Preservationists are expected to announce Tuesday a state and federal initiative to protect more land in the Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, where nearly a third of roughly 50,000 acres of Civil War battlefields are unprotected.

The effort follows the recent announcement by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that a quarry expansion threatens the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Park battlefield, which is in the valley.

Kathleen S. Kilpatrick, director of Virginia's Department of Historic Resources, said that the announcement will be made at a news conference in Middletown and that the initiative involve a state-federal partnership to preserve additional acres within the core area of the battlefield.