ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300030
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Almost 150 acres in Montgomery County are protected in perpetuity, thanks to two landowners and a state conservation organization.
Local residents Lynn Nystrom and Richard Claus donated the easement, in the mountainous southeast corner of the county, to the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. The General Assembly established the foundation 30 years ago to preserve open spaces from development.
The land, co-owned by Nystrom and Claus, is south of Interstate 81 in the Sugar Grove community, near the future site of the Falling Branch Industrial Park. The easement was recorded Thursday in county land records.
Under conservation easements, land owners agree to give up development rights on their land. Any future owners or heirs will have to adhere to the requirements.
Under this particular easement agreement, the land cannot be subdivided or used for industrial development and can only have one house on the entire acreage.
This is the first easement in the New River Valley acquired by the foundation, according to Executive Director Tamara Vance, though two more agreements are under negotiations.
"People are just learning about conservations easements," she said. "Usually, one person will do it, and then the neighbors will see what a good idea it is, and then it will catch on."
She said Nystrom first heard about easements after a Giles County couple donated acreage along the New River to two nonprofit conservation groups last year.
The easement does not mean the land becomes a public park, or otherwise open to the public. But recreation is just one benefit of conserved land, Vance said.
"It can be valuable just as a natural resource area for natural habitats, for scenic views, for scientific purposes like protecting endangered species or sensitive plants," she said. "The concept of having open space in a community [is to have it] as part of its landscape, permanently."
LENGTH: Short : 45 linesby CNB