Saving Land in western virginia
FALL 2015 | Volume 19, Issue 2
Outdoor Adventures make a splash! You’re invited to the Conservation Celebration
blueridgelandconser vancy.org
Blue Ridge Land Conservancy
thank s to you—
Promoting the conservation of western Virginia’s natural resources- farms, forests, waterways, and rural landscapes
! conservation C
Board of Trustees Linda W. Pharis, President Betty H. Lesko, President-Elect F. Fulton Galer, Treasurer Whitney H. Feldmann, Secretary C. Whitney Brown Frank G. Carter Diana K. Christopulos Stephen M. Claytor M. Rupert Cutler Thomas M. Dunkenberger, Jr Broaddus C. Fitzpatrick Joshua C. Gibson Quinn F. Graeff William M. Hackworth Anne M. Jennings George A. Kegley Nelson W. Lafon
Advisory Council Lucy R. Ellett Liza T. Field Talfourd H. Kemper Robert B. Lambeth, Jr. Jeanne M. Martin
Staff David C. Perry, Executive Director Meagan R. Cupka, Project Manager Crystal P. Pait, Office Assistant 722 First Street SW, Suite L Roanoke, VA 24016 540-985-0000 blueridgelandconservancy.org
PHOTO COVER: Family and friends explore the north fork of the Roanoke River at our Water Bug Walk in July. Credit: David Perry
another year to
c e l e br at e
ome see what your generous support has achieved this year! You’re invited to the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy’s annual Conservation Celebration on Sunday, September 13th. The land conservancy will be honoring Roanoke’s Betty Field and daughter Liza of Wytheville with the prestigious Vic Thomas Award, while Roanoke County’s Jim and Jill Woltz will receive the conservancy’s Land Saver Award. (To learn more about these impressive individuals and their accomplishments, turn to pages four and six of Saving Land.)
Meet us at The Glen at Glenburn Farms, a beautiful new setting in Roanoke County for our dinner on land protected by the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy. Inspired by a Turkish music pavilion, this brand new building provides a new and beautiful view facing nearby Explore Park. Blue Ridge Catering will serve a fantastic local foods dinner while we serve up local beer from Roanoke’s Soaring Ridge Craft Brewers, local cider from Bold Rock Hard Cider in Nellysford, and wines from Virginia Mountain Vineyards of Fincastle and Webster C. Hall vineyards in Franklin County. The Roanoke-based bluegrass band, Easy Pickins, will inspire you to get up and dance! This year’s silent auction will feature “Food and Fun” items, with highlights being a three-night, three-day stay at a private vacation home on Smith Mountain Lake, as well as four tickets in club-level seating with a stadium parking pass to the Washington Redskins vs Dallas Cowboys game at FedEx Field in Washington, D.C. There will also be gift certificates to local restaurants and landscape paintings from our Plein Aire event in May. Friends of the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy received personal invitations to the Celebration in August. Pre-sale tickets for the Conservation Celebration are $70 per person and can be purchased online, or over the phone. Private tables of eight are also available for $600 per table and include reserved VIP seating, name placards, and complimentary champagne. Tickets purchased after September 4th will be $75 per person. Children under 12 are free. For more information or to make your payment online, please visit: blueridgelandconservancy.org/conservationcelebration. We look forward to a wonderful evening spent with our Friends!
Girls dance to the happy sounds of Easy Pickins.
museum
cries
“Fowl!” Join us on October 17th at 8 AM for an expert-led bird hike along Roanoke’s Lick Run Greenway in partnership with the Taubman Museum of Art as they unveil their upcoming exhibition: John James Audubon: Swift Birds of Passage. You’ll begin at Booker T. Washington Park, then journey to the Lick Run Greenway to begin the walk. Dr. Rupert Cutler of Roanoke, Community High School teacher Bill Hunley and BRLC’s outdoor educator Erica Reed will guide you through identifying local birds. There have been over 80 difference species seen along the greenway!
