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When George Sempeles became the president of GunBarrel hunt club 10 years ago, he knew he wanted to protect the group’s Hampshire County, West Virginia, land from development.

Easement grantor and longtime land trust supporter John Gavitt's moving personal story, and his dream for our watershed.

“It was about 1966. My Dad and I were canoeing down the Cacapon River. We stopped for lunch at a cabin site with a large mowed lawn.

Look around you! It’s 134 acres. It’s got streams and meadows and ponds and a little timber on it, and it’s two hours from Washington, D.C.

There are many reasons to protect this land and this farm but one of the most important motivations for me, is that after I hang up my farmer’s hat, this land will continue to be a farm...

My family came in here two hundred years ago, and I grew up here. My daddy used to take me up here on the hill and point out which pieces of property that my ancestors had gotten their hands on…