31 Acres Near Shepherdstown Added To Environmental Conservation Easement

A Jefferson County resident gifted 31 acres of land near Shepherdstown to the Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle (LTEP) as part of a permanent environmental conservation easement earlier this month.

On Feb. 7, the land trust announced that resident Keith Janssen entered his 31-acre family property in Jefferson County into an easement to protect natural resources. The trust is a nonprofit that aims to “preserve open space, farmland and rural landscapes” in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties, according to its website.

Conservation easements protect land from development projects. They are enacted by a property owner and overseen by land trust groups like the LTEP.

The LTEP says more than 7,600 acres of land are currently under conservation easements in Jefferson County, one of the fastest growing counties in West Virginia. Industrial development and the protection of greenspaces have been widespread concerns for many county residents, and West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle at large.

In the press release, Janssen said he decided to enter the property into an easement out of “a long-held and deep-seated belief in the importance of conserving our natural environment.”

“My father purchased this property in 1969, and it holds a special place in my heart for many reasons,” he said. “I have long valued the idea of preserving it in its natural state so that it can be enjoyed by wildlife and future generations and encourage others to consider doing the same.”

LTEP Board Member Mark Schiavone, who helped lead the easement process, said the property contains forested land with karst geology, which warranted protection.

Karst landscapes contain dissolving rock types like limestone and marble, creating “sinkholes, sinking streams, caves [and] springs,” according to the National Park Service. These geological sites are uniquely capable of storing clean water that can be used for drinking, but can be susceptible to contamination due to its porous nature, according to the NPS.

Waterways on the property also feed into the Eastern Panhandle’s Teague Run, and the northern region of the Potomac River, according to the trust.

Plus, the property has “some road frontage on a fairly well traveled public road,” Schiavone told West Virginia Public Broadcasting Wednesday. “So there’s the public enjoyment of the fact that you know they’re going to be seeing this woodland in a natural state moving forward forever.”

Properties placed under easements can potentially be used for agricultural or residential purposes, Schiavone said. But they are rarely open to commercial development, and never to industrial projects.

“These easements are permanent. They’re enabled by state law,” he said. “They restrict future subdivision of the land, and they also limit whole classes of land uses moving forward. So the idea is to preserve the land in its natural state.”

Schiavone said properties like Janssen’s get submitted to the land trust for consideration, and the board evaluates whether its attributes make it compatible with the goals of the easement process.

“Obviously something like a junkyard is not going to fit well in the concept of preserving significant land forever,” he said.

Schiavone also said entering a conservation easement can be financially beneficial, because easements are taken into consideration when property gets appraised.

“When you take a property and you basically donate the development rights off of that land. Those rights had value. It’s a pretty simple equation,” he said.

That means the financial sacrifice that comes with forbidding development can be offset with tax deductions in the future, Schiavone said.

As part of the LTEP, Schiavone said he appreciates the opportunity to help residents protect land they care about for generations.

“You get to work with people who really love their land for a multitude of reasons. They have a heartfelt connection to their property, and they want to leave a legacy,” he said. “They want to leave this earth with the the knowledge that their land is going to basically protect it in that state moving forward. So I find that really gratifying to work with people like that.”