The Piedmont Environmental Council produces a number of publications, including our quarterly membership newsletter, The Piedmont View, annual reports, Buy Fresh Buy Local guides for the Northern Piedmont, Charlottesville Area, and Loudoun County, and more.
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Conservation and Restoration Publications
Changing Perspectives: My time as a PEC Fellow
PEC’s Fellowship Program, which just finished its sixth year, gives college and graduate students a comprehensive look at the work PEC does in this region—with the hope that the participants will take what they learn …
Farm Wineries in the Piedmont: Finding the right balance
Over the past year, there has been an increasingly heated debate over whether and how local governments should regulate the entertainment activities of farm wineries in Virginia. This is a multifaceted issue with multiple interests …
Hike Revisits Life in the Mountains
In the foothills of Greene County, on May 5, the woods were brilliant with lush spring growth. A gravel road led up and up into the hills; eventually it would end at the border of …
How Plants Fly
As my mother and I pulled up at the Jones Nature Preserve in Rappahannock, a brilliant bird dipped through the air—a rich tropical blue on delicate wings. They came in this week, Bruce Jones told …
On the Ground Conservation
PEC thanks everyone who protected their land in 2011—preserving the Piedmont’s natural heritage for generations to come. Read a brief story from each of our 9 counties …
Making a Comeback
When Bill Sanford was a boy on Arrowpoint Farm in Madison County, at the confluence of the Robinson and the Rapidan Rivers, the fields were full of bobwhite quail. He could go out after school, …
Forty Years of Conservation
Hope Porter and Sue Scheer have been fighting to protect rural land for decades. It was in the late 1940s that Porter and her husband realized what the post-war surge in automobile ownership and long-distance …
Uranium Mining: “Not the Time to Relax”
The uranium in Virginia will remain safely underground for now, although pressure is still building to overturn Virginia’s ban on mining and milling this radioactive mineral. Despite a massive lobbying effort by Virginia Uranium, LLC, …
The Economic Benefits of Natural Goods and Services
Using a value transfer approach, this study leverages the results of pre-existing studies to quantify the estimated annual contribution of nine such natural services – water quality, water supply, pollination, recreation, forest products, farm products, …
Field Guide to Common Wetland Plants of Virginia’s Piedmont
Use this field guide to learn about common wetland plants like ferns, grasses, shrubs, and trees of the Piedmont region and explore how wetlands can be protected, mitigated, and restored …