With its museum, studio, gardens, trails, public playground, and frontage on the Lafayette River, the Hermitage Foundation has provided an opportunity for thousands of families to connect with nature in one of Virginia’s most developed regions. That opportunity is now preserved for generations to come.
Author Archives: Jason McGarvey
Shenandoah easement donor: “We’re going to take care of the land”
Growing up, Wade Hawkins watched neighboring farms be developed throughout the 1990s. His father and grandfather tried to purchase and save some of them, but couldn’t compete with developers. Wade didn’t want his family’s farm to suffer a similar fate, so he protected the land with a VOF easement.
Virginia Outdoors Foundation Protected 27,300 Acres in 2014
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation permanently protected 27,300 acres of farmland, forests, and other open space through 125 conservation easements in 2014. For the second consecutive year, the largest region for …
Continue reading “Virginia Outdoors Foundation Protected 27,300 Acres in 2014”
Survey finds VOF easements largely protecting working farms and forestland
A new survey of 631 landowners who granted conservation easements to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) since 2000 reveals that landowners are primarily managing those lands for agricultural production and/or …
Continue reading “Survey finds VOF easements largely protecting working farms and forestland”
November 6 board meeting relocated to Capitol Square
Note: This post was updated on October 31, 2014. In response to growing public interest, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s scheduled November 6 Board of Trustees meeting has been relocated to Senate …
Continue reading “November 6 board meeting relocated to Capitol Square”
VOF expands public comment period for Nov. 6 board meeting
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation will be expanding the public comment period at its Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, November 6, 2014 in Richmond in order to accommodate growing interest …
Continue reading “VOF expands public comment period for Nov. 6 board meeting”
VOF statement on proposed gas transmission lines
Update: The Highland Recorder reported in August that the Spectra proposal has been suspended. The Virginia Outdoors Foundation has learned that three energy companies—Dominion Resources Inc., Spectra Energy, and EQT …
Continue reading “VOF statement on proposed gas transmission lines”
More Southside landowners embracing conservation easements
VOF has recorded more new open-space easements in Southside than in any other region during the last several years, including one of our largest ever, on 7,312 acres in Halifax that protects more than 10 miles of shoreline along the headwaters of the John H. Kerr Reservoir, and the Dan, Bannister, and Hyco rivers.
VOF board votes to no longer accept easements with retained oil and gas rights
At its April 22 meeting, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s Board of Trustees voted that, going forward, it will decline to accept charitable gifts of easement that retain rights for on-site …
Continue reading “VOF board votes to no longer accept easements with retained oil and gas rights”
Family protects 350-year-old farm along the Mattaponi River
It’s one thing for a farm to stay intact for 350 years. It’s another thing for a farm to stay in the same family for that long. Next year, Locust …
Continue reading “Family protects 350-year-old farm along the Mattaponi River”