Where We Serve
The Capital Region Land Conservancy is tasked with protecting 30% of the land and water resources within the counties we serve: Counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan as well as the Town of Ashland and City of Richmond.
CRLC works with local land owners, local governments of the county, city, or town, and with state and federal governments to place conservation easements on land in the capital region. These governments are essential partners in our work, providing conservation data, advice and expertise, and communicating community priorities. As an accredited land trust in the Commonwealth of Virginia, CRLC is required to work within a county or city’s official comprehensive plan, which outlines where land should be conserved within the locality.
Often, before purchasing land and placing a conservation easement, CRLC will identify these governments as the ultimate recipients of lands. By transferring lands to local governments for free, CRLC acts as a catalyst for the creation of new parks in areas of high need of protection and public access to green space.
Geography
The Capital Region Land Conservancy is headquartered in the City of Richmond, Virginia’s capital and the largest population center in our service area. Richmond is located on the falls of the James River. The falls of the James River at Richmond was the seat of the Powhatan Confederacy, one of the indigenous nations that called this region home for millenia. Richmond was a native center for trade, even before European colonization. Like many cities along the East Coast of the United States, the City of Richmond today developed at the falls due to the navigability of the river up to the falls and prime location for a port and access to railroads for further inland transportation.
As the fall line at Richmond marks the transition between the Piedmont region of Virginia to the west and the tidewater or coastal plain to the east, the Capital Region boasts ecological and geological significance. With hard bedrock to the west and sandy loam soils to the east, the region is home to a variety of industries, from forestry and forest product production to agricultural product production, such as tomato capital of Virginia in Hanover County.
The largely urban center of Richmond is flanked to the North and South by Henrico and Chesterfield Counties respectively. While much of these counties have been converted to residential or commercial areas, CRLC is working to protect the sizable, remaining acreage as prime soil farmland, timber forests, and historic battlefields, as well as protect miles of James River frontage. Malvern Hill Farm in the Varina District of Henrico County is the epitome of layered conservation values, from being the site of the historic Battle of Malvern Hill, to prime farmland, to providing ecological benefits like wildflower habitat and rainwater catchment.
Regardless of the the county, all of our residents need access to public spaces and the ecosystem services provided by healthy fields, forests, and streams.
