Fall 2022

FROM THE DIRECTOR

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Robert C. Mountcastle, President

J. Ross Wimmer, CPA, Treasurer

Fiona M. Tower, Secretary

A. Sidney Barritt III, MD

Dominic M. Basile

Helen A. Burnett

William Hunley

Sonja A. Ingram

Lowell F. Inhorn, MD

David C. Jones, DDS

Wendy W. Kendrick

Susan E. McSwain

Hunter Naff

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Helen A. Burnett

Broaddus Fitzpatrick

William Hunley

Lowell F. Inhorn, MD

Janet Scheid

STAFF

David C. Perry, Executive Director

Emily R.H. Bender, Assistant Director

Tina L. Badger, Project Manager

Meredith H. Keppel, Stewardship Manager

The Lemon House

1305 Maple Avenue SW

Roanoke, VA 24016

540-985-0000

blueridgelandconservancy.org

You’re making a HUGE difference in the world! Because of you…

…family farms are protected forever …acres of forest full of deer, bears, birds and other wildlife won’t be turned into acres of asphalt …rivers and streams flow cleaner without mud and waste from cows, which now have icy cold waterers to drink from …scenic views from our highways and back roads are preserved for our children and theirs to enjoy.

And so much more! Pat yourself on the back…and thanks for your support of saving land!

Fall is upon us here in the western half of Virginia, from the ridges and valleys of Craig County to the gently rolling fields of Halifax, and all points in between. For your staff at your local land conservancy, this means cooler days and fewer ticks. Land conservation projects that were planted from seed in the spring and germinated this summer begin to come into fruition, with year’s end in sight.

And speaking of conservation and cooler days, I hope you will join your fellow differencemakers at the Conservation Celebration on Oct. 2. We’re planning for beautiful fall weather framed by the Peaks of Otter as we gather at Cloverlea Farm near Bedford. This year, in addition to a gourmet catered dinner, beer and wine, live music and auctions, we’re presenting two special awards: the first-ever George Kegley Award for Volunteerism, presented to Linda Pharis of Roanoke, and the Vic Thomas Award for Environmental Stewardship, presented to Ron Crawford of Read Mountain.

You can learn more about this year’s event on page X or at partyforland.org.

Thank you again for saving land! We’re happy that we can help make your dreams of a greener, cleaner and more scenic world a reality.

Dave

David Perry Executive Director

We protect the lands and waters you love, forever.

Cover photo courtesy of Robert and Leah Talbert

Dave Perry

FROM THE FIELD

Spring and Summer have been busy for all of us on the BRLC team, between the final updates to the Lemon House (see page 2 for a full update from Dave) to staffing changes and new conservation projects we have been hard at work. A highlight of this summer for the staff and Stewardship Committee was taking a Wilderness First Aid training with partners at Conservation Partners and Valley Conservation Council. This was an excellent opportunity for us to learn wilderness safety and skills that we hope to never need. Equipped with this training we can feel more secure during our property visits and easement monitoring.

Across all three service regions we had the opportunity to meet landowners interested in conservation easements through a series of landowner meetings. These meetings have been a great opportunity to meet landowners and discuss the potential for conservation easements in these areas. These landowner meetings have spurred several new easement projects in addition to the projects we have ongoing from landowner interest. For upcoming meeting dates please check our website or follow us on Facebook. There has been lots of easement interest in Bedford Co this summer and I have enjoyed spending time on Big Island Highway in Bedford. If you haven’t had a chance to drive through this area, I highly recommend the drive!

This fall our Conservation Celebration will be co-hosted by the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy and the Central Virginia Land Conservancy. We will be meeting at the Cloverlea Farmhouse at the Claytor Nature Center on October 2, 2022 and I hope to see you there!

If you can’t make it to the Celebration this year, we have several other upcoming events that we hope you can attend.

October 9 – Garden Day at the Lemon House

TABLE OF CONTENTS FALL 2022

2 3 4 6 9 15

From the Director

From the Field

Mcivor Farm Protected Conservation Celebration Recap Into the Thick of It Survey

Want to be a friend of the birds and the bees? Come give our native pollinators a “helping wing” on Oct. 9 from 2-4 pm at the Lemon House in Roanoke, when we’ll be planting more native bushes, weeding and doing other fall tasks! To volunteer, e-mail David Perry at dperry@brlcva.org, or call (540) 985-0000 ext. 1.

November 16 – Carvins Cove Hike and Easement Monitoring

We need volunteers to hike around Carvins Cove with us on November 16th! This 3-4 mile hike will be an opportunity for volunteers to learn more about the Cove and conservation easements as well as a chance to pick up trash, document the beautiful ecosystems, and socialize with other Cove-Lovers! For more details, or to RSVP e-mail Meredith Keppel at mkeppel@brlcva.org

For more ways to get involved check out our website: brlcva.org or follow us on Facebook!

