Cathy Benson | The Botetourt View

Isaac Campbell (from left), Genevieve Goss, Judi Race and Don Race in the sunroom of the Race's country home on a 238-acre land conservation easement farm east of Fincastle.

"There are few things you can do today that will matter in one hundred years," said Don and Judi Race of Fincastle, who have lived on their farm since 1978.

They have placed 238 acres of their Fincastle farm in conservation easements. She describes their farm as "a little piece of heaven," and viewed from the perspective of environmental stewardship, an idea that has taken off in Europe but not so much in the United States, a priceless asset for future generations to enjoy.

Three decades ago when they moved to their farm off Brugh's Mill Road, they moved because they loved the area. Don, who is a physician, grabbed the interstate to get to work; both worked hard with Roanoke Catholic cross country athletic teams while their children were growing up and continue to do so. Judi heard Faye Cooper, an area conservation easement specialist, years ago, and that plotted the course for what has transpired with their land. Judi Race has become a point woman herself for land conservation in Botetourt County.

Why? The Races were succinct in the answer: because development began to encroach along their neighborhood. The potential to save open space spoke more to their hearts than selling a farm into subdivided lots like many Botetourt farmers were doing. While they had no ill will towards those who were selling, they just didn't feel it was what they wanted to do with their property. She recommends "Last Child in the Woods," by Richard Louv, a book that describes saving the next generation from "nature deficit disorder."

Earlier this month, the afternoon of a cool spring day glowed willow green while faint leaves inched forward from branches. As the car made the way up the drive and past a barn that proudly announced by signage the land is in conservation easement and crossed a small creek, the home place came into view. The Races have a farm house estimated to have been built about 1795 by a brick found in the chimney during the renovation of the beautiful old home. The cellar has been converted into living space and a huge sun room pops from beneath the house. Farm dogs and a cat laze on the back porch and in the sun room. It is a house well loved by its owners on a piece of land preserved for the future in easements provided by the Virginia Foundation and Valley Conservation Council.

Isaac Campbell of Salem, a Roanoke College alumnus and a graduate student studying the Upper James River for his masters in Sustainability from Lund University in Stockholm, Sweden, sits at the antique kitchen table and asks the Races questions on how they arrived at their land conservation decisions. Genevieve Goss, also at the table, is a representative from Valley Conservation Council and a conservation steward from west of Fincastle; she smiles broadly as the Races describe their efforts.

The babbling creek that splashes past their sun room and garden is part of a stream that eventually meanders to the James River and finally into the Chesapeake Bay. Their part of the preservation of the watershed is not lost on the Races. They also have the remnant of an ancient coral reef, used for years by local famers as a source of lime to put on their farm acreage. Don Race describes the area "as a little wasteland, but kind of a neat place." He chuckles, "and we have an inordinate amount of ticks [on us] when we trek over to the land during the spring and summer."

Federal and state tax credits of up to 40 percent accompany conservation easements and that can be an attractive part of the deal for some land owners. The Races discussed the farm and land with their children, now adults, who thought it would be great for a conservation easement.

Over the years they have added pieces of land they purchased to the easement. Now at 238 acres they know a good-sized piece of property is being preserved. They urge others to do so. "It's a big commitment," they say, "because it affects the salability and development potential," but it also makes them feel like they have made a long term commitment to the community in which they live. "It is worth the effort and there's a great deal of help to get an owner into a conservation easement," said Don Race.

For more information on conservation easements contact Valley Conservation Council at valleyconservation.org.