The Nature Conservancy Receives $3M Anonymous Gift, Protects Hightop Mountain
Anonymous Gift Helps Fund Critical Conservation Efforts in Central Virginia
Charlottesville, VA—23 July 2004—The Nature Conservancy announced today the receipt of a $3,000,000 donation from an anonymous donor that will significantly advance the Conservancy's program to protect important natural areas in Central Virginia.
The Nature Conservancy has already made use of part of the gift. On July 22, The Conservancy purchased a 703-acre tract of land on Hightop Mountain, adjacent to the Shenandoah National Park in Greene County.
In addition to Hightop Mountain, the remainder of the gift will fund the Conservancy’s efforts in the Piedmont, a heavily populated region in Central Virginia that connects the Blue Ridge Mountains to the coastal plains. Specifically, the Conservancy will focus its efforts on the protection of the Rivanna watershed, the Rapidan River and three large forested areas located in Albemarle, Greene and Nelson counties.
“The lands and waters in Central Virginia are being threatened at a pace like never before,” said Michael Lipford, Virginia executive director of The Nature Conservancy. "We are honored, grateful and excited by what we hope to accomplish on Hightop Mountain and other regions of the Piedmont because of this most timely and generous gift. We could not begin to protect this much land without a leadership gift from such an inspirational conservationist and longtime friend of The Nature Conservancy.”
The acquisition finalizes a two-phase process to protect 830 acres on Hightop Mountain, one of the many privately-owned ridge tops adjacent to the Shenandoah National Park that are prime targets for development. The protection of Hightop addresses many conservation values, both for humans and plant and animal species:
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Hightop Mountain is clearly visible from Skyline Drive, and development of the property would noticeably interfere with the views from the Bacon Hollow Overlook.
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The property lies at the headwaters of the North Fork of the Rivanna River, which supplies drinking water for the citizens of Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville. The North Fork also provides habitat for the globally rare and endangered James spinymussel.
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The forests on Hightop Mountain are part of a mostly unfragmented block of forest covering over 41,000 acres that the Conservancy has identified as one of the finest examples of a Piedmont hardwood forest system remaining in Virginia. Substantial wildlife, including black bears, and globally rare and uncommon plants and natural communities exist on Hightop.
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The Conservancy anticipates that traditional uses such as hiking and hunting will continue.
“Development is causing central Virginia to become increasingly fragmented, but we have hope that through donations and projects like these, we can continue to enrich the quality of life for current and future generations of Virginians,” said Ridge Schuyler, Piedmont Program director for The Nature Conservancy in Virginia. “Without a willing landowner, this would not have been possible. We were incredibly fortunate that the owner of this property wanted to see it protected as much as we did.”
Initial funding to start the Conservancy’s Piedmont Program was provided three years ago by John Birdsall, a conservation-minded supporter from Albemarle County.
“I’m thrilled to see the continued commitment to conserving central Virginia’s natural places,” said Birdsall. “Development is threatening our forests, rivers, streams and way of life – but the Conservancy’s efforts in our community are working to change that.”
In addition to a generous donor and a willing landowner, the Conservancy was fortunate to be working on the acquisition with local conservation partners the Piedmont Environmental Council and the Blue Ridge Foothills Conservancy.
"This project is an example of conservation at its best. Not only has land with significant conservation values been protected, but the process was forged in a partnership among the landowner and several private conservation organizations," said John Moore, land conservation officer for the Piedmont Environmental Council. "This project, which over the past four years came so close so many times to failing, was the result of commitment, persistence and patience."
In Virginia, the Conservancy has established 46 preserves, five national wildlife refuges and nearly 70 state and local parks and natural areas. An example of the Conservancy’s work within the Piedmont includes promoting the creation of the Rivanna River Basin Commission to help guide decision-making and developing computer models to guide efforts to protect and restore natural flow regimes in the Rivanna watershed, one of the finest remaining Piedmont aquatic systems in the world.
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