When: Saturday, October 17th at 8 AM Where: Start at Booker T. Washington Park, walk along the Lick Run Greenway How Long: This slow walk takes about two to three hours Fee: $3 for Friends of the Land Conservancy, $6 for the general public To register or become a Friend: Call (540) 985-0000 or e-mail ereed@blueridgelandconservancy.org.
Table of Contents • fall 2015 Conservation Celebration....................................2 Land is Passion for Woltzes............................... 4-5 Betty and Liza Field Helped Save Mountains.... 6-7 New Officers Join BRLC........................................8 Fun Run in the Sun..............................................8 Outdoor Adventure Series....................................9 Conservation Celebration Sponsors.............. 10-15
Fall 2015
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is passion, business for Woltzes Roanoke County couple to receive 2015 Land Saver Award By George Kegley
44 || Fall Fall 2014 2015
J
im and Jill Woltz know a little something about land.
The Roanoke County couple, this year’s recipients of the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy’s Land Saver Award, has worked to protect more than 1,500 acres on Poor Mountain, as well as 6,000 acres along the New River in Grayson, Carroll, and Wythe Counties. They conserved a pristine trout stream below the famed Twin Falls in Floyd County with the help of the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy. And Jim Woltz used his knowledge of land conservation to help assemble the historic sale of Natural Bridge, described as “Deal of the Year” in 2013 by The Land Report, a national conservation magazine. Jim, founder and owner-president at Roanoke’s Woltz and Associates and friend of the Conservancy, said that Natural Bridge deal was the pinnacle of his 42-year career in real estate. “After that, I could have folded my tent and walked away,” he says, but he didn’t. His busy Roanoke firm handles the sale of large properties across more than 15 states from Minnesota to Georgia. Angelo Puglisi, the previous owner of the bridge, considered it one of the Seven Wonders of the New World and wanted to preserve the historic structure but didn’t know how to do it. Jim, a longtime easement donor, showed him how to protect the bridge. With Jim’s encouragement, Puglisi donated the Bridge parcel of 188
acres to the Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund, created by Tom Clarke of Roanoke’s Kissito Healthcare. The goal is for the property to become a state park by next summer at no cost to taxpayers. Jim praised Puglisi’s “$22 million gift” and his “passion and desire for a state park.” When Thomas Jefferson paid just 31 shillings for the bridge in 1774, he described it as “the most sublime of nature’s works” with a goal of ensuring public access to the natural wonder. “He had it right,” Jim said. Jim and Jill are proud of their twin sons, John and Jacob, students at North Cross School. At their 475-acre farm on the upper slopes of Bent Mountain, they raise beef cattle and chickens. On Memorial Day weekend, the boys helped their dad load 1,200 square bales of hay. In farm work, they’re learning about “duties and responsibilities.” On a mid-summer camping trip in the Pisgah Forest of western North Carolina, the boys and Jim climbed 6,088-foot Cold Mountain and learned survival skills. A pipe was bent in a trout pond and the boys grabbed a pick and shovel to dig a 100-foot ditch to straighten the pipe. The Woltzes also have an easement on 500 acres in his native Haywood County, N. C., property owned by his family for 120 years. Jim covers a lot of territory. He has worked with Boy Scout camps in New York and Kentucky on easements,
helping them with stream mitigation. Preserving water quality is important for him. Woltz once explained his view on saving land: “Our job is to get the seller the most dollars out of the land. In order to do that, we must divide the land into parcels that people can afford. At the same time, we point out to the seller the benefits of conservation easements. As long as there are monetary benefits, it’s a fair, great way to preserve property and open land but the easements must be voluntary.” Employing 16, Woltz & Associates recently ranked No. 4 among America’s top 25 auction houses according to The Land Report. The magazine said the Roanoke firm specializes in timberland, farms, lake and riverfront properties and conservation easements. Jim recalled how he started in real estate 42 years ago at the age of 23, selling houses for Luke Waldrop in Salem. As an outdoorsman, growing up in rural Mt. Airy, N.C. “liking the land,” he got tired of seeing only “brick ranches with shag carpets” and he told Waldrop he wanted to work with land. That led him to start his own business, selling property. If he had a crystal ball, Woltz said, he would like to see the boys handling land sales one day and he could have “more family time” instead of frequently flying to faraway land transactions. The twins have “the same appreciation for land” as their dad.
