Plantings for the Piedmont

PEC and some of our partner organizations offer programs across our 9-county region that provide free technical assistance, project design, materials, and labor for the planting of native trees and shrubs in riparian zones on qualifying properties.

Fall tree plantings + Orvis Giveback days

Fall tree plantings + Orvis Giveback days

As PEC’s Tree Planting and Stewardship Coordinator, I’d like to invite you to join our conservation team this fall to plant native trees and shrubs along waterways in the Virginia Piedmont. We’re looking for volunteers to help out on four different days in October and November.

Fall 2022 Tree Planting Opportunities

Fall 2022 Tree Planting Opportunities

We’re so excited to announce four volunteer tree plantings for the fall! Planting native trees and shrubs along streams, rivers, and ponds – also known as riparian buffers – is a way to help clean water and connect wildlife habitat. Our tree plantings will take place in Clarke, Fauquier and Rappahannock counties in October and November.

Planting Trees at Thunder Lane Farm for Earth Month

Planting Trees at Thunder Lane Farm for Earth Month

PEC’s Maggi Blomstrom stands with the farm owner. Credit Hugh Kenny/PEC

On Thursday, April 14 and Friday, April 15, 23 volunteers joined The Piedmont Environmental Council at Thunder Lane Farm in Culpeper, VA for an Earth Month-inspired tree planting.

The streams that run through the farm are tributaries to Mountain Run, part of the Rappahannock River, which is a major drinking water supply for the City of Fredericksburg and other downstream communities. The addition of 568 native trees by volunteers will help improve air and water quality and wildlife habitat for years to come.


The Piedmont Environmental Council plants trees in partnership with the Friends of the Rappahannock each spring and fall as part of our Headwater Stream Initiative. If you’d like to participate, visit pecva.org/buffers.

2022 Bluebell Walk

2022 Bluebell Walk

On April 9, 2022, The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Julian W. Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund hosted its annual “Bluebell Walk on Cedar Run” at Bonny Brook Farm in Catlett, VA.

Re-aligning Land and Nature at the Holden Farm in Loudoun County

Re-aligning Land and Nature at the Holden Farm in Loudoun County

In 2021, the Holdens partnered with The Piedmont Environmental Council to permanently conserve their rolling 35-acre farm just south of the historic Quaker village of Lincoln.