Rockbridge County's scenic beauty has long been cherished by its landowners.

Thomas Jefferson was captivated by the area when he purchased Natural Bridge from King George III of England in the late 1700s.

These days, residents are so protective of the land that just last November, three members of the county's board of supervisors were ousted from office in favor of candidates who charged the incumbents were doing little to stop sprawl development that's endangering open land and vistas.

Now there's this telling fact: Since Gov. Tim Kaine pledged in 2006 to preserve 400,000 acres of land throughout Virginia by 2010, property owners in Rockbridge County have put more land in conservation easements than any other locality in the state: 12,043 acres.

Kaine's initiative seeks to protect open spaces from residential and commercial development, and the easements do just that. The governor's pledge is so important to him that the state's Department of Conservation and Recreation posts a running tally of preserved acreage on its Web site.

"Since the governor has this goal, he's very interested in exactly where we are," said Sarah Richardson, a land conservation coordinator with the department.

Through the end of January, 232,288 acres of land have been preserved statewide toward Kaine's goal.

For Gregg Amonette, the conservation easement he finalized in December will ensure that his 180-acre Rockbridge County farm will never look much different than it does now.

"It's a county worth protecting and preserving because it's really beautiful. And a lot of people feel that way," said Amonette, 55, who fell in love with the Rockbridge area as a student at Washington and Lee University in Lexington.

Conservation easements put permanent restrictions on land development. Owners keep title to the land and get state and federal tax credits and deductions. The protective easements can also be transferred to future owners of the property.

But the growing trend among Rockbridge's property owners to protect open landscapes comes at the same time that some farmers are facing financial problems that could force them to sell their land so they can retire comfortably.

"Around here the farmers say their land is their 401(k)," said Amonette. "The temptation is to sell off part or a lot or even all these farms."

Transferring landownership from one generation to the next can also be a costly endeavor.

"All of a sudden I think a lot of people woke up and realized that, at their death, if they wanted to pass this on to the next generation, there would be a huge tax to pay," said Larry Mann, a Rockbridge-area lawyer who's handled dozens of easements in recent years. "The kids would have to sell off a portion in order to pay the tax, and that defeated the very purpose."

Conservation easements typically reduce the value of farm land, and Mann said that lowers the estate taxes accordingly.

Eric Spencer said he faced a significant estate tax bill when he inherited the 175-acre family farm a few years ago after his mother died in a boating accident at Smith Mountain Lake.

In December, he finalized a conservation easement on the land just outside Lexington so his children wouldn't be hit with a similar financial bite. The easement reduced the tax value of Spencer's property by 40 percent.

"It really opened my eyes about proper estate planning, which we didn't have the luxury of time to do," he said. "I saw it as a way of making the next generation not have quite the burden."

"It helps a lot with estate taxes," said Richardson. "If they put it in an easement, their estate tax is way less."

Development pressure also appears to be spurring landowners into protecting their land through easements.

"There's been a number of developments in Rockbridge County that people were not happy with," said Laura Thurman, an easement manager in the Staunton office of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.

The foundation holds about 80 percent of the conservation easements in Virginia, and Thurman has worked closely with Rockbridge landowners concerned about the county's disappearing farmland.

"We have a lot of people moving in here from out of state," said Don Firebaugh, a longtime farmer in the county who put an old cattle farm and Christmas tree farm into easements last year. "They come here because they like the view and everything, but after they get here, it seems to wear off and they decide to break the farm up."

Firebaugh wonders what future generations will do for food if farmland continues to disappear.

"I see the great expanse of residential use of the farmland and personally I think it's not good stewardship," he said.

Spencer at times feels sandwiched between his allegiance toward land preservation and his livelihood as a building materials vendor.

As the owner of Spencer Home Center in Lexington, he thinks there's room in the county for growth and open space.

"It's kind of ironic, because ... we supply building materials to contractors, so developments are good for my business," said Spencer. "But protecting the land in Rockbridge County is important as well."