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An Eastern Henrico landowner recently completed his third conservation easement.
Randy Welch of Varina increased by 72 acres the land he has permanently protected from development, adding to the combined 352 acres on Deep Bottom Road that he previously placed under such easements. The Capital Region Land Conservancy and the Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District facilitated the review and recordation of his most recent easement on Saxby Road.
“Helping conserve large areas of the landscape in Eastern Henrico (Varina), an historically agricultural community, is an important role that the District is delighted to play,” said Nicole Anderson Ellis, vice chair of the Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District.
The Saxby Road property is managed for timber production and provides for the conservation of 56 acres of important soils – 38.4 acres of US Department of Agriculture-designated prime farmland soils and 17.5 and soils of statewide importance. Though the conservation easement permits the future construction of a single-family dwelling on the property, much of the prime farmland is designated as a no-build area.
The Virginia Natural Heritage Data Explorer identifies approximately half of the property as an ecological core area of moderate value within a watershed integrity area of high to very high value, and as within an area of the highest vulnerability for suburban growth based on predicted growth patterns.
“This property represents a sizeable tract of land in a county that has rapidly developed and continues to rapidly develop and the easement helps to preserve the local rural landscape as well as water and ecological resources that will benefit all of us”, said Parker Agelasto, executive director of the Capital Region Land Conservancy.
Also being preserved are portions of the property that have been included in the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report as study area for the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm / New Market Heights that occurred Sept. 29, 1864. Welch’s previous conservation easements at Deep Bottom Road also protect Civil War earthworks and riffle pits where the United States Colored Troops engaged combat during the First Battle of Deep Bottom July 27- 29, 1864 and Second Battle of Deep Bottom Aug. 14-20, 1864.
“Protecting this property that is 750 feet from the banks of the James River with only three property owners between me and Rockett’s Landing and less than six miles to the Virginia State Capital in downtown Richmond is something I am very proud of," Welch said.
