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Gov. Mark Warner and Lisa Collis Donate $1.5 Million to Nature Conservancy’s Allegheny Highlands Program

Gift to go toward Conservancy’s “mortgage” on Warm Springs Mountain Preserve

WARM SPRINGS, VA — March 19, 2008 — The Nature Conservancy announced today that former Gov. Mark R. Warner and former first lady of Virginia Lisa Collis have given $1.5 million to the international group to help advance its conservation work in the Allegheny Highlands of western Virginia.

“Warm Springs Mountain and Bath County are favorite retreats for our family,” said Collis, who for the past five years has served on the Conservancy’s volunteer board of trustees in Virginia. “Mark and I have a deep appreciation for the lands, waters and open spaces of Virginia. We’re proud to support the Conservancy’s work in preserving this beautiful corner of Virginia for future generations.”

The Conservancy purchased Warm Springs Mountain Preserve, which overlooks the historic Homestead resort, in March 2002 for $6.2 million. The acquisition remains the Conservancy’s single largest land purchase in Virginia. Through diverse conservation partnerships, the Conservancy continues to conduct research, protect additional land and restore native habitat. 

“Gov. Warner and Lisa Collis are greatly enhancing our efforts to conserve a landscape that is deeply intertwined with our commonwealth’s history and natural heritage,” said Michael Lipford, the Conservancy’s Virginia executive director. “Their generous gift will not only help pay off our mortgage on the preserve, but also will free up resources to advance our conservation work at Warm Springs Mountain and across the state.”

Warm Springs Mountain and the pristine Cowpasture River cutting along its foot open windows to this region’s remarkable natural world. Swift streams thread across the mountain, and unusual plants such as bunchberry still flourish here. In places, the thriving hardwood forest suddenly gives way to a globally rare montane pine barren—arid terrain blanketed with stunted pitch pine and shrubs.

This extraordinary diversity of habitats and species led the Conservancy to target Warm Springs Mountain as the focal point of its work in the Allegheny Highlands. More recently, conservation planners have identified the entirety of the surrounding Central Appalachians—running from Virginia north to Pennsylvania—as one of the Conservancy’s top global priorities.

The Central Appalachians have produced one of the world’s richest temperate broadleaf forests. Wildlife such as the barred owl, bobcat, black bear and fisher, along with unusual plants, thrive within this rich mosaic of woods and rivers. Many species are endemic—they occur nowhere else on Earth. These forests also shelter cool headwater streams that deliver clean water to larger rivers—the Rappahannock, Potomac and Susquehanna—and thus to millions of people in the East.

“Our lands and waters are being changed at unprecedented rates,” said Lipford. “So, the Nature Conservancy is indeed fortunate to have Gov. Warner and Lisa Collis among our dedicated supporters who are helping to conserve critical places.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.