Powhatan, VA – “While the landscape initially drew us to the property, the diversity of wildlife has far exceeded our expectations. Within our first week, we were serenaded by a pack of coyotes. We’ve seen bears on multiple occasions – including one that peeked through the window while we were making dinner – and captured foxes, bobcats, beavers, and countless deer on our game cameras.” Such is life along the Central Piedmont Wildlife Biodiversity Resilience Corridor according to residents Christopher Benonis and Christine Cadigan-Benonis. While the Benonis family enjoys the benefits gifted to them, they have in turn given a gift to Powhatan County and future generations with the protection of 134 forested acres off Miles Road known as “Chesterbury Hundred.” 

This is the Benonis’s second conservation easement with Capital Region Land Conservancy (CRLC) expanding on 87 acres they protected nearby in December 2023. These combined projects notably contribute to the character and integrity of Virginia’s Wildlife Biodiversity Resilience Corridor as noted in the Virginia Wildlife Corridor Action Plan, which stretches from the Blue Ridge Mountains to connect to the Great Dismal Swamp in Southeastern Virginia. Preserving wildlife habitat in this corridor is one of the core priorities in CRLC’s 2024-2027 Strategic Plan.

Virginia is one of the first states in the eastern U.S. to create a Wildlife Corridor Action Plan that has a clear emphasis on protecting vital wildlife habitat corridors and reducing vehicular conflicts. With approximately 60,000 crashes each year, Virginia is one of the top ten states for such wildlife-vehicle collisions costing over $500 million annually in property damage, injuries, and loss of life. Virginia’s Wildlife Corridor Action Plan is a cooperative effort between the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Department of Transportation, and the Virginia Department of Forestry.

In addition to amplifying the impacts of Virginia’s wildlife corridor, the property was the first in the Commonwealth to be enrolled with the Family Forest Carbon Program, of which Christine Cadigan-Benonis is the visionary and leader. This multi-state program provides financial and technical resources to help landowners improve the health and value of their woodlands, while creating meaningful global impact. Through their example, the Benonises have helped catalyze other Virginia landowners to take advantage of the program creating a larger, healthy footprint across Virginia including land in the Richmond Region.

Thanks to their personal and professional passion for the environment, Chris and Christine knew they wanted to live in a rural setting with a close connection to the land. What they didn’t fully appreciate was the importance of passing on that passion to their children until reading the book Last Child in the Woods, where author Richard Louv reflects on his childhood spent exploring the woods and the benefits of unstructured play in nature. Chris shared, “After finishing the book, I gained a deeper appreciation for my parents’ efforts to get my sisters and I outdoors when we were kids and resolved to pay that forward. Today, we make it a priority to immerse our girls in the outdoors. If there ever comes a time when the last child leaves the woods for the last time, it won’t be for at least another generation. Our hope is that by protecting this property in perpetuity – and instilling in our daughters both an appreciation for the land and the ethic to steward it responsibly – we can push that time many generations beyond.”

The Benonis children have ample opportunity to explore nature as the property consists of approximately 134 acres of mostly wooded land, including nearly 123 acres of managed forest as well as 2,500 feet of frontage on Muddy Creek and 2,300 feet along an unnamed tributary. In conformance with Powhatan County’s Comprehensive Plan, the land is located within an area designated as “Rural Areas” and “Natural Conservation” on the plan’s future land use map. 

Commenting on her work with the Benonis Family, Capital Region Land Conservancy’s Director of Land Conservation, Jane Myers, shared, “Having children of my own and having also read and been profoundly moved by Last Child in the Woods, it was clear to me that through the gift of their two conservation easements, the Benonises have manifested a meaningful outward expression of their commitment to nature and to future generations.”

The entire “Chesterbury Hundred” property is within the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation Natural Heritage Data Explorer’s ConserveVirginia 3.0 map as the highest priority land for protection in the Agriculture & Forestry Category as it is currently a forested tract, where the uplands have been managed for timber over the last half century. Additionally, portions of the property are classified as highest priority land for protection in the Natural Habitat and Ecosystem Diversity category.

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About Capital Region Land Conservancy (CRLC): Capital Region Land Conservancy is dedicated to conserving the natural and historic resources of Virginia’s Richmond region for the benefit of people and nature. The nonprofit land trust serves the City of Richmond and 19 surrounding counties. Since 2005, CRLC has helped protect more than 16,000 acres, including easements on more than 5,000 acres. 

Contact:
Parker Agelasto, Executive Director
parker@capitalregionland.org
202-302-0153