About Valley Conservation Council

Founded in 1990, Valley Conservation Council (VCC) is a land trust supported by hundreds of member households throughout the region and beyond. VCC is one of several dozen private organizations and state and federal agencies working together to conserve rural heritage, protect our waters, and save resources for the future in Virginia.

Our organization is dedicated to protecting the agricultural, natural, and cultural resources of the Shenandoah Valley region in Virginia through private action and public planning. We believe that to protect the Valley’s natural resources we must provide solutions that foster the continued health of the region's economy and quality of life, while solving problems presented by the area's rapid population growth and sprawling suburban development patterns.

Valley Conservation Council is a private, tax-exempt, nonprofit organization. An 18-member board of directors governs VCC, representing a broad range of technical expertise, local knowledge and nonprofit experience. We currently have three full-time staff members and a number of part-timers working in various counties on various projects. These paid positions are supplemented by a growing volunteer network of landowners, legal and real estate professionals, business people and concerned citizens who help to promote land protection where they live and work.

About half of the financial support for VCC comes from individual members. We hope you will become a member of VCC. Financial reports are available upon request.

We are also grateful to have received grants in recent years from a number of foundations, agencies, and other organizations including:

The Agua Fund, Virginia Envrionmental Endowment, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, Beirne Carter Foundation, Oak Hill Fund, Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund, Norcross Foundation, Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge, Land Trust Alliance, Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Virginia Department of Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Program, and Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Our land trust work

We work closely with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and other partners to assist individual landowners who voluntarily choose to use permanent conservation easements to limit development on their property.

Together with our partners and landowners in the region, over 100,000 acres of private land has been permanently protected with conservation easements involving the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. Roughly 170,000 acres is temporarily protected in county agricultural and forestal districts.

VCC has focused on several specific areas over the years, including the Staunton-to-Parkersburg Turnpike corridor through Augusta and Higland counties and the Middlebrook-Brownsburg Corridor in Augusta and Rockbridge counties. Our research and publications on these areas have helped landowners understand the significance of their properties.

The beautiful and productive Swoope area in Augusta County. Photo by Pat and Chuck Blackley

Valley Conservation Council is a member of the national Land Trust Alliance. VCC has adopted LTA’s Standards and Practices to help guide our land trust work. We also participate in Virginia's United Land Trusts (VaULT).

VCC is a sponsoring member of the Virginia Conservation Network, a group of citizens and organizations focused on protecting the Commonwealth’s air, lands, and waters for the benefit of the people as guaranteed by the Virginia Constitution. We are also deeply involved as a founding sponsor of the Shenandoah Resource Conservation and Development Council, a nonprofit which leverages public and private assistance to improve quality of life and sustainable use of natural resources in the Shenandoah River watershed.