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47-641: The Bear Rocks Preserve is a 477-acre (1.93 km) tract owned and preserved by The Nature Conservancy . Bear Rocks consists of a group of rock outcroppings on the Allegheny Front , an escarpment that in this area provides about two thousand feet of vertical relief and forms the Eastern Continental Divide . To the east, looking out over the South Branch of the Potomac River , which drains into

94-711: A 4-star rating, with a score of 96%, for the 2022 fiscal year. Like many large environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund , the Conservancy includes allowances for hunting and fishing within its management policies. The organization does not totally ban hunting or fishing but defers to state hunting and fishing regulations. The organization publishes The Nature Conservancy magazine ( ISSN   1540-2428 ; six issues per year). In 2003 The Washington Post ran an investigative series about

141-406: A mile below the ridge lies a moist forest of red spruce and hemlock , with a floor blanketed in ferns , mountain laurel and rhododendron thickets. But on the broad ridge top where the climate is the most severe, the lush vegetation gives way to stunted, scattered trees, open heath land, and tundra plants left over from the ice ages. Many of the plants and animals here are typically found in

188-595: A network of state natural heritage programs. The Nature Conservancy's efforts include conservation in North America , Central America , and South America , Africa , the Pacific Rim , the Caribbean , and Asia . The Nature Conservancy and its conservation partner, Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán, to halt deforestation on private lands in and around the 1.8 million acre (7,300 km ) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve , along

235-536: A year or two following his marriage, they lived at Fine Creek Manor. Jefferson built a house on the Shadwell tract, after his wife's birthplace , in 1741 or 1742. They moved there sometime before his son, Thomas , was born in 1743. His friend William Randolph , a widower and his wife's cousin, died in 1745, having appointed Jefferson as guardian to manage the Tuckahoe Plantation until his son came of age. That year

282-690: Is an effort to plant one billion trees across the globe in forests with the greatest need and has been operating since 2008 to plant trees in Brazil, China, Colombia, Guatemala, Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, and the United States. As part of the overall campaign, The Nature Conservancy pledged to plant 25 million trees as part of the launch of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)'s Billion Tree Campaign. This campaign encourages individuals and organizations to plant their own trees around

329-632: The Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay , there are breathtaking 35-mile (56 km) views where seven mountain ridges are visible on a clear day extending into Virginia. On the clearest days you can see Hawksbill Mountain and Stony Man, the highest peaks in Shenandoah National Park . To the west, water drains into Dolly Sods towards Red Creek, which eventually flows to the Gulf of Mexico via

376-495: The Conservancy a model of ethical standards for nonprofit organizations. After service as The Nature Conservancy's president for one year, Brian McPeek resigned on May 31, 2019, after a report on an internal investigation of sexual harassment was revealed by Politico and two other senior executives were ultimately dismissed based on its findings. On June 7, 2019, Mark Tercek , CEO since 2008, announced his resignation following

423-642: The Dry Fork River , Black Fork , Cheat , Mongahela , Ohio and Mississippi River . Farther north along the ridge of the Front are two more salients, Stack Rocks and Haystack Rocks . Bear Rocks is known for its cool climate, alpine appearance and northern wildlife. Strong prevailing winds bring clouds from the west. While rising to clear the ridge of the Allegheny Front they cool, causing mist and rain totaling more than 60 inches (1,500 mm) per year. During

470-675: The Great Wagon Road . Likewise, it indicates the route of the Trading Path from Petersburg to Old Hawfields, North Carolina and beyond. Jefferson was born at a settlement called Osbornes along the James River in what is now Chesterfield County, Virginia and was the son of Captain Thomas Jefferson, a large property owner, and Mary Field, who was the daughter of Major Peter Field of New Kent County and granddaughter of Henry Soane of

517-931: The Guatemala–Mexico border . They brokered the protection of 370,000 acres (1,500 km ) of tropical forest in Calakmul . In another program, TNC is working to protect wildlife habitat in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In 2007, the Nature Conservancy made a 161,000-acre (650 km ) purchase of New York forestland from Finch Paper Holdings LLC for $ 110 million, its largest purchase ever in that state. In June 2008, The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land announced they reached an agreement to purchase approximately 320,000 acres (1,300 km ) of western Montana forestland from Plum Creek Timber Company for $ 510 million. The purchase, known as

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564-520: The Gulf oil spill . Writer and activist Naomi Klein has strongly criticized The Nature Conservancy for earning money from an oil well on land it controls in Texas and for its continued engagement with fossil fuel companies. The Nature Conservancy responded by arguing that it had no choice, under the terms of a lease it signed years prior with an oil and gas company and later came to regret. In 2020, Bloomberg published an article claiming that some of

