New River Land Trust

Each year the New River Land Trust, in partnership with the Virginia outdoors foundation, other state and federal government agencies, and other conservation organization, works with landowners from elliston in montgomery county west to cox's chapel in grayson county to save large tracts of Land and family farms in the New River region. A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement by a landowner that protects his or her Land from intensive development in perpetuity. Conservation easements protect working forest lands and vital regional water resources for human, wildlife, and aquatic species. The landowner continues to own the farmland or forest and can pursue all traditional uses of the Land, such as agricultural and timbering. In exchange for protecting the Land's conservation values, the owner receives generous state and federal tax incentives. In 2020, the New River Land Trust helped three landowners with 716 acres under conservation easements and 229 acres in fee simple conservation projects. The easements included a state funded project on extremely high value forest with notable water, natural heritage, and scenic resources in giles county. The Land Trust did two fee simple purchase projects in order to protect high conservation value Land in montgomery county. The montgomery project was funded with grant money from the Virginia outdoors foundation's forest core fund. The Land will be transferred to the town of blacksburg to become a forested nature park in 2021. The fee simple properties will be permanently protected through their transfer to the public entities. Also in 2019, the New River Land Trust continued to partner with local governments, regional organizations, and other stakeholders in strategic planning to identify critical lands and resources for targeted conservation outreach and education. These efforts included development of an upgraded gis system that can be used by staff and board members to quickly identify properties with important conservation values in our service area. This project continues the Land Trust's efforts to strategically pursue its mission. The New River Land Trust's work helps balance growth and development with conservation of regionally and locally important rural lands and associated resources. Since 2002, the New River Land Trust has worked with 263 landowners to voluntarily place more than 56,428 acres of farms, forests, open spaces, and historic places in conservation easements. This protected area includes over 27 miles along the New River, one of the fourteen american heritage rivers in the country and the only one in Virginia. The New River and its surrounding appalachian mountain landscape are defining features of the area.

Youth outreach: New River Land Trust plays an important role in connecting local youth with the beautiful Land around them. Our educational outreach focuses on four important areas: conservation connections in cultural heritage, local food and farm to table initiatives, water quality and habitat diversity, and nature play and environmental appreciation. Our youth education outreach is designed to inspire students to value their natural surroundings and to foster responsibility and stewardship of farmland, forests, and watersheds.

Public outreach: the New River Land Trust provides outreach, education, facilitation, and implementation services to landowners with an interest in conserving rural Land and its associated natural and/or cultural resources. We have a particular focus on the New River region, although over the years we have worked with people out of state and in many Virginia counties.