Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Among the conservation easements that have been approved during the past two years are more than 11,000 acres of land surrounding Carvins Cove in Roanoke County.

While not all of Gov. Tim Kaine's big ideas have worked out -- remember his plan for transportation? -- one bold initiative the governor says may bear fruit is his push to protect 400,000 acres from development during his term: According to state officials, Kaine has reached the 350,000-acre milestone.

But though the governor has shattered records and done far more than any of his predecessors to conserve Virginia's rural landscape, an analysis of state data shows the Kaine administration has significantly overstated the amount of land preserved since he took office, and Kaine has taken credit for tens of thousands of acres protected during the previous governor's tenure.

Kaine's 350,000-acre total includes at least 45,496 acres preserved between July 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2005, the final six months of Gov. Mark Warner's term, according to data kept by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. Kaine took office in January 2006.

Though conservation leaders say the governor's promotion of easements and acquisition to protect land has been an accomplishment without parallel, taking the numbers from Warner's term out of Kaine's tally makes it doubtful -- though not impossible -- that Kaine can reach his benchmark of success before his term ends: 400,000 newly protected acres.

"It's frustrating to hear," said Roger Holnback, executive director of the Western Virginia Land Trust, which helps the Virginia Outdoors Foundation manage conservation easements. "I'd hate to see this take away from the incredible success he's had in conserving land."

The analysis by The Roanoke Times comes as Kaine prepares to attend an Oct. 22 meeting of the foundation's trustees in Roanoke, where state and local conservation leaders had anticipated Kaine would declare victory in his quest for 400,000 acres by the end of his term.

Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey confirmed an Oct. 22 news conference is planned in Roanoke "to celebrate the initiative," but declined to elaborate. He added that the administration is "comfortable" with including the acreage from Warner's term in Kaine's total.

"He's going to move on and try to get 400,000 acres," Hickey said. "Looking for things to criticize seems beyond the point."

However, House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, excoriated the governor, calling the acreage count "typical Kaine math games."

"I don't want to take anything away from the fact that they put a lot more acres under protection -- 300,000 acres is good," Griffith said. "Why try to inflate the numbers? They do this repeatedly. A large number of times I've seen them do this with revenue estimates.

"It's a shame they've created this controversy. I think 300,000 is good and I don't think the governor should be ashamed of getting three-fourths of what he was looking for."

An official with the state conservation department, which keeps a tally of protected land, said Kaine inherited acreage from Warner because the final six months of 2005 were the first half of fiscal year 2006, and conservation acreage had long been tallied in fiscal years. According to that logic any acreage preserved in Kaine's final six months (the first six months of fiscal year 2010), would be credited to the next governor. But since Kaine has been in office, the state has begun keeping monthly totals, making it easy to tally exactly how much land has been protected in each of Kaine's four years in office. Still, the acreage from 2005 has remained in Kaine's total as he has touted his administration's preservation effort across the state.

Local conservation leaders said they were disappointed to learn that Kaine is farther from his four-year goal than they previously believed. But they said the governor's achievement is nonetheless phenomenal and he has done far more than any of the state's previous chief executives.

"He's been amazing," said Roanoke City Councilman Rupert Cutler, one of the Outdoors Foundation's trustees. "It's the first time any governor has ever given that kind of attention to land conservation."

The use of conservation easements increased dramatically in Virginia in 2000 when the state began giving tax credits to landowners who give up development rights to their property. Of the total 687,117 acres now under some form of protection in Virginia (excluding state and national parks, national forests, wildlife preserves and management areas), 518,693 acres were protected after Jan. 1, 2000.

The tax credits pushed preservation, as did development pressure. Kaine further intensified the use of easements by promoting them statewide and enlisting various state agencies to persuade landowners to use them. Today, Cutler said, the Outdoors Foundation has a "backlog" of hundreds of property owners waiting to put their land in an easement.

From 1968 through 2005, fewer than 400,000 acres had been put under any kind of protection, a circumstance that made Kaine's plan to conserve 400,000 acres during his term all the more dramatic.

Kaine announced the goal in a speech at the Virginia Military Institute on April 15, 2006, when he declared: "I will set and meet this preservation goal during my term."

He probably will -- if the acres from 2005 are included.

Staff writer Matt Chittum contributed to this report.