Wildlife Corridor Protected in Powhatan County
The first in a series of conservation easements recorded in Powhatan County, this site protects significant wildlife habitat along Muddy Creek as well as land long used for timber production. Chris Benonis and Christine Cadigan-Benonis donated the conservation easement a year after acquiring the land in 2022 with the dream of permanently protecting it with a perpetual easement. The easement protects 87 acres of forest cover, preserves natural resources on the property and helps improve water and air quality.
According to Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the majority of the Benonis property ranks in the top 10 percent of most desirable land in Virginia to be protected for its agricultural and forestal value. A portion of the property also falls within DCR’s Natural Habitat & Ecosystem Diversity Category. In addition to having a very high ecological core ranking and being within the Virginia Natural Land Network for how it helps connect other high-ranking ecological cores together, the Benonis property is centrally located within the designated Central Piedmont Wildlife Biodiversity Resilience Corridor which stretches from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Nottoway River and connects to the Great Dismal Swamp. This vital wildlife habitat corridor has been identified as a result of a cooperative effort between the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia DCR, Virginia Department of Transportation, and the Virginia Department of Forestry.
“We became evermore excited by the prospect of stewarding the property for generations to come the more we walked the bluffs overlooking Muddy Creek, explored the old-growth forests in stream valleys, or contemplated the opportunity to utilize the soils to sustain agricultural or forestal activities into the future,” said the owners
