RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Fourteen grants totaling $1.7 million have been awarded by Virginia’s land conservation board. The Virginia Land Conservation Foundation awards will help add 5,700 preserved acres. The grants are used by private land trusts, local governments and state agencies to protect farm and forestland, historic area and open spaces. The grants are headed to Stafford County to purchase prime farmland, the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation to purchase an easement for the core area of Fisher’s Hill Battlefield, and the Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund to preserve Bald Knob Natural Area Preserve in Franklin County. Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced the funding Thursday, calling the grants “money well spent.”
