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ment negotiations with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation about a year ago. The terms, along with a plat and map of the property, “were very carefully worked out with a VOF ' representative so there could be no question of interpretation at a later date,” he said.
Reaction to the easement from conservationists was uniformly positive. Frank Reynolds, the president of RLEP, said his organization is “very happy for the citizens of the county . . . its location is within one of the premier scenic locations, and we are very grateful to Mr. Dwyer for this unselfish act of conservation.”
Mr. Dennis agreed, adding, “it gives us a chance to protect the scenic character of the central part of the county.” Along with similar easements granted previously by the Birds, Ms. Babcock, Mr. Irwin and others, “it protects the area back toward The Peak,” the craggy mountain just west of Flint Hill.
Mr. Dennis added that Mr. Dwyer’s gift is only the latest among a significant number of scenic easements granted by property-owners in the northern part of the county.
Allen Olson, former president of RLEP and a member of PEC’s Board of Directors, said that he has participated in discussions in the past with landowners about such easements. “Perhaps Mr. Dwyer’s gift will encourage others to take similar actions.”
Mr. Olson, a lawyer who has worked on open-space easements both with clients and as a representative of RLEP, said that often it takes several years for people to get familiar with the easement concept and talk with their neighbors about it. “Then, one or two will take the leap and do it, and then frequently others follow.”
Along the winding, picturesque country roads surrounding The Plains and Middleburg in northern Fauquier County, he said, more than half of the land is protected by scenic easements.
An easement, he explained, allows the most permanent protection for land. “People talk about our restrictive zoning,” Mr. Olson said, “but a political shift could undo that zoning. Easements cannot be undone.”
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