The Piedmont View

View articles published in our quarterly membership newsletter, The Piedmont View. To become a PEC member or renew your existing membership, visit our donations page today!

To access PDFs of prior editions, view the Piedmont View archive.

a green field with black cows on a rainy looking day

Return of the Grassland Birds

The new Virginia (formerly Piedmont) Grassland Bird Initiative (VGBI) is showing promising signs of returning those birds to the Virginia landscape. With grant funding, the program pays farmers to adopt bird-friendly best management practices ...
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Continuing the Climate Conversation: An update from Albemarle

PEC is ramping up our activities and role within the broader Comprehensive Plan update process, developing recommendations that we hope, based on our study of climate threats in Albemarle, can serve as a model for other PEC counties ...
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a group of fellows stand on a rocky cliff with scenic rural lands behinds

2022 Summer Fellows Return to the Piedmont

PEC’s Summer Fellowship Program is much more than an internship. This year’s program brought together 12 fellows — from Texas to Florida to Ohio to New Hampshire — virtually for six weeks and here in the Virginia Piedmont for two weeks of on-the-ground learning and exploration ...
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aerial image of a sunrise over green rural fields

The Piedmont’s Beauty Is Not An Accident – Letter from PEC’s President

I often say that the beauty of the Virginia Piedmont is not an accident. And over the course of 2022, PEC has been contemplating and celebrating 50 years of collective effort conserving and protecting this place we love so much as we also plan for a more sustainable future ...
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a field with rows of cover crop between squash plants

Soil is Alive: How to Keep it Healthy

Healthy soil can make as big a difference for home gardeners as it can for large-scale farmers. We sat down with Melissa Allen, District Manager at the John Marshall Soil and Water Conservation District to talk about the importance of and path to healthy soil ...
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a man points at a poster before a crowd

Along the Route 50 Corridor

The beauty of the Route 50 corridor is not an accident. It has taken multi-generational involvement in local decision-making to plan for and preserve this historic east-west passage. PEC has played a part in that by working with communities and partner organizations to identify threats and opportunities that could impact the corridor’s scenic character and its function as a powerful ...
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On the Ground Updates – September 2022

A series of short updates from around the PEC region - Albemarle & Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange & Rappahannock ...
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Fall 2022 Piedmont View

The fall 2022 edition of the Piedmont View features summer fellowship highlights, PEC’s annual virtual auction, climate conversations in Albemarle, a soil health Q&A, upcoming events, and more ...
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