Member Highlight: Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust
For this Member Highlight, the Coalition’s West Virginia State Lead, Maria Russo, interviews Emily Warner, Executive Director of the Cacapon & Lost Rivers Land Trust. Their edited conversation follows.
Maria Russo: Hi Emily! Thank you so much for joining us today and for telling us a bit more about Cacapon & Lost Rivers Land Trust (the Trust). To start, you can tell us a bit about the Trust?
Emily Warner: Cacapon & Lost Rivers Land Trust is based in Capon Bridge, WV. We work in the 680-square mile Cacapon & Lost Rivers watershed, which spans parts of Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan counties in West Virginia. Fun fact: The Lost River and Cacapon River are a single river. The Lost is just “lost” underground for a stretch before it re-emerges as the Cacapon River!
MR: That’s so cool! I never knew that. What does your organization focus on?
EW: The Trust’s mission is to support landowners in protecting the forests, farms, rural heritage, and waters of the Cacapon & Lost Rivers watershed for the well-being of present and future generations. Founded in 1990 by local residents, the Trust has helped area landowners protect 14,513 acres. These lands are still privately owned by 50+ families but are stewarded by the land trust to ensure that certain property protections are in place.
MR: That is such important work. Thank you for all that you do and for sharing that! What are some of The Trust’s projects you are most excited about?
EW: I am most excited about our queue of land conservation projects. We currently have an unprecedented 22 active projects representing 5,600 acres. Not all of them will come to fruition, I’m sure, but it’s great to see so much interest in land conservation. The diversity of the owners is fun, too. We’re working with hunt clubs, farmers, and nature enthusiasts and with both people whose families have been here for generations and folks who are new to the area.
MR: That’s fantastic! It really sounds like you are bringing people together and getting them excited about land conservation. What issue area do you hope to focus on in the future? How is it relevant for clean water restoration?
EW: I am particularly passionate about continuing the Trust’s “green infrastructure” approach to land conservation. We strive for continuity, aiming to build hubs and corridors of protected land. We’re particularly interested in protecting contiguous stretches of land along our river corridors and ridges and bridging existing “hubs” of protected land.
Big blocks of healthy land are important for water quality and quantity, especially along streams and in headwater areas, in that they better absorb rainfall, filter surface water runoff and therefore help regulate both the flow and cleanliness of water entering our streams. Large blocks of land are also important for wildlife habitat, scenery, climate change resiliency, resiliency to other ecological disturbances, and for our farming and timber industries.
Ecosystems are big, animals need space to move, some plants and animals need to move to higher ground or farther north as our climate warms, and farmers need large spaces to support viable agricultural businesses. The land trust aims to support all of those needs by continuing to focus on the protection of contiguous lands.
MR: That’s awesome. You are balancing so many needs, and doing such important work! Why do you feel it is important to be a part of the Choose Clean Water Coalition?
EW: To make a positive impact on the environmental problems we face, it’s increasingly clear that we must work at the landscape level and amplify our efforts through partnerships. The Coalition offers networking opportunities across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, policy and advocacy support, and valuable learning opportunities around policy, federal funding mechanisms, communications, and more.
MR: Thank you, Emily! We are so appreciative of the work that you do and we’re grateful to be in this work together.
Kara Siglin is the Choose Clean Water Coalition’s Communications Intern