The Piedmont Environmental Council and Virginia Department of Transportation are collaborating to reconnect brook trout habitat and improve flood resiliency and public road-stream crossings in the Virginia Piedmont.
Press Center
Please address general press inquiries to Cindy Sabato at csabato@pecva.org or 540-347-2334 x7021 — or to the point of contact listed in a specific press release. You can also get in touch with PEC on twitter: @piedmontenviron.
Building Strong Rural and Urban Communities
Drawing over 150 attendees, PEC held their Annual Meeting on October 21 at historic Castle Hill Farm in Keswick. First Lady of Virginia Pamela Northam was in attendance and spoke about the importance of conserving lands in the state. Following the First Lady’s remarks, keynote speaker Charles Marohn, President and Founder of Strong Towns, delivered the keynote address.
Family Farm Preserved for Future Generations
This summer, in an effort to preserve the prime farmland and help ensure continued operations, the Nixons chose to permanently protect 382 acres of their land through a conservation easement with the Piedmont Environmental Council, Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Groups Release Safety and Traffic Solutions for Route 15 North of Leesburg
With the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors scheduled to vote on a first phase widening of Route 15 for 3.6 miles north of Leesburg, a coalition of smart growth, conservation and preservation groups and numerous local residents are pressing the Board to instead adopt an approach that is safer, cheaper and more effective.
Waverley conserved
The Piedmont Environmental Council worked with Ms. Tieken to put 669 acres of her property under conservation easement at the close of 2017. Down the road from James Madison’s Montpelier, the farm is located within the Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District and has over a mile of frontage on Constitution Highway. The district, known to have well-drained soils, rolling terrain and a mix of agricultural and forest land, now has a total of 14,645 acres conserved.
Conserved Land Now Totals 401,200 Acres
Data compiled by The Piedmont Environmental Council shows a total of 401,200 acres have been protected in Albemarle, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock Counties by landowners working together with land trusts and public agencies. The total includes 6,237 acres added in 2017.
PEC Donates Land to National Park Service
Shenandoah National Park just grew a little bigger and a little more beautiful. This past May, The Piedmont Environmental Council donated a 17.2-acre property it owned in Rappahannock County to the National Park Service. A forested and vacant parcel on a mountain slope south of Sperryville, VA, the land is within the legislative boundary of Shenandoah National Park.
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.
Restoring Local Food Systems — An educational seminar series in Charlottesville
Though the local food movement has picked up momentum in our region, there are still a number of challenges that local food producers and distributors face as they try to create a sustainable local food economy. Last January, The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) hosted a work session for their Buy Fresh Buy Local chapters in Charlottesville, Loudoun, and the Northern Piedmont. The goal was to provide a space in which local food providers could bring up a topic of interest, meet others who are interested in a similar issue, and then take part in constructive conversations and strategic planning centered around a plan of action.