When Emily Warner, senior director of land conservation with Potomac Conservancy, first visited Bear Garden, she knew the 270-acre property was a great candidate for permanent land protection.
It is a place with dramatic rock outcroppings, evergreen forests and streams that are cold and clean enough to support native brook trout—a rarity in today’s Virginia.
The sole staff member in the land trust’s Winchester office, Warner leads their Land Conservation Program which partners with private landowners to protect forests, streams and working lands. currently, Potomac conservancy holds 13 easements, covering about 1,800 acres and protecting 10 miles of stream frontage.
It was an honor to work together with the Hovermale family, owners of this land for more than 100 years, to preserve Bear Garden’s unique natural features for future generations. We all depend on our natural environment, and by permanently protecting land, we protect our ecosystems as well as the character and culture of these special places. ~ Emily Warner
The Alliance leads the Shenandoah Valley Conservation Collaborative, a partnership of land trusts and watershed groups in the Valley. in a great example of the benefits of partnership, Valley Conservation Council, a land trust based in Staunton, passed on grant funding to Potomac Conservancy to help Warner.