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Virginians who love the
Commonwealth’s rural landscapes or respect the importance of our productive farms should be happy to learn that our state is one of the top five in the entire nation when it comes to protecting privatelyheld rural land. In Virginia, over 300,000 acres have been voluntarily protected by the men and women who own them, an area of preserved land that is more than one and a half times the size of Shenandoah National Park. Only a handful of other states can boast so many acres.
In Rappahannock County alone, over 23,000 privately owned acres are protected, including 2,707 that were protected in 2005. Over 16 percent of the county has been permanently set aside as forests, farmland, or open space.
This means that in spite of the rapid pace of growth and the difficult struggle to control development, we can depend on finding some of our favorite countryside still unspoiled when we visit in a year, or in twenty years. We can even be certain that our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren will be able to enjoy the same beautiful landscape.
The benefits of conservation go far beyond beauty, providing clean drinking water, lower taxes, purer air, viable local farms, and a prosperous tourism industry. In Virginia, all private conservation projects must help to fulfill goals that citizens express through their local Comprehensive Plan.
Just in the northern Piedmont of Virginia, from
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