Wingate Mackay-Smith

Wingate Mackay-Smith is the recipient of the McCarthy Lifetime Acheivement Award for Leadership in Environmental Conflict Resolution.  For the last four decades, Mrs. Mackay-Smith has established herself as a natural leader of the conservation movement in Virginia. This award honors Mackay-Smith for her clear vision and dedication to preserving agricultural land.   

Mrs. Mackay-Smith came to Clarke County in the 1980s, bringing her experience of voluntary land conservation through the emerging programs of Pennsylvania’s Brandywine Conservancy. She began her conservation work in Virginia in conservation in 1982, when she was appointed to the Clarke County Planning Commission.  

Mrs. Mackay-Smith worked to unite her community over the real threats of losing agricultural land. She worked tirelessly to engage both elected officials and community members in the shared cause of protecting agricultural land. Her ability to mitigate conflict within these negotiations always prevailed, and she consistently used her talents to help all sides support a unified vision. Mrs. Mackay-Smith championed these efforts by serving on the Executive Board of the Piedmont Environmental Council for 25 years and by spearheading the Clarke County’s Conservation Easement Authority (CCEA), offering permanent protection of agriculture and the preservation of open space.  

The authority, led by Mrs. Mackay-Smith, was able to secure almost 10,000 acres on 160 parcels. Today, the CCEA, together with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation and the Piedmont Environmental Council, has protected more than 25% of the natural and cultural heritage land resources in Clarke County. The CCEA has become a model for successful local government land planning in Virginia.  

Mrs. Mackay-Smith’s fearless leadership and contributions to the CCEA led the authority to honor her in the Wingate Mackay-Smith Annual Conservation Award, which recognizes partners who have made a positive difference to collaborative land planning and conservation.  

All of this work often goes unseen, but Mrs. Mackay-Smith’s work will forever be preserved. So today, we are proud to present the McCarthy Lifetime Achievement Award to Wingate, “Winkie ,” Mackay-Smith, for her unyielding dedication to Virginia’s land.