560 Acre McIvor Farm is Now Protected forever

Gladys – Leah and Rob Talbert recently partnered with the Central Virginia Land Conservancy to protect 560 acres of forest and farmland near Gladys in Campbell County.

This land is special to the Talberts. Conserving it for future generations is what friend and former landowner Joseph Thomas McIvor, better known as Joe Thomas, would have wanted.

“Joe was a close family friend”, reminisces Leah. “I grew up hunting on the property with my dad. Joe meant so much to my family and I feel very blessed to have been left with the responsibility of owning and managing this land in a way that Joe would be proud of.”

Joe enjoyed the outdoors, especially hunting, and managed the land for timber and recreation. He had a tremendous land ethic and deep ties to the community. To honor Joe’s legacy, Leah and Rob decided to place the land in a conservation easement.

Farming and forestry have been integral to the management of this property since it was acquired by the McIvor Family generations ago. A combination of pine

plantations, mixed hardwood stands and farm fields are interspersed throughout the property, including bottomland hardwoods that encompass several creeks and tributaries. The land is also full of meaningful landmarks. The original house, built in 1798, is still on the property and steps will be taken to preserve it for the future. “The cellar was full of glass jars of canned goods. Hundreds of them”, remarks Leah. Also on the property is the McIvor Family Cemetery, where Joe Thomas and his relatives are buried. Old tobacco barns are dotted throughout the property, serving as reminders to Campbell County’s farming heritage.

“This will be where the Talberts plan to build their forever home”, says Jennifer Wills, program manager with the Central Virginia Land Conservancy. “Leah and Rob showed us two places on the land where they might build their home. Both are beautiful, with forests all around.”

Leah, a school librarian for Greene County Public Schools, has embraced the library as a place where students can read books and be creative. She also has a degree in wildlife science and understands the important role

nature provides in helping us understand our world.

Rob, who is a native of Russell County, VA, is a regional forester with the Virginia Department of Forestry. He has worked in public service his entire career, helping forest landowners protect and manage their land. He even had the privilege of writing a forest management plan for Andy Griffith while employed by the North Carolina Forest Service. He understands the value of protecting land against potential development. “The number one threat to forestland in Virginia is development. Placing this land in a conservation easement is a way to honor Joe’s commitment to the land and his commitment to the citizens of Campbell County,” Rob says.

Rob and Leah met while enrolled at Virginia Tech, where Rob graduated with a degree in forestry and Leah in wildlife science. With their combined experience and expertise, they would like to bring students to the property for environmental education programs. “Nature provides us with the ultimate classroom,” says Leah. “Having a good understanding of the world in which we live and how we interact

in it can really help us to make informed decisions as to how we manage our wonderful natural resources.”

Under the terms of the land conservancy’s agreement with the Talberts, the couple can build a limited number of homes on the property but are not allowed to convert the property into a high-density housing development. The Talberts agree to protect the streams on the property with wide, forested buffer areas, including several creeks, which are tributaries of the Staunton River. Preservation of this largely unimproved land will preserve the scenic local and regional landscape, while also allowing them to manage the property for the health, timber, and recreation benefits that forests provide.

The Central Virginia Land Conservancy has been a part of saving land across Central Virginia for nearly two decades. The conservancy protects land in Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Buckingham, Campbell, and Nelson counties and the city of Lynchburg. For more information on how you can help save our beautiful scenery, or to learn how you can conserve your own land, call (434) 942-4320, visit cvalc.org, or e-mail jwills@cvalc.org.

“Nature provides us with the ultimate classroom.”

— Leah Talbert

CELEBRATION & AUCTION 2022Conservation

Another Conservation Celebration and Auction when off without a hitch. What’s that you say?

Rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ian are not a hitch? Well, when your staff and volunteers are determined you get it done!

We were very excited to have our Conservation Celebration and Auction in conjunction with Central Virginia Land Conservancy at the Cloverlea Farmhouse at Claytor Nature Center. Ian had different plans and as the day approached, we realized that the forecast was not conducive to an outdoor event. Thankfully the Vinton War Memorial was available, and the event was held in their lovely Grand Dogwood Ballroom. Guests stayed warm and dry while dining on a catered meal by Tracy Hamilton and enjoying music by Possum.

Despite the weather, we had a full house and were pleased to honor our A. Victor Thomas Award to Ron Crawford for his work to bring about Read Mountain Preserve. Ron received a lovely painting of Read Mountain done by none other than Nan Mahone.

