This Saturday, April 9, from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m., Mike and Margrete Stevens, the owners of Bonny Brook Farm in Catlett, will once again host The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Julian W. Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund 14th Annual Bluebell Walk on Cedar Run (after a two year pandemic-related hiatus).
Cindy Sabato

Protecting a Historic Landscape in Orange County
Within the nationally recognized Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District, near Barboursville in Orange County, William K. “Wik” Dove II partnered with The Piedmont Environmental Council to permanently protect his 108 acres with a conservation easement.

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.

In the City or the Country—Public Access to Nature Matters
As the pandemic drove many Piedmont residents to seek respite and renewal in natural areas, parks, and trails like never before, it made one thing abundantly clear; we need more, well-distributed public access to parks and green spaces all throughout the region.

Conservation in 2021 bring regional conserved land totals to 25 percent
In 2021, private landowners partnered with various land trusts and conservation agencies to permanently protect an additional 6,474 acres of land in Albemarle, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties.

The Land Along Life-Giving Water
This fall, we received two important grants to support and expand our work protecting rivers and streams.

New Maddensville Historic Site
At the quiet, rural crossroads of Routes 610 and 724, barely beyond the threshold of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Culpeper, the once-booming area of Maddensville is arguably one of the most intriguing and historical locations in Culpeper County.

PEC Announces Annual Photo Contest Winners for 2021
The Piedmont Environmental Council is pleased to announce the winners of its 2021 Annual Photo Contest, in which professional and amateur photographers alike submit their best images of the beautiful Virginia Piedmont, from within Albemarle, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock counties and the City of Charlottesville.

Maddensville Historic Site, Civil War Memorial, is dedicated before a crowd of 200 in Culpeper
On the stunningly sunny and crystal clear, crisp morning of Saturday, Nov. 6, just ahead of Veteran’s Day, some 200 people from far and wide came together in rural Culpeper County, Virginia to dedicate a new Civil War memorial site honoring three United States Colored Troops killed nearby in 1864 and the contributions of the family of a free Black man, Willis Madden.

New monument to honor United States Colored Troops and African American contributions in Culpeper County
While a national reckoning with the impacts of long-standing Confederate symbolism has brought about the sweeping removal of many Civil War statues across the commonwealth, at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 6, just ahead of Veteran’s Day, a new Civil War monument will rise up in Culpeper County, Virginia. Along Madden’s Tavern Road near the once-booming crossroads of Routes 610 and 724, this granite obelisk will memorialize the ultimate sacrifice of three veterans, United States Colored Troops (USCT) who were captured and executed by 9th Virginia Cavalry troops just 300 yards away on May 8, 1864.