611-571: The Loyal Company of Virginia , and were granted 800,000 acres (3,200 km ) in present-day Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky . In the same year, with Joshua Fry , Jefferson extended the survey of the Virginia-North Carolina border , begun by William Byrd II some time earlier. The detailed Fry-Jefferson Map , cited by his son Thomas in his 1781 book Notes on the State of Virginia ,

658-531: The Montana Legacy Project , is part of an effort to keep these forests in productive timber management and protect the area's clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat, while promoting continued public access to these lands for fishing, hiking, hunting and other recreational pursuits. As a follow-on, in 2015 The Nature Conservancy made a $ 134 million transaction to purchase 165,073 acres (668.03 km ) – of forests, rivers and wildlife habitat in

705-520: The Pottsville conglomerate , grassy meadows, and cranberry bogs also occur. There are stunted small groves of red spruce trying to make a tortured comeback here and there in the wind and coldheath barrens of huckleberries, blueberries, mountain laurel, mountain holly, speckled alder and other waist-high plants. In several places the heath barrens, also called "huckleberry plains" or " roaring plains ", give way to natural balds of mountain oat grass that predate

752-745: The Bear Rocks Preserve. An extensive trail system occurs on the adjacent national forest lands, including the Dolly Sods Wilderness. Bear Rocks' natural heathlands and open grass balds were originally recorded in 1746 by a survey party that included Peter Jefferson , father of Thomas Jefferson . The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy ( TNC ) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia . As of 2021, it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in

799-825: The Cascade Mountain Range of Washington and in the Blackfoot River Valley in Montana. The Conservancy also acquired this land from Plum Creek, including 47,921 acres (193.93 km ) in the Yakima River Headwaters in Washington and 117,152 acres (474.10 km ) in the Lower Blackfoot River Watershed in Montana. Nature United is the Canadian affiliate of The Nature Conservancy. Nature United

846-568: The Conservancy's CEO, Jennifer Morris, charging that The Nature Conservancy was overly supportive of logging interests and the use of wood products as a natural climate solution . TNC is a member of the Forest Climate Working Group alongside wood product companies like Weyerhaeuser and Enviva , and other conservation organizations like the Trust for Public Land and American Forests . The Charity Navigator gave The Nature Conservancy

893-686: The James. Most roads were forest paths, such as the Richmond-Albemarle passage skirting Shadwell... He was also a cartographer and surveyor . In 1746, he and Thomas Lewis ran the famous " Fairfax Line "—a surveyor's line between the headwaters of the Rappahannock and North Branch Potomac Rivers —which established the limits of the " Northern Neck land grant " (also known as the "Fairfax Grant"). In 1749, Peter Jefferson, along with Joshua Fry , Thomas Walker , Edmund Pendleton and others, established

940-608: The Jeffersons relocated to Randolph's plantation in the Fine Creek area. Jane and Peter offered a privileged life for their family whether in established areas of eastern Virginia or, later, as they settled in the Shadwell plantation of the Piedmont. They ate on fine dishware, frequently entertained, enjoyed classic books and music, and attended dances. The family was considered prosperous and cultured. While at Tuckahoe, Peter also oversaw

987-478: The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Financing for this effort was organized by The Nature Conservancy's impact investing unit called NatureVest. NatureVest was created in 2014 with founding sponsorship from JPMorgan Chase with the stated goal of sourcing and putting to work at least $ 1 billion of impact investment capital for measurable conservation outcomes over three years. For their work on

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1034-608: The Lewis family of Virginia. As described by Andrew Burstein in The Washington Post , Jefferson was "an accomplished, strong-minded, self-reliant frontiersman" of the eighteenth century who migrated within Virginia to the western uplands called the Piedmont . He was among the initial settlers of Albemarle County, Virginia in 1737 and acquired property over the years to farm tobacco. By

1081-521: The Nature Conservancy with allegations of improper dealing and other improprieties that the Nature Conservancy contested. In part, the Post alleged the Conservancy had, time and again, bought ecologically significant tracts of land, attached some development restrictions and then resold the properties to trustees and supporters at greatly reduced prices. The sales were part of a program that limits intrusive development but generally allows buyers to build homes on

1128-491: The North, such as snowshoe hare , saw-whet owls , boreal red-backed voles , and fisher . It is also a prime raptor and warbler-watching site during autumn migration and a popular berry-picking spot in midsummer. The area around Bear Rocks supports subalpine heathlands dominated by shrubs such as blueberries, huckleberries, mountain laurel, azalea, and rhododendron. Groves of stunted red spruce, flagged by ice and wind, outcrops of

