Title 10.1, Conservation

Any public body is authorized to acquire (i) unrestricted fee simple title to tracts; (ii) fee simple title to such land subject to reservation of rights to use such lands for farming or to reservation of timber rights thereon; or (iii) easements in gross or such other interests …

A. No open-space land, the title to or interest or right in which has been acquired under this chapter and which has been designated as open-space land under the authority of this chapter, shall be converted or diverted from open-space land use unless (i) the conversion or divers…

Insofar as the provisions of this chapter are inconsistent with the provisions of any other law, the provisions of this chapter shall be controlling. The powers conferred by this chapter shall be in addition and supplemental to the powers conferred by any other law.

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, an easement held pursuant to this chapter shall be construed in favor of achieving the conservation purposes for which it was created.

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation is established to promote the preservation of open-space lands and to encourage private gifts of money, securities, land or other property to preserve the natural, scenic, historic, scientific, open-space and recreational areas of the Commonwealth…

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation shall have the following general powers: 1. To have succession until dissolved by the General Assembly, in which event title to the properties of the Foundation, both real and personal, shall, insofar as consistent with existing contractual obliga…

A. The Foundation shall establish, administer, manage, including the creation of reserves, and make expenditures and allocations from a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury to be known as the Open-Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund, hereinafter referred to as the Fund…

The Foundation shall submit an annual report to the Governor and General Assembly on or before November 1 of each year. The report shall contain, at a minimum, the annual financial statements of the Foundation for the year ending the preceding June 30.

Gifts, devises or bequests, whether personal or real property, and the income therefrom, accepted by the Foundation, shall be deemed to be gifts to the Commonwealth, which shall be exempt from all state and local taxes, and shall be regarded as the property of the Commonwealth fo…

All state officers, agencies, commissions, departments, and institutions are directed to cooperate with and assist the Virginia Outdoors Foundation in carrying out its purpose, and to that end may accept any gift or conveyance of land or other property in the name of the Commonwe…

There is hereby created an institution of the Commonwealth of Virginia to be known as "The Virginia Museum of Natural History," hereinafter referred to as the "Museum." The Museum is hereby declared to be a public body and instrumentality for the purpose of preserving and protect…

The purposes of the Virginia Museum of Natural History are: 1. To investigate, preserve and exhibit the various elements of natural history found in Virginia and other parts of the United States and the world; 2. To foster an understanding and appreciation of how man and the eart…

The Museum shall be governed by a board of trustees consisting of 15 members appointed by the Governor. Two of the members appointed to the Board shall be members of the Virginia Academy of Science. The appointments shall be subject to confirmation by the General Assembly if in s…

The members of the Board shall be appointed for terms of five years each, except that the initial appointments to the Board shall be for such terms of less than five years as may be necessary to stagger the expiration of terms so that the terms of not more than seven members expi…

The Board shall designate one regular meeting to be held annually each fiscal year. At each regular annual meeting, the Board shall select a chairman and a vice-chairman from its membership, and appoint an executive committee to consist of not less than three nor more than five o…

Before entering upon the discharge of his duties, each member of the Board shall take the usual oath of office.

Each member of the Board shall be bonded in accordance with § 2.2-1840, conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his duties.

The Board shall establish a regular meeting schedule and may meet at such other times as it deems appropriate or upon call of the chairman, when in his opinion a meeting is expedient or necessary.

A simple majority of the members of the Board then serving shall constitute a quorum. In absence of a quorum, and provided that the chairman or vice-chairman and at least two other members of the Board are present, a meeting may proceed to receive information, but not take any ac…

A. The Board is hereby authorized: 1. To manage, control, maintain and operate the Museum and to provide for the erection, care and preservation of all property belonging to the Museum; 2. To appoint the Director of the Museum, and prescribe his duties and salary and to employ su…

The Director may engage or authorize the engagement of agents and employees necessary to the operation and maintenance of the Museum, subject to the approval of the Board.

A. The Board is authorized to receive and administer grants from agencies of the United States government, and gifts, bequests and devises of property, and to expend or authorize the expenditure of funds derived from such sources and funds appropriated by the General Assembly to …

The Board of Trustees shall submit an annual report to the Governor and General Assembly on or before November 1 of each year. Such report shall contain, at a minimum, the annual financial statements of the Museum for the year ending the preceding June 30.