Our George Kegley award for Volunteerism when to none other than Linda Pharis for all the work she has done in the conservation community over the years, including serving on the board of Blue Ridge Land Conservancy. Linda received a beautiful bowl carved out of Osage Orange, a tree that has special significance to George Kegley who grew them on his farm.

We’d like to thank everyone for coming, the sponsors for their support, and the business and individuals who donated to our live and silent auction.

By Madelyn Stone

This Year's Award Winners

The Blue Ridge Land Conservancy and Central Virginia Land Conservancy's annual Conservation Celebration honors the hard work and dedication of local land heroes with the A. Victor Thomas Environmental Stewarship Award and the inaugural George A. Kegley Award for Volunteerism.

A. Victor Thomas Environmental Stewardship Award

This year's recipient of the A. Victor Thomas Environmental Stewardship Award is Ron Crawford, a Botetourt County volunteer whose grassroots advocacy helped to conserve the top of Read Mountain and led to the creation of the Read Mountain Preserve park. Crawford started the group that became Read Mountain Alliance in 2001 to preserve the undeveloped slopes and ridges of Read Mountain. Crawford has diligently worked with the Alliance to conserve over 200 acres in the Roanoke County Park.

George Kegley Award for Volunteerism

The first recipient of the George Kegley Award is Linda Pharis of Roanoke. A former board member and past president of the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy, she also served on the Boards of the Richmond Printmaking Workshop and Habitat for Humanity.

The award is named after long-time land conservancy volunteer and supporter, George Kegley of Roanoke.

Linda Pharis

Ron Crawford (right) pictured with trail building legend Dr Bill Gordge mapping out routes on Read Mountain

Into the Thick of it

As the spring daffodils fade and the trees begin to leaf out once more, a new season has also arisen at Blue Ridge Land Conservancy. Our dear Stewardship Manager Kate Glass has gone off to the greener pastures of retirement (where she will continue to do many a dog rescue transport) and I have stepped in to fill her very big shoes. This position is not wholly new to me as I have been going out with Kate ever since I started in September 2021. When I first started at BRLC, I did not imagine my internship would turn into a job which would turn into a full-time job. I was just a senior in college trying to figure out my thesis.

BRLC, as it turns out, has been a wonderful source of inspiration for that thesis, because the work we do is critical and yet often underexamined. When I presented my thesis advisor with the idea of doing a cost-benefit analysis on conservation easements in the Roanoke River watershed, she wanted to know what made Roanoke so special. Oh, what doesn’t, I responded. In the Roanoke River watershed (within Virginia—see map below), we miss most of the major national and state parks and forests, and yet, we are barely below the state average for percent of land conserved (16.8% roughly in the state compared to a rough 14% in our watershed).

How is that possible? Conservation easements.

Almost 50% of the conserved land in our watershed is held in conservation easements— efforts that are often dismissed as “small fish” gains. But recent research I conducted for my senior thesis highlight just how much these easements add up. Our cost-benefit analysis of conservation easements in the Roanoke River watershed was specifically looking for public costs and public benefits. When it comes to easements, public benefits can be captured in ecosystem services such as nutrient

cycling, pollination services, carbon capture and storage, and so much more that is provided by protected habitats. According to our model, those ecosystem services accounted for more than $1.159 billion worth of value provided to the public for just this watershed. Meanwhile, the cost (calculated as lost tax revenue from tax credits) was estimated at roughly $267 million for the area. That means that in the Virginia portion of the Roanoke River watershed, taxpayers see a 4.34x return on investment for the efforts of organizations like the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy.

Forest Rest is a place where your loved ones rest in peace without embalming, taking away some of the financial burden that comes with end of life arrangements. Forest Rest requires only a biodegradable casket or simple shroud, ensuring that nature is allowed to run its course, returning life and energy to the earth. Your decision to choose natural burial at Forest Rest demonstrates your sincere care and respect for your planet.

WE WANT YOUR OPINION!

Tell us your thoughts on the special places that BRLC should focus on conserving.

Pick the top three kinds of places where would you like to see the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy focus their conservation efforts.*

 Mountain Tops and Ridge Lines

 Rivers and Streams

 Forested Areas

 Farms

 Property Adjacent to Conserved Lands

 Wildlife Habitat

 Other:____________________

What are the best things about the Greater Roanoke Region (The Blue Ridge Land Conservancy’s service region)? What are the parts of quality of life that make this a great place?

Based on your answers above, what resources are needed to enact these changes? Do these resources currently exist, and if not, how do we create them?

What do you see as the main environmental issues in this area in the next 1-5 years?

If you could do one thing to create the environmental community you want to see in the BRLC Region, what would it be?

How do these environmental issues affect our quality of life in the Greater Roanoke region?

What else would you like us to know?

What would you like this area to be known for 10 years from today? And what are the major obstacles to making this happen?