Warsaw, VA – The Virginia Environmental Endowment (VEE) awarded a $20,000 grant to Northern Neck Land Conservancy for an initiative it calls Promoting Conservation and Inspiring a Regional Community of Land Protectors. The grant support will allow the Land Conservancy to begin work on several outreach events, as well as bolster staffing potential to foster a conservation community that values and will take action to protect regional land.
The five counties of the Northern Neck and Essex County contain large stretches of high priority wildlife biodiversity resilience corridors according to the 2023 Virginia Wildlife Corridor Action Plan. This grant will allow the Land Conservancy to increase efforts to protect these lands, wildlife, and natural habitats through staffing prioritization and focused landowner outreach.
While the Northern Neck is “off the beaten path,” pressures to develop the region have been on the rise. Growth can be valuable to communities – the Land Conservancy wants to help ensure that our region grows gracefully.
Increased private land conservation is essential to preserve the farmland, woodlands and wetlands that are essential to the region’s rural character and rural economies, and which comprise its’ diverse and important habitats. This new grant will help Northern Neck Land Conservancy increase its capacity to perform its essential functions – land protection, easement stewardship, outreach and collaboration – to keep pace with development pressures that are ever expanding.
“It means a lot to be chosen for support by such a venerable environmental organization,” said Executive Director, Lisa Biever. “We believe when people understand the value of open space land, they will naturally want to get involved in preserving it as an essential resource for future generations. This grant will help us tell this important story.”
To learn more about VEE’s grant efforts across Virginia and about the work of past grant recipients visit their website at vee.org.
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