1175-733: The Seychelles debt restructuring , The Nature Conservancy and JPMorgan Chase were given the FT/ITC Transformational Business Award for Achievement in Transformational Finance. The award is given by the Financial Times and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) for ground-breaking, commercially viable solutions to development challenges. The Nature Conservancy's "Plant a Billion Trees" campaign

1222-570: The Society to dissolve the committee and in 1946, Shelford and his colleagues formed the Ecologists' Union. The latter group eventually took the name "The Nature Conservancy", in emulation of the British agency of that name, which pursued a mission of conserving open space and wildlife preserves. The Nature Conservancy was incorporated in the United States as a non-profit organization on October 22, 1951. As

1269-605: The US. Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy has over one million members globally as of 2021 and has protected more than 119 million acres (48 million ha) of land in its history. As of 2014, it is the largest environmental non-profit organization by assets and revenue in the Americas. The Nature Conservancy developed out of a scholarly organization initially known as the Ecological Society of America (ESA). The ESA

1316-561: The Virginia House of Burgesses . Jefferson's mother, Mary Field Jefferson, died when he was eight years of age. During his childhood, he learned about plantation management from his father. When he was 18 years of age, he managed his father's plantations. His father died when he was 24 years of age. He did not receive any formal education while young, but according to his son Thomas Jefferson, he nevertheless "read much and improved himself" and provided for education for his children. He

1363-427: The atmosphere and stabilize global climate. The Nature Conservancy has over one million members across the world as of 2021 . As of 2014 , it was the largest environmental non-profit organization by assets and revenue in the Americas. The Nature Conservancy has ties to many large companies, including those in the oil, gas, mining, chemical and agricultural industries. As of 2016 , its board of directors included

1410-511: The companies (such as JPMorgan Chase, Disney , and BlackRock ) that purchase carbon credits from The Nature Conservancy were purchasing carbon credits for forests that did not need protection. In 2021, The Nature Conservancy partnered with Amazon to compensate local farmers for restoring and protecting rainforests in Para, Brazil . In 2022, a group of 158 conservation, environmental, and social justice non-profit organizations signed an open letter to

1457-657: The devastation wrought by logging and fires during the late 19th century. Large, striking and uniquely shaped white sandstone and quartz rocks are found throughout the Bear Rocks Preserve area. Erosion has carved bowl-shaped cavities in many of these wind- and rain-sculpted sandstone boulders and these cavities are often filled with water (or ice) and algae. In addition to the sculpted boulders are "rock streams" formed during glacial periods. The freeze-thaw cycles heaved and split rock, creating rock streams up to 50 feet (15 m) wide and hundreds of feet long. Other rock patterns include polygons and circles. Informal trails weave across

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1504-509: The development of his plantation at Shadwell, traveling there as needed while also deftly managing the affairs of the Tuckahoe plantation. In 1752, Jefferson returned to Shadwell, which was improved to include a mill along the Rivanna River . A member of the gentry, he was a host to his peers and to Native Americans who travelled on official business to Colonial Williamsburg . A favored guest

1551-636: The finalization of the first ever debt swap in Seychelles aimed at ocean conservation. The new protected area increases the country's marine protected waters from less than 1 percent to more than 30 percent including support for the creation of the second largest Marine Protected Area in the Western Indian Ocean. The debt swap deal was made possible through a partnership with the Seychelles Ministry of Finance, support of debt-holding nations including France, and grants from private organizations led by

1598-696: The land. The buyers then gave the Conservancy cash that was roughly equivalent to the amount of the discounts. That allowed the new owners to take significant tax deductions for charitable gifts. The Nature Conservancy suspended a range of practices shortly after the articles ran including these sales, licensing its logo to corporations whose executives sat on the Conservancy's governing board and council, all new logging and other "resource extraction activities" such as oil and gas drilling on its nature preserves, and all new loans to employees. The Conservancy launched an independent review that issued its final report in 2004, calling for sweeping reforms aimed at making

1645-438: The organization grew, the organization focused largely on buying as much land as possible in the name of conservation with little scientific research conducted on land before being purchased. Patrick Noonan served as President from 1973 to 1980 and spearheaded major land acquisitions, fundraising and decentralized growth of state programs. In 1970 the organization hired its first staff scientist, Robert E. Jenkins Jr., who helped

1692-488: The organization refocus its mission to conserving natural diversity. With Noonan's support, in 1974 Jenkins began to partner with state governments to develop state-by-state inventories which assembled and stored data on the "elements" of nature (e.g. rare species and natural communities) and on "element occurrences" (the specific locations where they occur), which later morphed into the Natural Heritage Network ,

