About 5,000 acres in Orange, Greene, Albemarle protected in 2011

Nearly 5,000 acres of undeveloped land in Greene, Albemarle and Orange counties in 2011 were protected by conservation easement from development, according to the Piedmont Environmental Council.

In Albemarle County, 2,283 additional acres were put under easements in 2011, about 1,300 acres in Greene County and 1,300 acres of Orange County, according to Rex Linville, a land conservation officer for the council.

A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement between a landowner and a land trust to permanently protect a property’s natural and cultural resources. In exchange for limiting the future development of the property, property owners are eligible for federal income tax deductions based on the value of the property, reduced estate taxes based on the reduced value of property due to its restrictive use and Virginia income tax credits based on the property value.

The state tax credits are transferrable to other taxpayers and may be sold by property owners.

More than 85,700 acres of Albemarle County — about 18 percent — is currently under easement. An estimated 10,000 acres in Greene County and almost 31,200 acres in Orange County are under easement.

“It is great to see landowners, who care passionately about the future of our rural areas, continue to step up to the plate and protect their land. It is also great that we have such a strong team of private and governmental conservation organizations working together,” Linville said.

Council officials also credited the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Virginia Department of Forestry, The Nature Conservancy and government agencies for working to obtain easements.

“I think one of the reasons we’ve seen a push for conservation easements in [Orange County] this past year is that, in this economic climate, landowners are thinking about what’s really important to them,” said Alison Rau, a land conservation officer for the council.

Among the properties protected last year was Beaupre Farm, located between Gordonsville and the town of Orange, a 217-acre farm in use for cattle and boarding retired horses, as well as a small vineyard. Sylvania Farm, a 469-acre horse farm, also went under easement.

Three Greene County families were recognized earlier this month by the forestry department for granting conservation easements to the state. The easements included nearly 400 acres on Snow Mountain and Hightop Mountains west of Stanardsville and 163 acres on Hightop Mountain.