The New River Land Trust Nature Play Space in Heritage Park got some upgrades this spring and summer thanks to a grant from the Rotary Club of Blacksburg. These include: 3 new handmade eastern cedar benches A child-sized birdhouse decorated with art by George Wills A nature play inspiration box Multiple nest boxes for birds […]

Governor Ralph Northam announced the availability of $73 million to protect water and soil health through the Virginia Agricultural Best Management Practices Cost-Share Program, which represents the largest-ever investment of state funding to assist farmers implementing conservation practices. The program has been updated to provide greater flexibility and reduce barriers to farmer participation. “This historic […]

Brush Mountain as seen from Heritage Park. The New River Land Trust purchased the second of two properties that will make up the new 553-acre park on Brush Mountain in Blacksburg. The park will be home to multi-use trails for community recreation while protecting an ecologically sensitive area. We purchased the first property in 2018. […]

NRLT campers play in the child-sized birdhouse at the Nature Play Space in Heritage Park. Exploring streams and discovering birds, making art with vegetables and flowers, and visiting a working farm to learn how food is grown—these are just some of the things kids in our area are doing this season with New River Land […]

Did you spend a couple hours this past tax season digging up receipts only to find that you didn’t have enough deductions to itemize? You weren’t alone. Because of the near doubling of the standard deduction as a result of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA), the number of households itemizing deductions went from […]

The IRS and U.S. Treasury Department issued final regulations that will drastically erode state tax incentives for landowners who donate land or conservation easements to land trusts.This rule will require state income tax credits (like the Virginia Land Preservation Tax Credit) to be counted as  quid pro quo for charitable contributions, which will lower the […]

One thing that unites us as a nation is land: Americans strongly support saving the open spaces they love. Since 2002, the New River Land Trust has been doing just that for the people of the New River region. Now, we have renewed our land trust accreditation – proving that, as part of a network […]

Our birding kit includes 30 child-sized binoculars and bird i.d. books and materials NRLT is applying for funding through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Land Trust Small Grants Program to expand our Early Birders Program. Early Birders introduces children to bird watching and promotes an appreciation for nature, conservation, and habitat protection. The Early Birders […]

Cindi Doty Price and Park Doty envision a beautiful park along the New River, accessible to all.  To realize this vision, they recently donated 30 acres of land along the river in Grayson County to the New River Land Trust. The Land Trust will hold the property and transfer it to Department of Game and […]

The Brush Mountain Park Project moved forward in December when the Land Trust closed on the first of 2 properties – 218 acres of intact forest in Blacksburg.  In 2018, the Land Trust received a grant from the Forest CORE Fund, a forest mitigation fund from Mountain Valley Pipeline, to purchase a total of 553 […]