Varina landowner records fourth conservation easement, protecting 49 acres

Capital Region Land Conservancy recently recorded a conservation easement on 49 acres off Osborne Turnpike in Varina. It was the fourth easement by landowner Randy Welch.

The easement, held by CRLC, guarantees that the land will be protected in perpetuity. Organization officials consider it particularly important because the entire property is identified in ConserveVirginia as being amongst Virginia’s highest conservation-value lands.

The new conservation easement will achieve a number of CRLC goals, from protecting farmland and safeguarding regional food security to preparing for climate change and preserving history.

In Henrico, 65% of all farmland has been converted during the past four decades, with less than 10,000 acres of farmland remaining and an average farm size of just 99 acres. This site will provide working lands, according to CRLC officials, and will safeguard 20 acres of prime farmland and 12 acres of farmland of statewide importance.

It also will help protect natural floodplains along the James River, which provide a buffer against fast moving flood water, absorb and store excess runoff and filter pollutants from our water resources.

And, its presence within the core battlefield area of The Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights, fought in Virginia on Sept. 29-30, 1864 during the Civil War, will help to preserve the historic value of that event. Fourteen of the fifteen Congressional Medals of Honor awarded to United States Colored Troops throughout the Civil War were awarded to men who fought in the pre-dawn hours of this battle.

The easement also will protect 862 feet of the James River shoreline with a 100-foot riparian buffer. The property is listed on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail and the James River Heritage Trail, and is visible from these corridors.

“It’s significant to have a landowner voluntarily donate an easement on property that ranks in the top 10% of Virginia’s most important places to protect,” said Parker Agelasto, CRLC’s executive director. “It’s exceptional, however, when they are preserving land that has such a diverse array of conservation values and benefits for the community.”

Said Welch: “I am fortunate to be able to help protect land along this segment of the James River for future generations.”