1739-706: The peace. In 1734, Jefferson claimed the land in present-day Albemarle County, Virginia , which he eventually named Shadwell . By purchase and patent, Peter Jefferson assembled a second plantation which he called “Snowdon” (aka Snowden), located at the Horseshoe Bend of what was then known as the Fluvanna River (later the James River). The name recalls Mount Snowdon, presumably the home of his Jefferson ancestors. He married Jane Randolph , daughter of Isham Randolph and granddaughter of William Randolph , in 1739. For

1786-556: The resignation of McPeek. On June 10, Luis Solorzano, executive director of The Nature Conservancy's Florida-based Caribbean chapter, became the fifth senior official to depart the organization. On June 11, The Nature Conservancy's board chairman Thomas J. Tierney announced that board member and former US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell would serve as interim CEO, effective September 2019. Peter Jefferson Peter Jefferson (February 29, 1708 – August 17, 1757)

1833-453: The retired chairman of Duke Energy , and executives from Merck , HP , Google and several financial industry groups. It also has a Business Council which it describes as a consultative forum that includes Bank of America , BP America , Chevron , Coca-Cola , Dow Chemical , Duke Energy , General Mills , Royal Dutch Shell , and Starbucks . The organization faced criticism in 2010 from supporters for its refusal to cut ties with BP after

1880-456: The time of his death, he held 7,200 acres. Albemarle's founders lived their lives as tobacco planters, militiamen, road builders; they were ambitious, practical, businesslike individuals. Planters large and small transported their tobacco or wheat on tied-together canoes along the Rivanna River (three feet deep in most places during the navigable months of November to June) and eastward along

1927-475: The winter of 2003, 290 inches (7.4 m) of snow fell in the area, although 160 inches (4.1 m) is more typical. The trees and shrubs become broken downward and gnarled along the ridge from the drying winds, the chilling rime frost and the heavy ice glazing and snow. Along the rim are stunted red spruce trees with flag-formed limbs pointing to the east – a result of the almost constant and often high-velocity winds. One-quarter to one-half (400 to 800 m)

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1974-430: The world and record this action on the website as a tally. Its "Plant a Billion Trees" campaign in Brazil aims to restore Brazil's Atlantic Forest by planting native trees on 2.5 million acres (10,000 km ) that have been deforested . The Plant a Billion Trees campaign has also been identified as a tool to help slow climate change with forest restoration being an effective way to help regulate emissions in

2021-538: Was Cherokee chief Ontasseté . Jefferson had more than sixty slaves at Shadwell. He died there in 1757. His land was divided between his two sons, young Thomas and Randolph . Thomas inherited the land along the Rivanna River with views of the mountain to be called Monticello . Randolph inherited "Snowdon," the so-called Fluvanna Lands. All of his children were beneficiaries of his estate. Peter Jefferson's children were: Thomas Jefferson, Lucy Jefferson, and Randolph Jefferson had several descendants in common with

2068-582: Was a planter, cartographer and politician in colonial Virginia best known for being the father of the third president of the United States , Thomas Jefferson . The "Fry-Jefferson Map", created by Peter in collaboration with Joshua Fry in 1757, accurately charted the Allegheny Mountains for the first time and showed the route of "The Great Road from the Yadkin River through Virginia to Philadelphia distant 455 Miles"—what would later come to be known as

2115-674: Was founded as a Canadian charity in 2014, building on decades of conservation in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, the organization has field staff located across the country. Nature United supports Indigenous leadership, sustainable economic development, and large-scale conservation, primarily in the Great Bear Rainforest, Clayoquot Sound, the Northwest Territories, and northern Manitoba. In December 2015, The Nature Conservancy announced

2162-419: Was founded in 1915, and later formed a Committee on Preservation of Natural Areas for Ecological Study, headed by Victor Shelford . The primary aim of Shelford was to find areas of land that would be beneficial for long-term research. By the 1930s, Shelford and his colleagues such as Aldo Leopold increasingly sought to advocate for conservation. The divide in viewpoints regarding scholarship or advocacy led

2209-408: Was the fourth child of six children. From his father's estate, he inherited land and slaves in 1731 along the James River near Isham Randolph and his nephew William Randolph of Tuckahoe . Jefferson's residence, called Fine Creek Manor, was in present-day Powhatan County, Virginia near Fine Creek. (It is now part of Fine Creek Mills Historic District ). He was a sheriff, surveyor, and justice of

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