Description

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The Cacapon and Lost Rivers are located in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia’s eastern panhandle. Well loved by paddlers and anglers, these American Heritage Rivers are surrounded by a lush valley of wildlife and flora that is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Although still rural and mostly forested, development and land fragmentation in the Cacapon and Lost River Valley have increased over the last decades. Listening to the Land: Stories from the Cacapon and Lost River Valley is a conversation between the people of this Valley and their land, chronicling this community’s dedication to preserving its farms, forests, and rural heritage.United around a shared passion for stewardship, the Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust and local landowners have permanently protected over 11,000 acres by incorporating local values into permanent conservation action. Despite the economic pressures that have devastated nearby valleys over the past twenty years, natives and newcomers alike have worked to protect this valley by sustaining family homesteads and buying surrounding parcels.This partnership between the Land Trust and the people of this Valley, unprecedented in West Virginia and nationally recognized for its success, greatly enriches historic preservation and conservation movements, bringing to light the need to investigate, pursue, and listen to the enduring connection between people and place.  

About the Author

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Jamie S. Ross has worked for over thirty years writing, directing and producing documentary work on American history and culture. Most recently she was producer and co-writer of the acclaimed four-part PBS environmental history series, A History of Mountains and Peoples (www.appalachiafilm.org), selected as the Best Video of the Year by the American Library Association. For her work on the series, Ross received the Mountain Hero award from the Mountain Institute. She has been named a National Scholar by the Council on Basic Education and has served as a Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Tom Cogill is a freelance photographer, born in Hollywood, California and for the past thirty-five years a resident of Charlottesville, Virginia. His work has appeared in US News & World Report, American Heritage, National Geographic, NG Traveler, Science, Nature, The Chronicle of Higher Education and other publications. For the past 10 years he has worked increasingly in documenting the work of individuals and foundations doing social projects in Latin America. Learn more at www.tomcogill.com.  

Praise For…

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"When I owned property in the Lost River Valley, where my life’s work was inspired, I admired the principles and values of the landowners. I also realized that if the special beauty of this place was to be conserved, it would only happen if this was what the local people wanted. As you read the history of these individuals, you will understand how the Cacapon River Watershed became what it is today.  This precious resource could not have been placed in more loving and caring hands.  These hardworking people have passed along a national treasure so unique and important to future generations and the environmental health of the entire Chesapeake Bay Watershed, that we cannot ignore its presence. By more fully understanding their love of this community and the land, we can join with them in their quest to preserve the natural habitat and their heritage.  Together we have the rare opportunity to protect one of the most biodiverse, and one of the last remaining intact watersheds in the entire Chesapeake Bay drainage."Patrick Noonan, Founder, American Farmland Trust and The Conservation Fund 

"After years of building relationships with communities throughout the nation, the Land Trust Alliance has discovered something truly essential to land conservation – people love to hear stories about their land.  The Cacapon and Lost Rivers Land Trust truly celebrates these connections in Cacapon Voices  through the stories of people who love a place so much that they put its protection ahead of their own needs. These stories give me hope for the future of land conservation because these are stories about the why of saving land, not just the how."Rand Wentworth, President Land Trust Alliance