to be replaced is one of two crossings of the Rappahannock that form part of the Dominion transmission network providing power to the Northern Neck. Details can be found here.

In its testimony, VOF expressed concerns about new towers obscuring views of Parrot’s Island, a VOF easement in the Rappahannock River that is visible from the bridge. Because of its high visibility to the traveling public, the Parrot’s Island easement included “preservation of scenic open space”.

The SCC hearing examiner’s report for the Norris Bridge project has not yet been released.

8/23/17 update: The hearing examiner’s report has been published and recommends placing the power line underground. The report now goes to the SCC commissioners for consideration.

12/22/17 update: On December 21, the SCC issued an order directing Dominion to build the line underwater, finding that “underwater construction reasonably minimizes adverse impacts of the replacement line.” Approval is conditioned upon Dominion obtaining any other approvals necessary for underwater construction.

Dooms-Valley Project

Dominion Energy contacted VOF for comments about the Dooms-Valley rebuild project in June 2017, ahead of formally filing its application with the SCC and independent of the state environmental impact review process.

VOF provided a preliminary response on July 12, 2017, advocating for steps to reduce the visual impact of new structures on the landscape, or at a minimum, to emulate the existing towers in height, size, color and reflectivity as much as feasible.

VOF will likely submit further comments on this project during the official comment period as administered by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

VOF sets planning in motion for Hayfields property in Highland County

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) has initiated planning for the 1,034-acre Hayfields Farm in Highland County, which is being acquired by VOF following a three-year process in which Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC sought conversion of open space on 10 VOF easements for a proposed 42-inch natural gas pipeline.

Dominion Energy, the lead developer of the pipeline, was required to provide substitute land for the incursions under Virginia’s Open-space Land Act. VOF’s Board of Trustees finalized the conversion applications on October 16 and gave Dominion until December 4 to transfer ownership of Hayfields to VOF on behalf of the Commonwealth. Dominion is also providing $4 million in long-term stewardship funding to help with the maintenance and operations of the property.

Hayfields will not be opened to the public until VOF has finished going through a management plan process that will involve stakeholders such as state and local government partners and community representatives.

VOF expects to conduct planning sessions in 2018, which will inform the management plan process. Details about the sessions will be made available through VOF’s website, as well as through media and direct contact with state and local partners.

“Our overall goal is to make certain that this incredible property remains protected as open space, and that it serves the greatest good for the Commonwealth, says VOF Executive Director Brett Glymph.