Title 10.1, Title 10.1. Conservation

In preparing its report on each major state project, as required in Article 2 (§ 10.1-1188 et seq.) of Chapter 11.1, each state agency shall demonstrate that it has considered the impact that project would have on the availability of working farm and forest lands as required in §…

A. In preparing environmental impact reports in accordance with § 10.1-1119.6, state agencies shall consider the impact of the major state project on all farm and forest lands that: 1. Have soil classified as capability class I, II, III, or IV; 2. Have an exceptional combination …

A. All state agencies, boards, authorities, and commissions or any branch of the state government shall prepare and submit an environmental impact report to the Department on each major state project. For the purposes of this section, "major state project" means the acquisition o…

The Department of Transportation (VDOT) shall, as part of the environmental review it conducts for a road or highway construction project, include in an environmental impact statement a list of any existing terrestrial or aquatic wildlife corridor identified in the Wildlife Corri…

Within sixty days of the receipt of the environmental impact report by the Department, the Department shall review and make a statement to the Governor commenting on the environmental impact of each major state facility. The statement of the Department shall be available to the G…

The State Comptroller shall not authorize payments of funds from the state treasury for a major state project unless the request is accompanied by the written approval of the Governor after his consideration of the comments of the Department on the environmental impact of the fac…

The Department shall, in conjunction with other state agencies, coordinate the development of objectives, criteria and procedures to ensure the orderly preparation and evaluation of environmental impact reports required by this article. These procedures shall provide for submissi…

All departments, commissions, boards, authorities, agencies, offices and institutions within any branch of the state government shall cooperate with the Department in carrying out the purposes of this article.

The Forest Management of State-Owned Lands Fund established by the legislature in 1980 is continued.

As used in this article unless the context requires a different meaning: "Fund" means the Forest Management of State-Owned Lands Fund. "State-owned lands" means forest land owned or managed by the various departments, agencies and institutions of the Commonwealth and designated b…

A. The Department in cooperation with the Division of Engineering and Buildings shall develop a forest management plan for state-owned lands with the assistance of affected state agencies, departments and institutions. B. Prior to the sale of timber from state-owned lands, the pr…

The Fund shall be used to defray the costs of timber sales, to develop forest management plans for state-owned lands pursuant to § 10.1-1124, and to implement those plans. The Department shall have the authority to manage, receive and expend moneys for and from the Fund for these…

A. The Department, with the assistance of the Watershed Planning and Permitting Coordination Task Force, shall undertake such efforts it deems necessary and appropriate to coordinate the watershed-level activities conducted by state and local agencies and authorities and to foste…

A. There is hereby created the Watershed Planning and Permitting Coordination Task Force, which shall be referred to in this article as the Task Force. The Task Force shall be composed of the Directors, or their designees, of the Department of Environmental Quality, the Departmen…

The Task Force may name qualified persons to advisory panels to assist it in carrying out its responsibilities. Panels shall include members representing different areas of interest and expertise in watershed planning and watershed permitting including representatives of local go…

A. The Department, the Task Force and any advisory panels appointed by the Task Force shall be guided by the following definition of watershed planning: "Watershed planning" is the process of studying the environmental and land use features of a watershed to identify those areas …

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall cooperate with the Department and the Task Force and, upon request, assist the Department and the Task Force in the performance of their efforts in coordinating and promoting watershed planning and watershed permitting.

A. Upon presentation to its governing body of an itemized statement duly certified by the State Forester, each county in this Commonwealth, or city which enters into a contract with the State Forester under § 10.1-1125 to provide forest fire prevention, shall repay into the state…

A. In addition to the application of this article and Articles 5 (§ 10.1-1131 et seq.) and 6 (§ 10.1-1134.1 et seq.) to forestlands lying in counties, such articles shall also apply to forestlands lying within cities. For the purposes of such articles as applied to cities, forest…

The State Forester is authorized to enter into agreements, approved by the Attorney General of Virginia, with agencies of the United States government holding title to forest land in any county, city or town. Any such agreement may include provisions for the State Forester to fur…

A. Forestry, when practiced in accordance with accepted silvicultural best management practices as determined by the State Forester pursuant to § 10.1-1105, constitutes a beneficial and desirable use of the Commonwealth's forest resources. B. Notwithstanding any other provision o…

The governing bodies of the counties and those cities entering into a contract as provided in § 10.1-1125 are authorized to levy taxes and appropriate money for forest protection, improvement and management.

