Our population consumes more space per capita than ever before. Other statistics reported by the Preservation Alliance of Virginia reveal the loss of actual farmland as well as forest land. Between 1965 and 1997, Virginia lost 3.8 million acres of its farmland to development. Figures for the loss of forested land are not as complete, but are still revealing. Between 1976 and 1992, Virginia lost 370,000 acres of forest.
Land development is an inevitable part of human history.
Projections for the next ten years indicate Virginia's population will increase by one million persons. This growth equates to a need for approximately 400,000 new homes. There is a clear market demand for more housing and the commercial development which will meet these needs. The Central Virginia Battlefields Trust does not want to halt this inevitable growth. Instead, our interest is to help protect those areas of this region which are important to local citizens as well as to visitors, as places which define the American experience.