Administered by
The Thomas Jefferson Water Resources Foundation 

The Thomas Jefferson Water Resources Protection Foundation (TJWRPF) is a non-profit subsidiary of the Thomas Jefferson Soil & Water Conservation District (TJSWCD), developed to administer the District's Easement Program. Its Board of Directors is composed of area citizens appointed by the TJSWCD and local governing bodies from Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson Counties. This Board ensures that the interests of all member localities are adequately represented.

What is the purpose of the TJSWCD Easement Program?

The primary purpose of the TJSWCD Easement Program is to protect water resources. To this end, the program focuses on the protection of:

• riparian forest buffers

• critical slopes

• springs

• wetlands

• groundwater recharge areas

The conveyance of an easement to TJSWCD is often used as an alternative by developers to help them meet state, local, or federal water-related regulations. An easement may also protect habitat for species such as the endangered James River Spinymussel.

Three Categories of Properties

1. Regulatory-Based Easements fulfill federal, state or local requirements intended to protect water quality for new development.  The developer or owner offers to permanently protect a stream buffer or other resource area in lieu of more expensive Best Management Practices and pays the full custodial fees associated with these easements.  

2. Stewardship Easements are offered voluntarily by the landowner to the District in perpetuity. The landowners are encouraged to donate funds adequate to pay for putting the land under easement and maintaing the easement in perpetuity.   

3. StreamKeeper Properties  have not yet had a deed of easement filed because funds are not available to pay for the expenses involved.  Owners have willingly enrolled their properties into the StreamKeeper program because they want to see the land protected.  These properties will become Stewardship Easements, if and when funding becomes available to cover the custodial fee.

Why should the TJSWCD hold your easement?

• The TJSWCD has been protecting precious soil and water resources in Albemarle, Nelson, Louisa, and Fluvanna counties for over sixty-five years.

• The TJSWCD will hold easements on small, isolated parcels of land, which may be ineligible for other easement programs.

• As a locally based organization, TJSWCD will make certain your wishes for the land, as documented in the deed of easement, are carried on forever. Periodic staff visits ensure the land is being properly managed.

• The TJSWCD holds "Open Space Easements" enabled under the Virginia Open -Space Land Act.