For Immediate Release

For More Information
Robert Lazaro, Director of Communications, Piedmont Environmental Council
cell: (571) 225-0198

Record 1,465 Acres Conserved in Clarke County for 2007

(Warrenton, VA - January 24, 2008) In 2007, residents of the Piedmont
protected 23,021 acres of open space through the use of conservation
easements. In Clarke County, 1465 acres were preserved in 2007 bringing the
grand total of more than 18,500 acres of privately conserved land in the
County. The acreage for 2007 set a record for Clarke County.

The movement to protect privately-held rural land from development has been
experiencing tremendous momentum in Virginia's Piedmont region, with
landowners conserving an average of 23,714 acres every year for the last
five years. The total for 2007 brings the number of acres conserved in the
nine counties served by the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) to 293,364
acres, an acreage that is larger than Shenandoah National Park

"We're immensely pleased at what communities in the Piedmont have been able
to accomplish to provide a legacy of conserved open space for our children
and future generations," says Chris Miller, President of PEC. "When it
comes to conservation, this is one of the most successful regions in the
entire country."

The Piedmont region continues to lead the state of Virginia, which is among
the top five states in the nation for protecting land through private
conservation easements. The nine counties of Virginia's Piedmont-including
Loudoun, Clarke, Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Madison, Orange, Greene,
and Albemarle-have conserved more land than almost any state in the nation.

Bob Lee, the Executive Director of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF),
said, "Calendar year 2007 witnessed the second highest annual acreage in new
Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) easements at 60,175 acres. VOF staff
worked in collaboration with PEC staff to realize significant land
conservation in each of the nine counties in the PEC service region. This
year also represents 35 years of cooperative land conservation between VOF
and PEC."

According to a 1996 study by Tom Judge, Director of Joint Administrative
Services for Clarke County, farms and other open lands use only $0.14 in
local services for every dollar of taxes paid, while homes require $1.35 for
every dollar paid. Land placed under permanent easement also lowers the
value used by the state to determine local ability to pay, which results in
increased funding from the Commonwealth for schools and other county
services.

Easements also support two major industries of the Piedmont: agriculture and
tourism. Like other landowners, farmers can gain needed capital by placing
an easement on their land and earning a substantial state tax credit which
they may either use or sell. Farmers also benefit from reduced appraisal
values on their land, which lightens their tax burden. In Clarke many
landowners also have the option of working with the Clarke County
Conservation Easement Authority, a publicly supported program that purchases
easements on working farms and lands with valuable natural resources.

Protecting the integrity of the rural landscape also preserves essential
historic resources, provides vital habitat for wildlife, and safeguards the
scenic views and recreation opportunities that sustain a high quality of
life in the Piedmont. "Conservation easements help us to take care of many
of the things that people in this region care about the most," says Don
Loock, PEC Land Conservation Officer for Clarke County.

PEC operates an office in the Clarke County. For information about land
conservation in Clarke you can contact Don Loock at (540) 987-9441 or via
email at dloock@pecva.org.