New legacy forming

Ches Goodall recently found an old spring box while walking along Laurel Fork with his son. It was likely built around 1908 when loggers made camp along railroad tracks to harvest red spruce trees. Sturdy hemlock boards defined the square where fresh water bubbles up. (Recorder photo by Anne Adams) LAUREL FORK — The Goodall family finalized a new conservation easement in December with The Nature Conservancy to protect their property, Rifle Ridge Farm, on Allegheny Mountain.

The 30-page document consists of tight restrictions on how the 1,683 acres can be used, and sets out goals for education and research.

The farm consists of two adjacent tracts: one lying to the southeast of Laurel Fork known as Bear Camp, and one lying to the northwest of the stream, known as the Hull Ridge tract.

What makes this area so special? As the easement describes, it's a significant natural area consisting of extensive, unbroken forested ecosystem and highelevation communities with red spruce and northern hardwoods. It is home to unusual Virginia species like snowshoe hares, northern flying squirrels, breeding neotropical song birds, and a diversity of animals and plants both rare and common in Virginia.

The pink lady's slipper (left) is a hearty type of orchid found at Rifle Ridge Farm. The species blooms in early spring, and can adapt to cold temperatures. According to the U.S. Forest Service, they were sought for centuries for medical purposes, but attempts at transplantation, and loss of habitat have drastically reduced their numbers. Wild lady's slippers have special requirements thamake them difficult to cultivate. Because of that, on federal lands it is illegal to dig or pick the orchids. At right, Miles Goodall, son of Pen and Leslie Goodall, gives visitors a sense of how large the trees left alone to thrive on the farm can get. (Photos courtesy Pen Goodall) It contains about two miles of Laurel Fork, which is considered pristine by the Department of Environmental Quality. It drains into the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers' basins, and the Chesapeake Bay watershed, providing habitat for native brook trout and other species.

There are also six of what the Department of Conservation and Recreation calls "heritage" species — northern water thrush, purple oat grass, ground juniper, and highelevation cove forest and spruce/fir terrestrial community types.

The Conservancy paid $1 million for the easement. The Goodalls, operating as Rifle Ridge Farm Limited Partnership, plan to set up an endowment, and use the money to pay for land management, charitable contributions, education, and research programs. The Goodalls also received $600,000 in tax credits for putting the property under protection in conjunction with goals of the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund, which works under the auspices of the Chesapeake Bay initiative. The fund provides grants for projects, including acquiring conservation agreements.

Under the easement, 173 acres are set aside for 100-foot buffer zones around Laurel Fork and its tributaries, meaning those zones will not be logged or otherwise developed. The money from the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund will be used to restore, enhance or preserve the buffer area and monitor its health at least once a year in perpetuity.

The purposes of the easement include:

• Ensuring the property will be retained forever predominantly in its natural, forested, and/or open space condition;

• Managing portions of the "working forest" under a holistic, ecosystem based approach

• Protecting rare animals or plant communities;

• Protecting and maintaining water quality; and

• Preventing any use of the property that will significantly impair or interfere with the conservation values in place, while allowing for traditional uses compatible with those, such as farming of existing pastures and fields, limited construction, recreation, hunting and fishing.

The easement stipulates that:

• The property will never be subdivided.

• The Conservancy may not construct, maintain, or permit improvements, roads or trails, although it can make improvements in forested areas with the Goodalls' permission. No more than 5,000 square feet of improvements allowed, total. No new improvements can be constructed in special protection areas.

• Outdoor lighting is permitted, except within special protection areas. No mercury vapor lights, streetlamps and high pressure sodium lights are allowed.

• All existing roads and trails will be maintained by the Goodalls. New roads and trails (of dirt) are allowed for temporary logging but must be reclaimed. Additional trails cannot be more than four feet wide. Motorized vehicles are permitted on roads and trails; the family can use them as long as they do not impact the values the easement protects.

• No asphalt or concrete pavement, antennas, utility poles, towers, wind turbines (to provide electricity for consumption off the property), overhead conduits, or overhead wires are allowed.

• The Goodalls may maintain, remodel, and repair existing improvements but cannot add more From NEW LEGACY, page 13 beyond the 5,000-square-foot limit. Whatever they do, they must submit plans to the Conservancy for review and get its consent.

• No dredging, drilling, or removal of topsoil, rock, or minerals is allowed. There will be no mining, gas wells, or surface extraction of oil or natural gas.

• Land clearing is allowed only within the existing fields or field margins where Norway spruce occurs. Clearing from existing fields can be done to maintain views from established overlooks.

• The Goodalls may engage in recreational activities that require no surface alteration or development.

• No streams, ponds or marshes on the property can be polluted or altered.

• Invasive species are prohibited except under limited circumstances temporarily for stabilization. Any kind of herbicide or pesticide is prohibited except for controlling invasive species.

• No storage or dumping of ashes, trash, garbage or other unsightly or offensive materials, hazardous substances, or toxic wastes is allowed.

• The family has a right to control predatory or problem animals if they pose a threat to livestock or humans, but only with methods approved by the Conservancy.

• No signs or billboards or other advertising displays are allowed, except those that do not significantly diminish the scenic character of the property for management.

• Agricultural activities are prohibited except for grazing within the existing fields. The density of grazing animals cannot exceed one animal unit (1,000 pounds) per five acres.

• Forest activities can include limited harvesting, prescribed burning, planting and growing, controlling pests, etc., under a pre-established plan.

• A Forest Management Plan will be developed to promote native trees, maintain soil, protect water quality, maintain diversity, prevent invasive species or pests, etc. The Goodall family is to submit the plan to the Conservancy for review and approval. If harvesting is planned, the Goodalls must also present TNC with a plan, and they must follow standard best management practices. Harvesting is not permitted in certain areas of old growth timber, important habitats, buffer areas near the streams, preserves, and wetland areas.

• Buffer, preserve and wetland preservation areas cannot have any new roads or utilities, excavating, drilling, ditching, septic fields, livestock, fertilizers, non-native plants or animals, and no soil disturbance. No native vegetation can be removed, destroyed, or cut in these areas.

• The Goodalls have the right to sell, give, mortgage, lease, or convey their property, but the easement transfers to new owners, and it applies to their heirs or successors.

• The Conservancy has the right to preserve and protect its interests. Conservancy staff have the right to inspect the property, monitor and research, make scientific and educational studies, conduct field trips for students or other groups, etc.

• The Goodalls are responsible for property taxes and maintaining the property. The Conservancy is required to carry adequate liability insurance.