The Virginia’s Outdoors Foundation aims to ensure that all Virginians have access to safe open spaces which leads to better health and a higher quality of life. This initiative particularly focuses on communities that have been inadequately served, overlooked, or marginalized due to factors such as race, ethnicity, income, or other discriminators, which have historically restricted their access to land and open space for recreation, education, and other uses.
The Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund, administered by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1997, aims to support the preservation of open spaces for various purposes such as farming, forestry, recreation, wildlife, and water quality through grants. These grants facilitate the protection of open space by funding acquisitions, easements, rights of way, and similar projects. To qualify, a real estate interest must be conveyed to either VOF or a local authority as per Virginia’s Open-Space Lands Act. For this grant cycle, approximately $1.8 million is available, with individual project awards historically averaging up to $150,000, although higher amounts may be awarded based on demonstrated need, and partial funding is also a possibility.