A. The governing body of any county, city or town may adopt a tree conservation ordinance regulating the preservation and removal of heritage, specimen, memorial and street trees, as defined under subsection B of this section, when such preservation and removal are not commercial…

Each county, city and town acting through its governing body, is authorized to acquire by purchase, gift or bequest tracts of land suitable for the growth of trees and to administer the same, as well as any lands now owned by any such locality and suitable for the growth of trees…

Before any governing body purchases any real estate outside of the county, city or town which it represents pursuant to the provisions of § 10.1-1128, it shall first secure the approval of the governing body of the county, city or town in which the real estate is located.

The State Forester is authorized to supply from any forest tree nursery or nurseries forest tree seedlings and transplants necessary and suitable for reforesting any part or all of any lands acquired or owned and administered by any county, city or town as provided in § 10.1-1128…

As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Fund" means the Small Business Environmental Compliance Assistance Fund. "Small business" means a business located in Virginia that (i) employs 100 or fewer people and (ii) is a small business concern as d…

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Small Business Environmental Compliance Assistance Fund, hereafter referred to as the "Fund." The Fund shall be comprised of (i) moneys appropriated to the Fund by the General Assembly…

A. Moneys in the Fund shall be used to make loans or to guarantee loans to small businesses for the purchase and installation of environmental pollution control and prevention equipment certified by the Department as meeting the following requirements: 1. The air pollution contro…

The Auditor of Public Accounts shall annually audit the accounts of the Fund when the records of the Department are audited.

The State Forester is authorized to designate, upon request of the landowner, forest trees of private forest landowners for sale or removal, by blazing or otherwise, and to measure or estimate the volume of the trees under the terms and conditions hereinafter provided.

The State Forester shall administer the provisions of this article. The State Forester, or his authorized agent, upon receipt of a request from a forest landowner for technical forestry assistance or service, may (i) designate forest trees for removal for lumber, veneer, poles, p…

Upon presentation of a statement for designating, measuring or estimating services specified in § 10.1-1132, the landowner or his agent shall pay to the State Forester within thirty days of receipt of the statement an amount not to exceed five percent of the sale price or fair ma…

All moneys paid to the State Forester for services described in this article shall be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the Forestry Operations Fund, to be used to provide additional similar scientific forestry services to the landowners of this Commonwealth. The S…

Upon presentation of appropriate credentials and upon consent of the owner or custodian, the Director or his designee shall have the right to enter at any reasonable time onto any property to inspect, investigate, evaluate, conduct tests or take samples for testing as he reasonab…

Except as otherwise specified in this article, the Department may require every owner or operator of a small renewable energy project to furnish when requested such plans, specifications, and other pertinent information as may be necessary to determine the compliance status of th…

As used in this article: "Agrivoltaics" means the intentional co-location of agricultural production and solar energy generation on the same land that (i) is designed to prioritize and sustain agricultural productivity while simultaneously integrating renewable energy generation,…

A. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 10.1-1186.2:1, the Department shall develop, by regulations to be effective as soon as practicable, but not later than July 1, 2012, a permit by rule or permits by rule if it is determined by the Department that one or more such permits by r…

A. Upon submission of a complete application, the Department, after consultation with other agencies in the Secretariat of Natural and Historic Resources before authorizing the project, shall conduct an assessment of whether the application meets the requirements of the applicabl…

A. If the owner or operator of a small renewable energy project to whom the Department has authorized a permit by rule pursuant to this article is not a utility regulated pursuant to Title 56, then the State Corporation Commission shall not have jurisdiction to review the small r…

A. Any person violating or failing, neglecting, or refusing to obey any provision of this article, any regulation, case decision, or order, or any certification or permit-by-rule condition may be compelled to comply by injunction, mandamus, or other appropriate remedy. B. Without…

As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Orchard" means agricultural land located in the Commonwealth consisting of at least one-half acre of contiguous land dedicated to the growing of crops from trees, bushes, or vines, which crops are used or …

The State Forester, when he deems it necessary, may request the Governor to commission persons designated by the State Forester to act as forest wardens of the Commonwealth, to enforce the forest laws and, under his direction, to aid in carrying out the purposes of this chapter. …

The duties of the forest wardens are to (i) enforce all forest and forest fire statutes and regulations of the Commonwealth, (ii) serve as forest fire incident commander and perform other duties as needed in the management and suppression of forest fire incidents as long as the a…

When any forest warden sees or receives a report of a forest fire, he shall proceed immediately to the scene of the fire and employ such persons and means as in his judgment are expedient and necessary to extinguish the fire, within the limits of the expense he has been authorize…

The State Forester shall be authorized, whenever it appears to him that forest fires in any part of the Commonwealth are caused by unknown arsonists or incendiaries, to offer a monetary reward for information sufficient to procure conviction in a court of appropriate jurisdiction…