Join Us - Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle

Join Us Today and Shape the Future of Our Region

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.” — Gary Snyder

The Land Trust currently holds easements on more than 50 parcels protecting over 5000 acres of land across WV’s Eastern Panhandle. We’re proud of our success in protecting and preserving farmland, open space, scenic views, and critical habitats. And our success is your success! It is only with your support that the Land Trust can carry out and continue this important work. The Land Trust remains an all-volunteer organization. With no staff, we’re able to keep operational expenses low. Your financial contribution goes directly into acquiring, monitoring, and defending conservation easements. Your funding protects the land.

Please consider a gift of any amount to the Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle. Choose the designation for your contribution based on how you’d like to support our work:

- Operations Fund . . . supports the general operations of the Land Trust
- Legacy Fund . . . specifically supports the acquisition and maintenance of conservation easements
- R. Grant Smith Memorial Fund . . . specifically supports efforts in line with Grant’s memory and legacy

Complete descriptions of these donation designations appear below.

We are a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your gift is fully tax deductible.

Honor and Memory Donations – Please join the Land Trust and those donors listed here in honoring and remembering those highlighted here:

2024 Legacy Fund Donor
Mr. Martin R. and Elise T. Baach - In memory of Grant Smith
Jefferson Cole - In memory of Grant Smith
Marc Goldman - In memory of Grant Smith
Georgia Jeppesen and Skylar Jeppesen Benedict - In memory of Grant Smith
Ronald Parr - In memory of Grant Smith
Susan L Quainton - In memory of Grant Smith
Bao Phan - In memory of Grant Smith
John Smith - In memory of Grant Smith
Judith Strotz - In memory of Grant Smith
Ann H. Taylor - In memory of Grant Smith
2024 R. Grant Memorial Fund Donor
Ms. Charlotte Belton and Tim Belton - In Memory of Grant Smith
Angela Braun – In Memory of Grant Smith
Terry and Paul Camilletti - In Memory of Grant Smith
Donald Camp - In Memory of Grant Smith
Gat & Susan Caperton - In Memory of Grant Smith
Ms. Linda B. Colvin - In Memory of Mark Benedict
Robert W. and Georgia C DuBose - In memory of Grant Smith
Raymond C Ewing and Penelope Yungblut - In memory of Grant Smith
Jeff S. Feldman and Kristin Alexander - In memory of Grant Smith
Eleanor R Finn - In memory of Grant Smith
Bradford Hanson - In memory of Grant Smith
Than Hitt – In Memory of Grant Smith
Barbara Humes - In memory of Grant Smith
Georgia Jeppesen and Skylar Jeppesen Benedict - In Memory of Grant Smith, In Memory of Mark Benedict
Don and Vicki Kramer - In Memory of Grant Smith
Richard Lebaron & Zoe Engalls - In Memory of Grant Smith
Amanda Leiter – In Memory of Grant Smith
Lucien Lewin and Dimetra (Demi) Lewin - In memory of Grant Smith
Judith Miller-Jones - In memory of Grant Smith
Jennifer Mueller – In Memory of Grant Smith
Theodore S Peyton - In Memory of Grant Smith
Rebecca Phipps - In Memory of Grant Smith
W. David Plummer - In Memory of Grant Smith
Mr. Robert Poole - In Memory of Grant Smith
Potomac Conservancy – In Memory of Grant Smith
Elinor Ross - In Memory of Grant Smith
Mark Schiavone - In Memory of Grant Smith
William E Senseney and Angie Soslein - In Memory of Grant Smith
Peter and Vicky Smith – In Memory of Grant Smith
Renny Smith – In Memory of Grant Smith
Stephen Swartz – In Memory of Grant Smith
Anthony Townsend – In Memory of Grant Smith
Frank and Annette Van Hilst - In Memory of Grant Smith
Sharon Villarosa - In Memory of Grant Smith
Dale and Henry Walter - In memory of Grant Smith
Emily Warner – In Memory of Grant Smith
Lisa and Paul Welch – In Memory of Grant Smith
Eldon T. Winston and Virginia Winston - In memory of Grant Smith
Colleen Young – In Memory of Grant Smith

Donate Directly

to the

LTEP Operating Fund

Since 1995 The Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle has worked to protect important cultural, historic and ecological terrain in Jefferson, Berkeley and Morgan Counties. On average over 2 easements are closed per year and the acreage added averages just over 250 acres per year. As of 2020, we have more than 50 easements protecting over 5000 acres. We are proud of all that the Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle has accomplished thus far. We are committed to a future in which our community unites even more strongly to ensure the protection of our most fundamental gifts – our land and our water.

LTEP Operating Fund donations (click button below)

OR send your gift directly to us:

The Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle, P.O. Box 2240, Martinsburg, WV 25402-2240.

Please indicate on the check’s memo field if your gift is to support the Land Trust’s Operating Fund.

Donate Directly

to the

LTEP Legacy Fund

To keep and enhance our promise of land protection FOREVER, and in honor of our 25th anniversary in 2020, we established a Legacy Fund with the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation to provide financial support in perpetuity to protect and grow conservation easements.

The purpose of the Fund is to support and offset costs associated with influencing, establishing, and maintaining conservation easements in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties. We intend, with the help of our Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, to grow the Legacy Fund into a source of sustainable revenue that will allow the Land Trust to help cover these costs. We are ever-grateful to the landowners whose vision and love of their land made them reach out to protect their land, and shape the future of our landscape. It is our responsibility as a community to continue to gift forward by preserving and protecting our landscape for future generations that they may value and enjoy the beauty and sustainable resources, as we do.

LTEP Legacy Fund donations (click button below)

OR send your gift directly to us:

The Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle, P.O. Box 2240, Martinsburg, WV 25402-2240.

Please indicate on the check’s memo field if your gift is to support the Land Trust’s Legacy Fund.

Donate Directly

to the

R. Grant Smith Memorial Fund

R. Grant Smith, President of the Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle for over 20 years, passed away on April 6, 2024. The Board of the Land Trust has established a fund in his honor.

Grant’s knowledge, leadership, and vision has helped landowners to preserve their land in perpetuity with Conservation Easements. Over 5,000 acres have preserved the natural beauty of the landscape, as well as preserving the history of our area.

Grant has given a gift to us of the natural beauty of the landscape to enjoy.

Donations to the Fund will sustain his vision into the Future…. “Conserving, Land Water, and Open-Space —Forever”, providing support and offsetting costs associated with acquiring and or maintaining conservation easements in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. The costs to the landowner can often be a deterrent to putting their land in conservation easement, and these funds are designated to help assist with these costs.

R. Grant Smith Memorial Fund donations (click button below)

OR send your gift directly to us:

The Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle, P.O. Box 2240, Martinsburg, WV 25402-2240.

Please indicate on the check’s memo field if your gift is to support the Land Trust’s R. Grant Smith Memorial Fund.