Land Conservation

PEC has helped landowners permanently protect over 430,000 acres of rural or natural land. Conservation Easements help ensure that the Virginia Piedmont is always characterized by its open spaces, healthy environment, and cultural resources.

Empowering an Organic Dairy

Terry Ingram operates Threlkeld Farm and has participated in both state and federal cost-share programs to enhance his farm and dairy program. Operating an organic dairy requires understanding and serious cooperation with nature. A farmer must plan to manage the land in a way that essentially allows it to care for itself. By implementing Best Mangement Practices, Terry has taken a double step forward in managing his dairy and enhancing his farmland.

1,000 Acres of Jefferson County Preserved

Members of the Carter family acted together in 2009 to protect nearly 1,000 acres of land in Albemarle County that has been in their family since 1730. The Carters’ ancestors were neighbors to the Jeffersons, with a plantation about seven miles from Monticello, and the 1792 home, Redlands, suggests a Jeffersonian influence. The house was built by Martin Thacker, who also built Monticello, and its plan resembles Thomas Jefferson’s unbuilt design for the Virginia governor’s mansion.

Protecting the Cedar Run Watershed

When Mike and Margrete Stevens first came to Fauquier County eighteen years ago, as the new owners of Bonny Brook Farm, near Warrenton, they made friends with their neighbors Julian and Sue Scheer and Hilary and Rich Gerhardt (the Scheers’ daughter and son-in-law). This friendship with a family of dedicated conservationists led the Stevens to start hosting a wildflower walk on their land each April, as a sky-colored carpet of Virginia Bluebells blossoms along Cedar Run.