(By Rex Linville) My job with The Piedmont Environmental Council usually has me visiting farms and forests in Albemarle and Greene counties and advising landowners on conservation strategies for their property. But early this November, I found myself on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C. offering public comment to the IRS about proposed regulations that would adversely impact land conservation in Virginia…
The Piedmont View
Protecting the Goose Creek Watershed
PEC was recently awarded a $15,600 grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment to further our work identifying and prioritizing opportunities to implement agricultural best management practices (BMPs) and strengthen efforts on land protected by conservation easements in the Goose Creek watershed.
On the Ground — Winter 2018
Updates from the around the PEC region, organized by county. Albemarle: Strengthening growth management in Albemarle. Clarke: Promoting and celebrating Conservation. Culpeper: A Finger on the Scale for Solar. Fauquier: Updated Plans, Remington Walks and Vint Hill’s Future. Greene: Greene at a crossroads. Loudoun: Choosing our future. Madison: Trout Stream Restoration Continues. Orange: Two Farms Conserved along the Rapidan River. Rappahannock: Community-wide Conservation Success!.
President’s Letter – Winter 2018
When PEC was created in 1972, the underlying motivation for many of the founders was to help the communities where they lived and the landscape they loved respond to massive forces of change. Thank you for continuing that work; we are proud to work with you and on your behalf.
Keynote Speaker to Discuss Benefits of Strong Towns at PEC’s Annual Meeting
The leader of an organization that educates American communities on the benefits of smart planning believes that desirable urban communities can play a role in promoting rural land conservation.
Award-Winning Farmer Protects Farmland for Future Generations
This past 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.
A Legacy of Love
Through the Headwaters Stream Initiative, an astounding 3,765 trees were planted on 16 acres the Goodall property in Madison County, including 4,600 linear feet of stream.
Larson Native Plant Garden Opening
With umbrellas in hand, attendees of the Larson Native Plant Garden Reception ventured out to admire the well-designed landscape around PEC’s headquarters office in Warrenton, Va. Named in honor of the organization’s former vice president, Doug Larson, the visionary of the project, the garden has 118 species of native perennials, woodies and grasses.
“It’s already proving to be an educational tool,” says Doug. “People in our beautiful front yard were reading the names of the plants and really taking it all in; and that’s just folks walking down the street. I think it’s going to show people in Warrenton what they can do with native plants.”
Your General Assembly Update
The beginning of spring marks the end of the 2018 Virginia General Assembly session. Well, sort of. In the case of the budget, there was no resolution, which means the fate of conservation funding and the general path forward is still up in the air. To address this, the Governor has announced that a special session will convene on April 11.
One of the bigger issues taking up bandwidth this year was Medicaid expansion. The House’s budget bill included the expansion, while the Senate’s bill did not — this set up a showdown in the budget conference committee. Due to this and other differences, the conferees were unable to come to an agreement, meaning it will be some time before we know what programs will be affected.
Neighborly Effort to Protect the Piedmont
“This beautiful and agricultural open land was here before we purchased Waverley and it’s my hopeful intention that it will look the same as it does today long after I’m gone,” remarked Charlotte Tieken, Somerset resident and owner of Waverley Farm.
The Piedmont Environmental Council worked with Ms. Tieken to put 669 acres of her property under conservation easement at the close of 2017.