Virginia Grants $500,000 to Preserve Bay Watershed Farmland

January 2009 -- The state of Virginia has awarded a total of $500,000 to 11 localities in the Bay watershed portion of the state to preserve privately owned farmland.

The state funding will go toward local Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) programs, which compensate landowners who permanently preserve their land by voluntarily placing a perpetual conservation easement on it.

Virginia Beach and Albemarle, Clarke, Cumberland, Fauquier, Goochland, Isle of Wight, James City, Northampton, Rappahannock and Spotsylvania counties will receive the state funding, which matched local PDR funding up to $49,900 per locality.

The conservation easement funding is part of Gov. Timothy Kaine’s year-long Renew Virginia initiative to promote renewable energy, green jobs and environmental protection.

"Farmland preservation remains a priority for Virginia at both the state and local level," said Gov. Kaine. "My Renew Virginia plan includes initiatives to protect our environment, and these PDR programs do exactly that."

Read more on Virginia’s PDR and land preservation programs in this December 2008 article from the Bay Journal. Virginia residents interested in the PDR program should contact their city or county government.