The Mosby Heritage Area Association is pleased to announce that a partnership with the Bondi family of Old Welbourne has been established to promote protecting important battlefield property in permanent easement. "The Bondi Family Land Conservation and Battlefield Preservation Fund" will be available to landowners within the Unison Battlefield Study Area who are considering protecting their land with a permanent conservation easement. The fund is designated to assist landowners with transaction costs, including stewardship, legal, and surveyor fees and the Bondi family has pledged to replenish the fund annually in perpetuity.

The Mosby Heritage Area Association has been intensifying preservation efforts by advocating for conservation easements across the Heritage Area, but especially within the Civil War battlefields, as they mark an enormous moment in our collective history. In 2014, MHAA was awarded an American Battlefield Preservation Plan grant to draw up a plan to protect the "Prelude to Gettysburg" cavalry battlefields of June 1863 that raged along the Ashby's Gap Turnpike, today's Route 50. Since that time, MHAA has assisted in placing part of the Battle of Upperville, "Vineyard Hill", under easement with the Land Trust of Virginia. This year MHAA facilitated the protection of over 200 acres in the Unison Battlefield which included contributions to each landowner to help offset their financial burden. The success of this assistance illustrated the need to develop such a fund and the Bondi family graciously stepped forward.

This easement effort within MHAA's Preservation Committee is being spearheaded by Ashton Cole, who is also the Director of Conservation and Stewardship with the Land Trust of Virginia, and MHAA Chairman C. Dulany Morison. "We believe this fund will prove to be a convincing resource in our discussions with landowners considering conservation easements and we are very grateful to the Bondi family" says Morison. This easement initiative focuses on Civil War battlefield property, but MHAA remains committed to preserving the entire landscape of the Heritage Area to protect our viewsheds and vast historical resources. Conservation easements are the best protection against invasive development in rural areas and they remove further potential strain on Loudoun's infrastructure, as well as protect the county's thriving tourism industry.