As used in this subtitle, unless the context requires a different meaning: "Battlefield property" means any real property in the Commonwealth that is listed in the Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (Civil War Sites Advisory C…

There is hereby created a Department of Historic Resources. The Department shall be headed by a Director. The Director shall be appointed by the Governor to serve at his pleasure for a term coincident with his own. The Director shall be subject to confirmation by the General Asse…

In addition to the powers and duties conferred upon the Director elsewhere and in order to encourage, stimulate, and support the identification, evaluation, protection, preservation, and rehabilitation of the Commonwealth's significant historic, architectural, archaeological, and…

A. There is hereby established a special, nonreverting fund in the state treasury to be known as the Historic Resources Fund, hereafter referred to as the Fund. The Fund shall be administered and managed by the Director and used for the general purposes of education, financing of…

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Preservation Easement Fund, hereafter referred to as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. The Fund shall consist of general funds appropriated by …

A. In order to consider the broad public interest and protect the financial investment in state-owned historic assets, the Department shall develop, on a biennial basis, a report on the stewardship of state-owned properties. The report shall include, but not be limited to, a prio…

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Virginia Battlefield Preservation Fund, hereafter referred to as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. The Fund shall consist of general funds appr…

A. As used in this section: "Eligible costs" means acquisition of real property and any improvements thereon; acquisition of a permanent protective interest in real property such as a perpetual preservation easement; costs associated with the acquisition of real property or inter…

A. The Virginia Historic Landmarks Board within the executive branch of state government is continued as the Board of Historic Resources and shall consist of seven members. The members of the Board shall initially be appointed for terms of office as follows: two for a one-year te…

A. The Board of Historic Resources shall: 1. Designate historic landmarks, including buildings, structures, districts, objects and sites which constitute the principal historical, architectural, archaeological, and cultural resources which are of local, statewide or national sign…

The Board shall promulgate regulations necessary to carry out its powers and duties, including at a minimum criteria and procedures for the designation of historic landmarks, including buildings, structures, districts, objects, and sites. Such regulations shall be not inconsisten…

A. The Department, with assistance from the Ombudsman for Tribal Consultation designated pursuant to § 2.2-401.01, shall develop policies and procedures, to the extent permitted by law, to ensure an opportunity for meaningful and appropriate written consultation with federally re…

A. In any county, city, or town where the Board proposes to designate a historic district, building, structure, object, or site as a historic landmark, or where the Director proposes to nominate property to the National Park Service for inclusion in the National Register of Histo…

A. Before the Board shall designate any building, structure, district, object, or site as a historic landmark in accordance with § 10.1-2204, the owners of such property proposed for designation shall be given the opportunity to concur in or object to such designation by the Boar…

Where the Commonwealth has obtained from a landowner an easement or other partial interest in property which places restrictions on the use or development of that property so as to preserve those features which led to the designation of that property as an historic landmark, the …

The Director shall oversee the expenditure of state appropriations made available to organizations, whether localities or private entities, for purposes related to the historical collections, historic landmarks, and historic sites of Virginia, to assure that such purposes are con…

It shall be unlawful to post or erect any historical marker, monument, sign or notice, on public property or upon any public street, road or highway in the Commonwealth bearing any legend, inscription or notice which purports to record any historic event, incident or fact, or to …

A. The governing body of any county, city or town may, at its own expense, have erected a historical marker commemorating any person, event or place upon any public street, road or highway within its boundaries, provided that the person, event or place to be commemorated is ident…

A. For purposes of this section, "Green Book" means The Negro Motorist Green Book published by Victor Hugo Green to provide a list of hotels, guest houses, service stations, drug stores, taverns, barbershops, and restaurants known to be safe for traveling Black Americans during t…

A. At the direction of the Director, the Comptroller of the Commonwealth is instructed and empowered to draw annual warrants upon the State Treasurer from any sums that may be provided in the general appropriation act, in favor of the treasurers of the Confederate memorial associ…

A. At the direction of the Director, the Comptroller of the Commonwealth is instructed and empowered to draw annual warrants upon the State Treasurer from any sums that may be provided in the general appropriation act, in favor of the treasurers of the Virginia Society of the Son…

There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Revolutionary War Cemeteries and Graves Fund, referred to in this section as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All funds appropriated for such pur…

A. For purposes of this section: "Fund" means the Historical African American Cemeteries and Graves Fund created pursuant to § 10.1-2211.3. "Historical African American cemetery" means a cemetery that was established prior to January 1, 1948, for interments of African Americans. …