That brings Clarke County’s grand total to nearly 20,000 acres of privately conserved land.

Landowners make the choice to preserve the land themselves. Clarke County is in Virginia's Piedmont Region, which now has more acreage conserved in its nine counties than the Shenandoah National Park.

Virginia is among the top five states in the nation for protecting land through private easements.

"The county has a very proactive program in working with property owners to protect farmland and the rural nature of the county and it's what makes Clarke County and the Piedmont a beautiful place to live in and to work," explains Bob Lazaro, the Piedmont Environmental Council Director of Communications.

The easements support agriculture and tourism in Clarke County. Landowners who conserve their land can earn a substantial state tax credits which they can use or sell.

"It keeps farmers in farming and protects lands that have been in farming for a long time and cows don't go to school so there's a taxpayer savings as well," says Lazaro. "We find that folks who do this aren't doing it for the money, they are doing it because they want to protect the land," adds Lazaro.