Natural Bridge State Park to get new owner

Laurence Hammack 19 hrs ago

The Natural Bridge State Park will soon have a new owner, a conservation nonprofit that state officials say will give more financial stability to a local landmark older than the United States. ... At a meeting Tuesday, the board of the Virginia Resources Authority voted to restructure a loan used to purchase the Rockbridge County property, which will allow its ownership to transfer to The Trust for Public Land.

A different nonprofit — headed by Tom Clarke, a Roanoke health care executive — secured the $9.1 million loan from the authority in 2014. Clarke’s Virginia Conservation Legacy Fund purchased the 215-foot tall stone formation and surrounding 1,500 acres, saving it from being sold at a public auction. ... Clarke pledged to donate the land for a state park once the loan was paid off, but quickly ran into financial problems.

The Trust for Public Land “is the right partner for ultimately getting the property under the Commonwealth’s ownership,” Shawn Crumlish, director of financial services for the authority, told its board Tuesday. ... Ownership by the land trust is expected to create greater opportunities for grants and funding for Natural Bridge, according to the resource authority.

Headquartered in San Francisco, the trust works with communities to protect lands and waterways. With a staff of 350, it has acquired and protected about 3.8 million acres valued at nearly $9 billion nationwide.

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Laurence Hammack
Laurence Hammack covers environmental issues, including the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and business and enterprise stories. He has been a reporter for The Roanoke Times for more than three decades.