Group presents land preservation award

By Carrie J. Sidener
csidener@newsadvance.com
June 29, 2006

The white farmhouse that sits on a 470-acre farm overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains will forever be protected from development.

The man who made sure that farmland would remain protected was honored Thursday night for his commitment to keeping land rural.

Boyd Claytor was awarded the first annual Barbara Hatcher Land Preservation Award. The award honors an individual who has made a lifelong commitment to conservation.

Claytor first put an easement on his 470-acre farm in 1997, when he discovered that he was terminally ill. Then in 1998, he donated the farm to Lynchburg College.

“I didn’t have any children and the doctor told me I have a year to live,” he said. “That was nine years ago. I thought I had better get my affairs in order before I left, but I’m still here. I thought this was just too pretty to start growing houses.”

Claytor said he and his wife moved to Bedford County in the 1950s. Although she was a city girl, Virginia Arnold Claytor loved the farm, he said. That is why he is dedicating its gardens to her.

Steve Stevick, a member of the Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation, said the award is in honor of Barbara Hatcher, who was the first in Bedford County to place a land conservation easement on her 158-acre farm through the Western Virginia Land Trust.

Each year, 48,000 acres of farmland and another 20,000 acres of forest are lost to development, said Robert Bloxom, Virginia’s agricultural secretary.

“The pressure is coming from all sides,” he said. “If that is multiplied over the next 10 to 15 years, many areas won’t be able to identify agricultural or forest land.”

Bloxom said there are efforts under way in Richmond to provide money that would be matched by the counties to buy development rights.

“The future is before us because people like you all are interested in developing a plan,” he said. “We want a brighter future for our communities.”

Bloxom said the approval of the Agriculture Development Program in Bedford County is a good first step to helping maintain the economic vitality of farms and to protect them from development.

The average age of farmers in Virginia is about 58 years old, Bloxom said.

With too few young farmers around, Bloxom fears that an increasing number of farms will be sold to developers.

“If a developer walks in with a big check, it’s gone,” he said.