Fauquier landowners preserved more than 3,150 acres in 2011

Fauquier County put more than twice as many acres under conservation easement in 2011 than it did in the previous year.

That amounts to 3,150 acres, surpassing all other Virginia counties for the period, according to the Warrentonbased Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC).

“Fauquier was far and way ahead of the other counties,” said Heather Richards, PEC’s vice president for conservation and rural programs. “People in Fauquier have plenty of options and the county’s been a big player in that. It hasn’t slacked off on its PDR program.”

Under Fauquier’s purchase of development rights program, the county pays eligible rural landowners $25,000 per potential home site.

In 2011, the county bought 43 development rights for $1.1 million, permanently protecting 1,082 acres, according to Fauquier Agricultural Extension Agent Ray Pickering.

To date, Fauquier has invested $10.8 million to the 10-year old voluntary program, permanently protecting 8,596 acres, according to Fauquier Agricultural Development Director Ray Pickering.

Fauquier funded about two-thirds of the cost with taxpayer money, Pickering said. Most of the rest of the money came from grants.

As of Dec. 31, the county had about 94,500 acres under easement, either through the county’s PDR program or organizations such as the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF), a quasi-state government agency that holds most of the state’s conservation easements.

In 2011, VOF accepted easements on 1,007 acres in Fauquier, giving such landowners federal and state tax benefits. (Statewide, VOF took easements on 39,000 acres.)

With 23 percent of its total land under easement, Fauquier leads all Virginia counties in acres protected.

Prime farmland accounts for 49,000 acres and forests 38,000 acres, according to PEC.

Historic districts contain 25,000 acres, Civil War battlefields 9,000 acres, the Warrentonbased nonprofit reports.

Easements also protect about 380 miles of streams and rivers and 33,000 acres along scenic roadways, PEC said.

Last year, the Leonard family of Midland sold 20 development rights on a portion its Al-Mara Farm to the county at $25,000 apiece, according to Pickering.

In permanently protecting 458 acres near Elk Run from development, the Leonards received $500,000. (The easement didn’t involve the part of the farm at Midland.)

“It was something we had known about for years,” Patty Leonard said when asked why her family decided to participate in the program. “It was the right time to do it.”

Under the PDR program, landowners get to keep their land and use the money received as they see fit.

Some use the cash to improve their farms or invest it for retirement purposes.

That’s generally how the Leonards plan to use their PDR money, Patty said.

The family includes her husband, parents-in-law and brother-in law, who jointly agreed to sell the development rights, Patty said.

The Leonards milk about 300 cows and also raise corn and soy for sale.

“It was a good year” for the PDR program in 2011, said Pickering. The protected properties are “all excellent, productive farms,” he said.” They include dairy and beef operations.

In addition to donating easements to VOF, Fauquier land - owners also may give them to the county, as did the Hall family, which owns the 218-acre Fawnborough on U.S. 17 near Marshall.

In exchange for easement donations, landowners receive federal income tax deductions.

Her family decided to put an easement on the land because “we wanted to keep the farm intact” and because the mountaintop property commands magnificent views, said Candice Hall, a lawyer in The Plains. “It would be a shame for it to be developed.”