A series of conservation easements announced Thursday will preserve more than 1,300 acres of farmland, woods and mountains in Montgomery County along the North and South forks of the Roanoke River.

Easements on property owned by former state Sen. Madison Marye and his wife, and by developer Joyce Graham and her sister, will bar development of about 1,100 acres near Shawsville and Elliston on the river's South Fork.

Another easement on a Catawba Valley farm owned by the family of J.B. Sutphin affects another 282 acres on the North Fork.

Conservation easements are agreements between landowners and land trusts to restrict development while allowing the owner to keep the property and continue to use it.

The trusts monitor use of the land to make sure it complies with the conditions of the easement.

All of the easements are being held by Virginia Outdoors Foundation, a state agency that promotes the preservation of land.

But Tamara Vance, the outdoors foundation executive director, said all of the negotiations with the landowners included two private land trusts - New River Land Trust and Western Virginia Land Trust.

The property involved in the Sutphin easement, signed two weeks ago, can now be divided into only three parcels.

No more than six homes - three single-family and three guesthouses - can be built on the land.

The property covers part of Paris Mountain and is close to conservation easements that former Virginia Tech President Marshall Hahn and his family placed on nearly 900 acres about a year ago.

The agreement Marye signed Wednesday limits him to dividing his 562 acres into no more than four parcels.

Like the Sutphin easement, Marye's allows three new single-family homes and three guest homes to be built.

Other development is barred on the rolling farmland along the Elliston straightaway on U.S. 11/460 in eastern Montgomery County.

"I've seen a lot and just think this is just about as beautiful a place as I've ever been," Marye said.

Virginia landowners who agree to easements are also eligible for a state tax credit.

An appraiser decides the difference in value of the land with and without an easement, and 50 percent of that can be used as a tax credit.

Marye's farmland between the South Fork of the Roanoke River and Poor Mountain would be prime development land if there weren't an easement, Marye said.

He wouldn't disclose how much the value of the land changed before and after the easement but said his motivation was more for conservation than anything else.

Marye raises beef cattle on his farm, and he will be allowed to continue that use.

Graham and her sister Annette Graham David signed an easement for 525 acres on their farm on the other side of U.S. 11 last year, though the easement was not announced until Wednesday.

Marye said he and Graham, a past president and founding board member of the New River Land Trust, had discussed signing conservation easements on their farms two years ago.

Graham, who, like Marye, has family roots in Montgomery County, felt it was important to preserve the land for future generations.

Marye agrees.

"Knowing how much my mother loved this place - she was opposed to almost any change to it - I think she would be happy with what my wife and I have done."