An Orange County cattle farm has been placed into an agricultural land easement.
On Friday, the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) announced the conservation of 365 acres at Hilton Farm, located near Somerset and owned by Mike and Judy Willis. The land contains three miles of Rappahannock River tributaries and 80 acres of forest and wildlife habitat.
According to an April article by Lindsey Loving of the PEC, the property is located in a pivotal area within the Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District, minutes from Montpelier and visible from the Montpelier-Grelen Train Network and Blue Ridge Turnpike, a scenic byway with the Journey Through Hallowed Ground. Conserving the farm fills in a piece of a 13,000 acre contiguous block of protected land.
Earlier this year, PEC utilized funds from the USDA’s Agricultural Land Easement (ALE) program to purchase and place a conservation easement on the farm. The program was created under the 2014 Farm Bill and is a purchase of development rights program that pays farmers to relinquish development rights on their properties. This isn’t the first time the organization has made use of ALE. Since 2018, PEC has secured $6.8 million through ALE to match other public and private funds for the purchase of conservation easements on 10 working farms totaling more than 3,560 acres. The purchase of the Hilton Farm conservation easement included $550,000 in ALE funds plus another $237,500 in grant funding from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation. The easement was purchased below its appraised fair market value with the Willis family donating the remaining value. The Volgenau Foundation helped cover initial expenses.
For the PEC, conserving Hilton Farm has a community impact–clean water. Conserving and restoring the Piedmont’s lands and waters is a key focus area of PEC’s strategic plan. Clean water is also important to the Willis family who had already worked with the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District (CSWCD) to implement conservation practices. The CSWCD is a co-holder of the ALE easement with PEC.
Conserving the land also ensures it can be passed to future generations. According to Loving, Judy Willis’ son and Mike’s stepson, Wesley, and Wesley’s wife Mandi, will take over the operation.
“The land succession aspect of an easement is important, especially for working farms,” PEC Rappahannock-Rapidan Conservation Program Manager Bryn Sonnett said. “It’s often a question of how to make farming appealing and viable for future generations of the family. If you inherit a farm business that’s weighed down in debt, it is a much tougher proposition. It needs to be a realistic investment. The ALE easement can help set up the next generation for future success.”
Meanwhile, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) is working with another Somerset area landowner on a proposed conservation easement. The 134-acre property is located off Rt. 609 and is owned by David Bluthardt. It is the policy of VOF to notify localities when conservation easements are proposed.
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