This summer marks our ninth Summer Fellowship Program, an annual seven-week educational program for college students and recent graduates.
Maps & Resources
Conservation Easement Enforcement Goes to the Virginia Supreme Court
Organizations Weigh In on Wetlands America Trust, Inc. v. White Cloud Nine Ventures, LLC — Six regional and national conservation groups petitioned the Virginia Supreme Court to allow them to weigh in on a case about conservation easements in the Commonwealth.
Go Native Go Local
This guide provides the residents of the Virginia Piedmont with a listing of businesses, most of them local, that offer products and services that promote our native biodiversity! Go Native Go Local aims to strengthen the local economy and is a sister publication to our Buy Fresh Buy Local guide. If you use this guide, please let the businesses know that The Piedmont Environmental Council sent you!
Fauquier Mythbusters
A look at some popular myths about Fauquier County’s land use, growth, taxes and development. From ‘Fauquier County is no growth’ to ‘Land with a conservation easement limits farming’…
Conservation at Work
5 conservation stories from around Fauquier County, including Cool Lawn Farm, Environmental Studies on the Piedmont, Hopefield, Rappahannock Station and Hunger Run Farm:
Talking Taxes and Growth
Over the past year, there has been a heated discussion of issues tied to growth and taxes in Fauquier County, both in the local papers and in casual conversation. In these discussions a host of terms are often used without definition. So here’s a short list of some taxes and concepts that every resident of Fauquier County should know when talking growth and taxes:
Fauquier’s PDR program helps working farms
Fauquier’s Purchase of Development Rights program pays landowners of agricultural operations to limit the development potential of their land through a conservation easement. Unlike a donated conservation easement, the PDR program pays farmers a flat rate of $25,000 per development right they wish to extinguish.
Current Online Campaigns
Sign and take action on the most recent petitions.
The New Addition
We are delighted to share some wonderful news with you. In September, the PEC board passed a resolution to improve our headquarters—and now construction is under way! Work kicked off on November 10, 2014 on the expansion of our 45 Horner Street office. This addition will allow all of our Warrenton staff to be under the same roof for the first time in more than five years.
A Tale of Two Alums
Since 2009, PEC has offered the Exploring the Small Farm Dream course to aspiring farmers—helping them take a long hard look at their dreams and to answer the question, “Is starting a farm business a good fit for me?” As the title of the course suggests, every participant comes to the course with their own unique dream—an idea that they want to explore. It is these dreams that form the starting point of the course, which evaluates student’s goals, skills, interests, physical and financial resources, and the merits of their ideas in order to settle on a course of action.