Upcoming Events:
The Virginia Conservation Network will be hosting a week of education and content for each of the chapters within Our Common Agenda, including webinars featuring each chapter's authors. These events will highlight and explain the policy suggestions contained within each briefing book chapter while celebrating the people who have worked diligently for months to craft the 2022 Our Common Agenda policy briefing book.
Blue Ridge PRISM's Fall Invasive Plant Workshop offers two virtual sessions (Introduction and Identification on September 21 and Control on September 23). The cost of this workshop is $15. Optional in-person field days (separate registration required) will be held in Charlottesville and Washington, VA.
The third webinar in our Quarterly Keynote series will feature a conversation between PEC President Chris Miller and Campaign Legal Center founder and president Trevor Potter, a nationally recognized expert on campaign and election law.
Celebrate National Public Lands Day by joining us for our 20th annual trek around Charlottesville on the Rivanna Trail!
The Rappahannock County Farm Tour is a free, two-day, self-guided tour.
She’s fabulous, funny, and a forager — join Alexis Nikole Nelson (@blackforager) for an exploration of some of the surprising edible plants you can find in D.C. and the Mid-Atlantic region this fall. Alexis will share her foraging history and expertise to help you celebrate the autumnal abundance of plants this season. Summer may have passed, but the foraging fun continues! This event is hosted by the U.S. Botanic Garden.
The in-person field session held at Charlottesville's Azalea Park will cover the identification of common invasive plants and demonstrate manual and chemical control techniques. Specific topics include herbicide safety, using hand tools and power tools safely, and identification of specific invasive shrubs and vines. Space for this event is limited to 35 attendees.
The Rappahannock County Farm Tour is a free, two-day, self-guided tour.
Join Virginia Forage & Grassland Council to explore a successful silvopasteure where timber and cattle are managed together for profit, wildlife habitat, and resource conservation.
The Virginia Environmental Assembly brings together conservation leaders from across the Commonwealth to discuss Our Common Agenda to protect Virginia’s natural resources. This annual conference is hosted by Virginia Conservation Network, the partnership of more than 150 Virginia environmental organizations, including PEC.
Please join us on Saturday, Oct. 2, at St. Bride’s Farm in Upperville for our annual Farm-to-Table Dinner, featuring locally-sourced food and beautiful views of the Piedmont and St. Bride’s Sculpture Collection. In conjunction, take part in our Virtual Auction online between Sept. 24 and Oct. 3. This year’s auction features around 30 outstanding items and experiences, including many that are unique to the Virginia Piedmont.
As businesses reopen in a post-COVID world, the retail landscape has changed. Marc Willson, retail expert with the Virginia SBDC, presents A Guide to Retail Renewal to help small businesses flourish in a new world.
This year PEC has moved its annual Sustainable Landscaping Workshop into a virtual platform with new presentations: Build Your Own Rain Garden, Solutions to Challenging Soils and Locations, and Building a Garden Ecosystem. Join us during your Friday lunch hour for this informative webinar.
The Virginia Forage and Grassland Council has partnered with the American Farmland Trust and the Mountains to the Bay Grazing Alliance to bring the professional Ranching for Profit Workshops to the heart of Virginia.
This conference is an opportunity for area real estate agents and appraisers to learn about marketing tools to improve the sale of farmland. The purpose of the conference is to provide realtors with the background knowledge in agriculture, conservation and open space preservation to advise new landowner to the appropriate resources to help them make land management decision. Hosted by Virginia Cooperative Extension, with presentations on conservation easments by Rex Linville and Peter Hujik of PEC.
Join Audubon Naturalists Society for a candid conversation that explores how Latinx communities nationwide and in the Washington, DC region are responding to environmental, health, and economic crises while looking ahead to the future. Live interpretation to Spanish available. This virtual event is free with registration.
Hail to the Trail celebrates environmental recreation, exploration, and education.
The in-person field session held at Rappahannock County Park in Washington, Virginia will cover the identification of common invasive plants and demonstrate manual and chemical control techniques. Specific topics include herbicide safety, using hand tools and power tools safely, and identification of specific invasive shrubs and vines. Space for this event is limited to 35 attendees.
Join Virginia Forage and Grassland Council for an in-person and hands-on workshop focused on water pumping systems for livestock. October 21 and 22, 2021 at Shenandoah Valley AREC – McCormick Farm, 128 McCormick Farm Circle, Raphine, Virginia. Participants will learn the principles and applications of solar-electric water pumping. The primary focus will be on solar-powered water pumping systems, however, some other alternatives will be discussed too. Learn more about these systems, some considerations for their use, and hear farmer experiences.
PEC works toward building better communities by encouraging investment in attractive, livable urban centers. We've invited professor Tim Beatley to present on maintaining nature in our urban environments and the Biophilic Cities designation.