Rural Landowners Manual: Conservation Depends on All
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By John E. Ross
ur landscape, now tawny but soon to be green, laps gently like a terrestrial sea against the Bull Run Mountains in the east and the Blue Ridge in the west. Approach it from Mt. Zion Church or Ashby Gap, and the countryside unfolds, a tableau of fields and pastures veined by clear-running streams and punctuated here and there by woodlands. Drive its back roads, many of them gravel and lined by stone walls. Absorb its pastoral tranquility. Feel the day’s tensions melt from our shoulders. That’s the gift bequeathed us by four generations of families who chose this countryside because it was then and is now the antithesis of and antidote for most urban ills. “We are all here because we care about the same things,” said Robert Bonnie, the emcee for an event marking the recent release of the “Rural Landowner Manual” at the Middleburg Community Center. Bonnie, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation, reminded the audience that, like politics, “All conservation is local.” The new manual is “the first-of its kind collaboration to speak with one voice to preserve our communities and their rural heritage,” said Middleburg Mayor Bridge Littleton in opening the presentation. Led by Dulany Morison, chair of PFH Conservation Fund, the manual is the product of an intensive yearlong collaboration among eight regional conservation nonprofits. It lays out specific steps in three sections – Your Home, Your Land, and Your Piedmont Countryside – to ensure that the area’s bucolic countryside is conserved for future generations. According to the manual, whether a home rests on large acreage or a small village plot, its occupants can reduce energy consumption, landscape with native plants, preserve the historic character of the house and related structures, engage in smart waste management and pest control, and design outdoor lighting for both safety and preservation of stunning starry night vistas. The manual encourages current and new landowners to place their property under conservation easement. In so doing, owners avail themselves of a portfolio of tax benefits while preserving their conservation values and contributing to the protection of the northern Piedmont landscape. Owners of large tracts can curate their property by implementing best practices for hay, crop, livestock, and forest agriculture; ensuring habitat for native grasses and birds and animals that thrive on them; and managing septic systems and stormwater runoff to limit stream and groundwater pollution. Preserving the Piedmont countryside depends on civic engagement of landowners and tenants. The manual urges one and all to be active advocates for wise conservation practices and policies for our neighborhoods, our villages and towns, our counties, our state, and our country. In his book, “A Welcome to Middleburg and the Hunt Country,” the late Charlie Whitehouse wrote years ago that the region’s aggressive and capably led conservation organizations “always need new recruits. Join them. Their foes (ill-conceived and unchecked development) are worthy of your steel!” Day by day, his
urging becomes more and more critical. More than a well-reasoned discourse on crucial steps needed to conserve the hunt country’s myriad natural assets, the manual offers a detailed blueprint for specific resources that residents should consider. Under each of the three sections, the manual describes programs, their benefits, and how to access them via website, email, postal and physical address, and phone. In addition, it contains similar contact information for the area’s wide range of conservation nonprofits. Morison led the team of representatives from eight conservation organizations that prepared the manual (see sidebar). He served as editor, with assistant editor Sophie Langenberg, an executive with the Land Trust of Virginia, having a significant editing and writing role. Each nonprofit contributed $2,500 to underwrite
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MIDDLEBURG SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE| Winter 2024
Photo by Doug Gehlsen, Middleburg Photo.
Dulany Morison, Sophie Langenberg, Steve Price, Chris Miller, Kevin Ramundo, Madeline Skinner, Lori McGuinness and Rae Stone with Middleburg Mayor Bridge Littleton at the release of the “Rural Landowner Manual.”
The Rural Landowners Manual was prepared by conservation organizations represented by the following leaders: Dulany Morison, the manual’s editor and PFH Conservation Fund Chair; Sophie Langenberg, the manual’s assistant editor and Communications & Education Manager Land Trust of Virginia; Lori McGuinness, Goose Creek Association Co-Chair, Fauquier County; Chris Miller, Piedmont Environmental Council President; Steve Price, Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Chair; Kevin Ramundo, Citizens For Fauquier County President; Madeline Skinner, Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition Executive Committee Member; and Rae Stone, OCH Conservation Foundation President. costs of production and distribution. In addition to being available online, printed copies are being distributed to newcomers to the area and are available to current residents as well through realtors, townships, and sponsor organizations. To track the manual’s impact, Morison said the team preparing it is asking organizations sponsoring and listed in its pages to record whether there’s been a spike in contacts following the recent release. In addition, hits and comments on the manual’s website are being monitored. And the steering committee will meet periodically to discuss feedback with the goal of providing annual on-line updates and a possible revision in three to five years. To download the Rural Landowners Manual: https:// pfhconservationfund.org.
