FY 2026 Local PDR Program

Purchase of development rights (PDR) programs offer compensation to landowners who voluntarily place conservation easements on their farm or forestland. By restricting development, this incentivized structure works to preserve valuable working lands.The Virginia Department of Forestry’s Office of Working Lands Preservation (OWL) works with localities to help establish local PDR programs by creating model policies and practices, establishing criteria to certify programs as eligible to receive funds from public sources, and determining methods and sources of funding for localities to purchase conservation easements. OWL administers the Virginia Farmland and Forestland Preservation Fund (FFPF)…