RD29 - 2002 - 2003 Biennial Report of the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation

  • Published: 2004
  • Author: Virginia Land Conservation Foundation Board of Trustees and Department of Conservation and Recreation
  • Enabling Authority: Code of Virginia - § 10.1-1018 (F.)

Executive Summary:
The Virginia Land Conservation Foundation (Foundation) has seen significant changes since its inception in 1992. Since that time, the Foundation has experienced a name change from the Virginia Conservation and Recreation Foundation to the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, it has seen significant expansion and improvement to its Code authority, and it has launched a successful grants program. In 2000, the Foundation saw its Board of Trustees grow from 9 members to 18 members.

In FY1999-2000, the General Assembly and the Governor provided the Foundation $1.75 million and in FY2000-2001, $6.2 million. In FY2000-2001, a separate $3.4 million was also provided specifically for battlefield protection. From the FY1999-2000 monies received, the Foundation expended $1,323,969 on competitive grant funds to 9 projects conserving 1136.87 acres. In addition to the 8 grant projects that were completed, $29,430 from the FY1999-2000 monies was paid to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to reimburse them for a portion of their administrative costs associated with acquiring the Big Survey. Three projects originally awarded funds from the FY1999-2000 monies were withdrawn. In FY2000-2001, competitive grants were awarded in the amount of $3,886,837 to 19 projects conserving an estimated 3,332 acres. Also from the $6.2 million, $1,550,000 went to the Virginia Outdoor Foundation for conservation activities. This investment conserved an additional 3,313 acres of farm and forest land in conservation easements. The $3,382,004 expended for Civil War battlefields helped to protect an additional 1257 acres within four historic battlefields. In total, the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation has awarded grants for $10,142,810 and protected an estimated 9,039 acres. (Note: As projects close, final revenue paid and acreages protected may be revised. These changes will be reflected in subsequent reports.) This amount has been significantly leveraged through matches and other partnerships.

The Foundation met its charge to develop a strategic plan for the expenditure of unrestricted moneys received from the Fund. The strategic plan governing fiscal expenditures for FY1999-2000 was the grant program guidelines entitled “1999 Virginia Land Conservation Fund Grant Program, September 1999” and, the strategic plan for FY2000-2001 was the grant program guidelines entitled “2000 Virginia Land Conservation Fund Grant Program, October 2000”.

The Foundation is and, if properly funded, will continue to be one of the primary tools through which Virginia will achieve its conservation goals. The Foundation will be one of the key elements in assisting the Chesapeake Bay states in achieving the Chesapeake 2000 commitment to permanently preserve from development 20 percent of the land in the watershed by 2010. The Foundation will also play an important role in achieving the Council on Virginia’s Future’s proposed land conservation indicators.

The Virginia Land Conservation Foundation also serves as a coordinating mechanism for bringing together a number of state agencies’ land conservation efforts and priorities. A coordinating agency task force made up of the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the State Forester, the Director of the Department of Historic Resources, the Director of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Executive Director of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, or their designees, provide the VLCF Board with assistance on such matters as grant criteria, grant priorities, and grant selection.

To help foster the goals of the Foundation, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Office of Land Conservation was established to serve as a statewide, central contact, repository, and clearinghouse for land conservation in Virginia. In January 2003, the Office released its land conservation website ( http://www.dcr.state.va.us/olc/index.htm). This site includes a wide variety of land conservation materials and contact information that provides land conservationists and managers with an important land conservation planning tool. In December of 2003, the Department of Conservation and Recreation added to its Office of Land Conservation website the state’s first comprehensive statewide public lands resource mapping tool. This important land conservation planning tool can be accessed by going to the DCR’s land conservation website or by accessing it directly at http://www.dcr.state.va.us/dnh/conslandindex.htm. In future grant rounds, the Office will also serve as an important source of information for potential Foundation grant applicants.

The Foundation will be a critical element in meeting the Commonwealth’s conservation commitments, coordinating land conservation efforts, developing important website tools, and preserving the important lands across the Commonwealth as a whole.