23rd Annual Bluebell Walk on Cedar Run

Join The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Julian W. Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund for a walk along the banks of Cedar Run.

Each spring, a spectacular display of thousands of bluebells appear on the banks of Cedar Run at Bonny Brook Farm. To celebrate this rite of spring, Margrete Stevens and PEC staff, together with representatives from several partner organizations, will highlight the restoration work the Stevens have undertaken at Bonny Brook Farm to enhance wildlife habitat.

This family-friendly event is free and open to the public but space is limited. Registration is required on Eventbrite.

Outdoor clothing and boots are recommended. Please, no pets. Note: The round trip walk to Cedar Run will be approximately one mile in length through fields. The leisurely walk will begin promptly after opening remarks. The event will take place rain or shine!

Tax deductible donations are welcome and will support the Julian W. Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund for continued land and water conservation efforts in Fauquier County. If you are interested in preserving the landscape that we enjoy today, please consider a tax deductible contribution to the Fund when you register for this event.

The event is hosted by Margrete Stevens. A big thanks to staff from The Clifton Institute and Smithsonian’s Virginia Working Landscapes for also partnering with us on this year’s event.

Questions? Contact Montana Lanier Ruffner at [email protected] or 540-677-0813.

Conservation at Bonny Brook Farm

Bronny Brook Farm’s ~200 acres are protected under a conservation easement held by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. Among other sustainable land management and restoration projects, the farm participated in PEC’s Plantings for the Piedmont program in 2022. Volunteers helped plant 55 native trees and shrubs along a perennial stream, including willow oak, shumard oak, pin oak, swamp chestnut oak, gray and silky dogwoods, elderberry, and serviceberry. Learn more. →

PEC’s Julian W. Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund

PEC’s Julian W. Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund has been successful in assisting with the protection of more than 12,000 acres of privately-owned land in the Cedar Run watershed. It was established in 2003. The Fund is named in honor of Julian Scheer of Elmwood who, with his wife Sue, led many important conservation efforts in Fauquier County for four decades. Their work is today carried forward by Rick and Hilary Gerhardt, Julian and Sue’s son-in-law and daughter.

The Fauquier Fund provides valuable outreach, education, and financial resources for landowners to explore land conservation options as well as ways to improve sound environmental stewardship of land and waterways. Such efforts may take the form of estate planning and the donation of conservation easements; land management supported by the Fund may include the planting of native trees and the protection of streams and ponds.

In recognizing that working farms form an important and traditional part of the way of life in Fauquier county, the Fund collaborates with farmers and Fauquier County staff under the recently enhanced Purchase of Development Rights program to ensure that farms may be protected from future development through conservation easements. The Fund’s work in this area is especially geared towards assisting with initial expenses in the form of valuation and attorney’s fees.

Bonny Brook Farm was placed in a Virginia Outdoors Foundation conservation easement in 2010. Together with neighboring farms Elmwood, Longwood, Diamond T Farm and Stillwater, more than 1,500 acres are protected. Several other nearby large working farms have been placed in Fauquier County conservation easements totaling more than 2,500 acres, and are now permanently protected for productive farming. Hay is cut on both Bonny Brook and Elmwood by neighboring farmers in support of their milking operations.

Under PEC auspices, and with PEC staff assistance, the Fauquier Fund hosts a number of community activities throughout the year, including not only the Bluebell Walk but also conservation workshops and fundraising events.

Donations make the Fund’s conservation work possible. If you are interested in preserving the landscape that we enjoy today, please consider a tax deductible contribution to the Fund when you register for this event.