“...we point out to the seller the benefits of
conservation easements. As long as there are monetary benefits, it’s a fair, great way to
preserve property and open land...”
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Betty and Liza Field help
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other and daughter Betty and Liza Field, recipients of the 2015 A. Victor Thomas Environmental Stewardship Award, have saved mountains during their long history of caring for the land. They will be recognized at the annual Conservation Celebration of the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy with its highest honor on Sept. 13 at Glenburn Farms, east of Vinton.
In Roanoke, Betty Field quietly led a successful effort to conserve nearly all of Mill Mountain with a conservation easement, blocking an Betty Field effort to build a hotel and restaurant. For many years she has taken an early morning walk 6
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Fall 2015
around the mountain, frequently going back to help homeless people, wounded animals or vandalized trees. Added to her hiking and running, she’s traveled more than 28,000 miles by foot, according to an estimate by Roanoke Times columnist Dan Casey. Daughter Liza, a writer and educator in Wytheville, was a leading worker when the huge privately-owned 7,500-acre Big Survey south of Wytheville was rescued from a threatened sale, clearcut and development. Now known as the Big Survey Wildlife Management Area, owned by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the tract surrounds another pristine 1,800-acre watershed gorge owned by Town of Wytheville. Liza and the late Archie Campbell petitioned for the tract to be kept as a wildlife recreation area, where today hiking trails, birding and nature study abound. Liza often takes walks in this area.
Mountains are “home” to the Field family. Father Bob Field and sons, Jett and Tom, led Betty and Liza on weekly hikes as the children were growing up. As Liza describes it, “Our parents plunged us into the living world of our mountains, backpacking year round, swimming in rivers, skating on Al Hammond’s sheep farm pond (location of the Celebration), acquiring huge love for these mountains, springs, creeks and wildlife, a sense that all places are home.” Betty Field talks about her life-long devotion to the land, starting at age 5, when her family was living in a log cabin on Mason’s Creek, near Catawba Mountain. There she rambled alone, unafraid, perceiving the friendliness and kinship of nature. “I guess nobody ever has loved the mountains more than I do,” she said. Since her teen years, she has led people into mountains, rivers and creek gorges,
elped save
mountains By George Kegley
Liza Field
so that “these places could bless them with the love of nature and reverence her Cherokee ancestors felt for all of life,” according to Liza. Betty went to Sullins College at Bristol, and taught kindergarten at Roanoke’s Second Presbyterian Church. She worked at Scout camps and led Cubs, Brownies and Girl Scouts into the mountains for 35 years, teaching nature lore and courage through hiking trips, orienteering, backpacking, weekend campouts and tree-planting. Her Girl Scout troop was one of the first to investigate pollution sources
in the Roanoke River, tour the sewage treatment plant, organize paper and metal recycling drives, create an ecology badge and succeed in closing a Blue Ridge Parkway segment for an annual hiking/biking day. She led and lost an effort to keep two rustic Girl Scout camps open and was recognized with top honors by the national organization. For decades, Betty coaxed the young and old, church groups and city officials up Mill Mountain to learn from the land. In her passionate defense of the mountain against commercial development, she researched its history and gave talks, wrote letters, created maps, posters and t-shirts, took photos and distributed bumper stickers and petitions. She was an early advocate for a Mill Mountain conservation agreement, and she helped locate and create several greenway trails, one
named for her, used by many walkers on the mountain. Liza Field’s conservation/philosophy columns appear in several Virginia and mid-Atlantic newspapers and journals. With 25 years of teaching in high school and college settings, meanwhile giving conservation lectures and workshops, she says, “I always try to reopen circuits, to bring the indoor people out into nature and bring nature to indoor classrooms, churches and other settings.” Liza, a graduate of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., cofounded the South Cumberland Regional Land Trust there, which has saved biologically rare land parcels. Her work with the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy on the Big Survey, educated her on how to find help later to rescue more threatened land tracts in the New River Valley. Fall 2015
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Meet your new officers, board members The Blue Ridge Land Conservancy has named its officers and new members of its Board of Trustees for the 2015-2016 year.
