PEC’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Charlottesville

Posted on by Chris Miller
PEC President Chris Miller welcomes attendees at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Charlottesville. Photo by Hugh Kenny/PEC

Dear Supporter,

The “Annual Meeting: Inspiring Conservation” on June 1 left me energized and optimistic about the ability to accelerate conservation in the Virginia Piedmont and continue to address the challenges of planning for a sustainable future. Attendees were pleased to be in the CODE Building on the Charlottesville Downtown Pedestrian Mall as both the venue and the experience of traveling there on a beautiful, sunny morning, either through the countryside of the Piedmont or from the nearby, connected community, shaped our focus throughout the day.

I suggested that everyone coming from outside of town take a different route home to get a better sense of the scope and scale of the landscape we have all worked so hard to conserve and restore. If you were unable to join us, I hope that after reviewing some of the resources from the annual meeting and our 2023 Annual Report below that you, too, will take the time to explore a new route to wherever you’re going and appreciate the incredible work we are able do together.

Visit our Flickr page to see photos taken by our staff throughout the day.

Summary

PEC Board Chair David Aldrich and I opened the day by contextualizing the significance of hosting the day in a thriving, urban community as creating places like this is an essential component to our conservation work across the Piedmont. I was delighted to presented the PEC Conservation Leadership Award to Andrew Bowman, president of the Land Trust Alliance for his eight years of passionate leadership for conservation. He kindly praised PEC as a model land trust and partner.

We were then honored to hear from our keynote speaker from Dr. Travis Belote, the Senior Science Director at The Wilderness Society, who shared an amazing breadth of analysis that showcased the trajectory of conservation work on a continental scale. Highlighting the Blue Ridge and Appalachian corridor as one of the most important ecosystems in the United States, Belote recognized our work in the Piedmont as nationally and globally significant in terms of conserving and restoring vital lands for biodiversity and climate resiliency.

We are proud to be part of an ongoing effort to conserve and connect more than 5,000 acres of private, working forestland adjacent to Shenandoah National Park.

Hear a summary of the morning’s remarks from Chris Miller, David Aldrich, Andrew Bowman and Travis Belote. Video by Hugh Kenny/PEC

Following Dr. Belote’s remarks, PEC staff members led three concurrent workshops — which we received overwhelmingly warm and positive feedback about. Thank you to everyone who joined us to learn more about the impact of community collaboration in the creation of the Fifeville Community Trail while on a walking tour with Peter Krebs, about public access efforts and large landscape-scale conservation in the Piedmont with Kim Biasiolli and the proliferation of data centers in Virginia and Virginia’s clean energy future with Julie Bolthouse. 

Sponsor Shout-out

Thank you to our generous annual meeting sponsor Brown Advisory. We appreciate their ongoing partnership and support. We’re also so grateful to the CODE Building’s wonderful staff for hosting us at this state-of-the-art meeting facility.

people walk on trail with green trees and blue skies in background
June 1 was the perfect day to get folks outside to the Fifeville Community Trail, created by the Fifeville Neighborhood Association with support from PEC, the Rivanna Trails Foundation, the City of Charlottesville and Woodard Properties. Photo by Hugh Kenny/PEC

Follow-up Resources

Our annual meeting provides only a snapshot of all we do here at PEC, but you can find out much more through a few key publications we’ve recently released. PEC’s 2023 Annual Report is now available for viewing online and has been mailed to many of you in the last month. It offers a beautiful summary of our collective accomplishments during the prior year. If you’d like a copy, you can pick one up at our Charlottesville or Warrenton offices or email jbussels@pecva.org to have one sent to your mailbox.

The summer edition of the Piedmont View is also available online now and will also be coming to your mailboxes soon.

Additionally, our 2023-2028 Strategic Plan addresses the challenges and opportunities of the ever-changing times we live in. If you have yet to do so, I hope you take a moment to take a look and let us know your thoughts.

If you missed our annual meeting or would like to revisit some of the exciting talks and workshops, we invite you to check out the links below. We’ve also included links to a few additional resources and opportunities to sign up for more information:

Whether you were able to attend the annual meeting or not, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating all we’ve been able to achieve together in our region. Your enthusiasm and dedication to protecting and restoring the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, while building stronger, more sustainable communities inspires us every day.

Thank you for supporting PEC and for all that you do to conserve and strengthen this place that means so much to us.

Cheers,

Chris Miller