As Dominion’s Skiffes Creek power project rolls forward, money from the project’s mitigation agreement is making its way to the Virginia Peninsula.
Governor Terry McAuliffe announced $12.5 million in land conservation grants from the $89.5 million of the Skiffes Creek project mitigation fund on Thursday, according to a Governor’s Office news release.
The grants were given by the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation to nine projects, the release said.
“Virginia is home to a wealth of historical treasures, and these grants from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation will improve visitor experiences and enhance educational opportunities at some of our country’s most significant sites,” Governor Terry McAuliffe said in the release. “I am especially pleased that a significant grant from this funding will go towards land preservation that will finally provide the Chickahominy Indian Tribe with permanent access to the river.”
The tribe received a grant to help pay for land on the James River. The land will be “permanently protected under a conservation easement,” the release said.
The new land will give the tribe land access to “one of its home rivers” for the first time in hundreds of years, according to the release.
Another grant will help pay for the purchase of a historic plantation on the James River, Belmead on the James, the release stated.
The plantation, built in 1845, later became a school which served “more than 15,000 African American and Native American students,” according to the release.
“As Virginians, we play a special role in the stewardship of our national story,” Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward said in the release. “The projects receiving funding today protect vulnerable habitats while preserving crucial parts of our collective history, including the underrepresented history of Virginia’s tribes.”
The other seven grants will fund the purchase of five battlefields of the Revolutionary War and Civil War as well as “expanded protections” for the Yorktown battlefield and the purchase of Malvern Hill Farm by the Capital Region Land Conservancy, the release said.
Two of the seven grants will help create a new exhibit at Endview Plantation and a digital model of Fort Crafford in Newport News, according to the release.