Linda Pharis
Betty Lesko
Whitney Feldmann
F. Fulton Galer
Linda Pharis of Roanoke, a retired vice-president from Blue Ridge Public Television, was named president. Betty Lesko of Moneta, was named president-elect. Whitney H. Feldmann, a community volunteer and former schoolteacher from Roanoke was reappointed secretary, and F. Fulton Galer, CPA, of Roanoke County, was reappointed treasurer. Newcomers to the board of trustees include Frank Carter of Roanoke, the President and CEO of Member One Federal Credit Union;
Frank Carter
Diana Christopulos
Josh Gibson
Dr. Diana Christopulos of Salem, the co-founder of the Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition; Josh Gibson of Franklin County, town planner for Rocky Mount, and Nelson Lafon of Roanoke, a project coordinator with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Thanks to all of our trustees for their hard work guiding and supporting the land conservancy!
Warm Kick-off for Fun Run in the Sun amilies and children took off in the Fun Run in the Sun as the siren sounded, starting their one-mile rush around Green Hill Park near Salem on a sunny Saturday morning. Enjoying the breezy morning, they turned onto the Paw-Paw Trail. Popping off the wooded trail for a few moments, they took part in the Master Naturalists’ activity station where they examined animal furs, learned about honey bees, and played with rubber bugs.
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After crossing the finish line, the runners lay down on the grass as they enjoyed Homestead Creamery ice cream and admired their medals. To cool off, they jumped into the Roanoke River with the Clean Valley Council and spent hours splashing in the water and identifying the critters which live in the river. They also painted rock friends and made recycled paper crafts with Growing Up in the Valley. To all, it was a success! The Fun Run in the Sun was a new event for 2015 and part of the land conservancy’s new Outdoor Adventure Series. Thank you, sponsors and partner organizations, who contributed their time and efforts to make this event possible and so enjoyable! We hope to see you next year. 8
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Nelson Lafon
There are so many reasons to love BRLC’s
Outdoor Adventures
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aybe it was that bird that has always eluded you. Or maybe it was bursting out of a mountain laurel and rhododendron jungle, only to have your breath taken away by the view from the top of Cahas Mountain. And it might have been that impossibly big crawdad your son pulled from the river on a hot Sunday afternoon. Thank goodness there was cold Homestead Creamery ice cream to take the edge off! Whatever the reason, the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy’s new Outdoor Adventure Series has been a hit with Friends like you and newcomers to the conservancy as well. Kicking off in May with a birdwatching hike led by renowned local birders Rupert Cutler and Bill Hunley, the Outdoor Adventures have included a guided hike up Cahas Mountain, protected by the land conservancy but under threat from the proposed Mountain Valley gas pipeline; a “Water Bug Walk” in the north fork of the Roanoke River at McDonald’s Mill near Blacksburg, also protected with a Blue Ridge Land Conservancy conservation date
Sept. 19
Oct. 4
Oct. 17
event
agreement; and a full moon hike at Carvin’s Cove on August 29. (You guessed it—Carvins Cove is protected by the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy, too!) “The Outdoor Adventure Series is a great way to get our Friends of the Land Conservancy out on the properties we’ve conserved and learn how their membership is saving the special places they love,” said Blue Ridge Land Conservancy Executive Director David Perry. “The activities have been a lot of fun, everybody discovers something new, and people who don’t know about the land conservancy learn how they can become Friends, too.” Erica Reed of Troutville has been coordinating the Outdoor Adventure Series as a part-time Outdoor Educator with the conservancy. Erica’s degree in biology from Roanoke College, her experiences as a long-term substitute teacher in Roanoke City schools, and her work with the USDA Forest Service every summer have made her a great fit for the job.
description
Critters and Tall Trees
Jesse Overcash from the U.S. Forest Service will lead an exciting trail walk through Caldwell Fields, showing what kinds of critters in the forest depend on old-growth trees.
Go BATTY with Bat-houses!
