1) Conservation easements are supposed to protect special large tracts of land.
2) About 235 acres of this mountain was preserved in 2006. This is Tinker Mountain, and this wooded land is part of the Carvin's Cove watershed.
3. Carvins Cove, for those who don't know, is where the City of Roanoke gets it water.
4. The water comes from Tinker Creek, which Annie Dillard made famous in her book, A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
5. Tinker Creek allegedly orginates, at least in part, on our farm from a spring which flows into two ponds.
6. Others have it orginating on land behind us, property that is now a subdivison.
7. Regardless, the streams which run together to form Tinker Creek have no name that I'm aware of.
8. On Tuesday, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine appeared at Hollins University to applaud my alma mater for helping procure the Tinker Mountain Easement.
9. The photo above is Governor Kaine talking to Hollins University President Nancy Gray.
10. Governor Kaine wants to preserve 400,000 acres of Virginia land during his four years in office.
11. So far, just over 100,000 has been preserved and he has three years to go.
12. Conservation easements are hard to sell to the old farmers.
13. That means that land like what you see below will probably one day be sprouting houses instead of crops.
You can't let it happen.
ReplyDeleteA major lake developer has now bought farms on two sides of my family farm in Union Hall. We're seriously considering a conservation easement for this farm that has been in my family over 90 years.
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