Virginia Forestry and Wildlife Group

James Madison’s Montpelier – Orange County, Va (2007 – present)

Montpelier, home of James Madison, contains 2,623 acres of rolling pasture and woodland in Orange County, Virginia.  It is currently held in trust by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and managed by the Montpelier Foundation.  Almost 1,600 acres of the 2,623 acre property is covered by yellow poplar and other high grade Appalachian hardwoods.  The presidential estate is also home to the James Madison Landmark Forest, 200 acres designated as a National Natural Landmark by the Department of the Interior for its unique qualities as a relatively undisturbed old-growth deciduous forest. (More)

Sweet Briar College – Amherst County, Va (2002 – 2007)

Sweet Briar College is a small women’s college in central Virginia that consists of four tracts of pasture and woodland that together encompass more than 3,248 acres of rolling Piedmont land.  Though portions of the property are represented by steep and mountainous terrain, most of the land is typical Piedmont - an upland plateau in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains that is characterized by gently sloping topography and numerous streams and wet weather tributaries. (More)

Bundoran Farm – Albemarle County, Va (2005 – present)

Bundoran Farm lies twelve miles south of Charlottesville and consists of 2,293 acres of verdant pasture and woodland in an area renowned for its beautiful farmland.  After a long period of ownership by the Scott Family, the property was sold in 2005 to Edge Valley Preservation, LLC, who acquired it for the purpose of creating a sustainable, rural development.  The model for “preservation development” limits residential development in order to preserve the character and traditional uses of the rural landscape for perpetuity.  Prior to locating 100 homesites on the property, it was inventoried to delineate the principal farm and forest belts – areas where maintaining highly productive farm and forest land took precedent over development.  Once these areas were established, 100 homesites were carefully sited and concealed within the woodland edges where they have a minimal impact on the rural viewshed. (More)

Meadowfarm – Orange County, Va (2000 – present)

Meadowfarm and the Taylor timberlands consist of more than 10,000 acres of plantation pine, mixed hardwoods and beautiful pastureland in the rolling Piedmont of Orange County, Virginia.  The center of the estate is Meadowfarm, an 18th century home built by Robert Taylor, a relative of Presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor.  Much of the Taylor property is part of the original land grant from the King of England. (More)

Rifle Ridge Farm – Highland County, Va (1985 – present)

Rifle Ridge Farm is a 1,683 acre farm in the Alleghenies of western Highland County, Virginia.  It has been owned by the Goodall family since the 1940’s.  In 2007, the entire property was placed under a conservation easement with The Nature Conservancy so it will remain forever as a single, indivisible tract with a wealth of unique ecosystems and old growth forests.  Over 400 acres of mature forest and riparian buffers were preserved in their natural state as roadless areas.   The rest of the property is sustainably managed as a “working forest.”  Though most of the recent logging has been single-tree selective harvesting (to preserve aesthetics and minimize disturbance), shelterwood harvests and “gap” thinning have become increasingly necessary to promote oak regeneration.  The Goodalls have practiced low impact timber harvesting for over 50 years and have managed their land according to a land ethic instilled by their father, Dr. McChesney Goodall, Jr.  Their approach has been to manage the land as an ecosystem, to preserve the unique values of the property, and to always give back to the land, not exploit it. (More)