Make a bat house and save a bat! In the past several years, bats have struggled against fungi. Give them a cool place to live by making your own bat box! Materials are provided, but bring safety goggles and a hammer.
Audubon Bird Walk
Join us on October 17th at 8 AM for an expert-led bird hike along Roanoke’s Lick Run Greenway in partnership with the Taubman Museum of Art as they unveil their upcoming exhibition: John James Audubon: Swift Birds of Passage.
where
Caldwell Fields, Montgomery County
Don’t miss these upcoming Outdoor Adventure Series programs!:
when
registration
directions
9:00 AM, bring lunch to eat during walk
$3 for Friends, $6 for general public
Meet in the parking lot at Caldwell Fields. From Blacksburg (junction of North Main Street and US 460), follow US 460 west for 2.8 miles. Turn right on Craig Creek Road (SR 621), go 8.8 miles. Road turns to gravel after 4 miles. Caldwell Fields are on the right.
1:00PM –
$30 for each bat house (covers materials for bat box)
Meet under the shelter atop Mill Mountain, just off Fishburn Parkway in Roanoke.
$3 for Friends, $6 for the general public
Meet at the Washington Park pool parking lot off of Orange Ave. in northwest Roanoke.
Mill 2:30PM; Mountain 2:30PM – Picnic Shelter, 4:00PM if interest great Roanoke enough
Lick Run Greenway, Roanoke
8:00-11:00 AM
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THANK YOU to our corporate sponsors who have made the 2015 Conservation Celebration possible! You’ll find a special message from each of them across the next few pages. Their generous financial support helps save land in our region, which boosts southwest Virginia’s tourism, agriculture and timber industries and supports a healthy local economy.
Supporting conservation, energy efficiency and environmental responsibility. AppalachianPower.com/environment
Please take time to look over our sponsor messages, and if you have the opportunity, thank them for helping save the places you love!
P
Brown Edwards
421 S. College Avenue
n
Salem, VA 24153
n
540.444.2930
partnersinfinancialplanning.com
319 McClanahan St. SW (540) 345-0936
Roanoke, VA 24014
“F su I’v ha de lov I’v go we en ph em fo
www.becpas.com
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Grow Forward
Cherry Bekaert & Holland Proud Sponsors of the 2015 Conservation Celebration
Find out how we can be your guide forward cbh.com
Richard Hedley, Partner 540.342.6911 | rhedley@cbh.com
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The Blue Ridge Land Conservancy is accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, a mark of distinction in land conservation. BRLC is also a proud member of the Land Trust Alliance, the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Conservation Network.
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722 First Street, SW, Suite L Roanoke, Virginia 24016-4120 Phone/Fax 540-985-0000 www.blueridgeconservancy.org Member of:
Land Conservancy’s lofty achievements result of high standards Did you know that the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy is nationally accredited? That means that we hold ourselves to the highest standards of professionalism and accountability—in other words, we try to do things the right way, all the time. That commitment to excellence is verified by our national accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. About 300 land trusts and conservancies are accredited nationwide—about one in six—but more than 75 percent of the conserved land in America is protected by accredited land trusts. The Blue Ridge Land Conservancy is among that elite group of 300, and is one of just eight accredited land trusts in Virginia. Every five years, the Land Trust Accreditation Commission reviews each accredited land trust, and if it finds that its high standards are still being met—as determined by the organization’s adherence to 12 standards divided into 88 best practices—then the land trust is accredited for another five years. The Blue Ridge Land Conservancy is applying for reaccreditation this fall. As part of the process, the Accreditation Commission invites comments from the public on the land conservancy and how well it adheres to the national standards and practices.
For the full list of standards see http:// www.landtrustaccreditation.org/tips-andtools/indicator-practices. To learn more about the accreditation program and to submit a comment, visit www.landtrustaccreditation. org, or email your comment to info@
landtrustaccreditation.org. Comments may also be faxed or mailed to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, Attn: Public Comments: (fax) 518-587-3183; (mail) 36 Phila Street, Suite 2, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Comments on the Blue Ridge Land Conservancy’s application will be most useful by October 31, 2015.