Green Group Suggested Video Cameras to Spy on Farmer

An environmental group that stands accused of overstepping its inspection authority and trespassing across a Virginia farm also tried to have video cameras installed to monitor the property.

An officer of the Piedmont Environmental Council proposed that one of that group’s board members “runs a security company and could offer the use of security cameras to record visitors,” according to documents examined by The Daily Signal.

A scene caught on one of the Piedmont Environmental Council’s camera traps at the Piedmont Memorial Overlook. (Photo: Piedmont Environmental Council Facebook)

Martha Boneta, who owns Liberty Farm in Paris, Va., last year sued the Piedmont Environmental Council and others because, she said, PEC encouraged Fauquier County officials to harass her with citations of zoning violations and other actions.

As previously reported by The Daily Signal, Boneta says PEC’s inspections have gone far beyond what is required to assure compliance with an easement on the property.

Documents obtained by The Daily Signal show the environmental group sought not only to monitor Liberty Farm through increasingly invasive inspections but also to install the video cameras to monitor visitors.

However, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, a quasi-state agency created by the state legislature to preserve open space, would not go along.

‘Desire to Peep and Spy’

A “stewardship contact log” maintained by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation shows that Heather Richards, vice president of conservation and rural programs for the Piedmont Environmental Council, contacted the outdoors agency on Sept. 28, 2010.

Richards wrote that, driving by Boneta’s farm, she noticed “small signs advertising produce, herbs, etc, for purchase as well as a [organic tea] café,” which, she said, may be in violation of terms for commercial use.

PEC’s Richards told the outdoors agency that “she has a board member who runs a security company and could offer the use of security cameras to record visitors,” according to the log.

>>> Va. Farmer Says Green Group Urged County to Harass Her

A Virginia Outdoors Foundation official, identified in correspondence as Andrea Reese, resisted PEC’s request to install cameras but indicated she would conduct her own investigation. Reese wrote:

VOF has not yet enforced a provision about [the] number of people on a property and would not expect to have a strong PR or legal position in this instance.

Boneta said she was aghast at PEC’s continuing “desire to peep and spy on individuals” who enter her property:

It is terrifying to think that as Americans we have to live in fear of having our personal, private guests to our farm monitored and videotaped.

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