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.

Lush green forested mountain landscape.

Virginia Piedmont Protects 5,552 Acres in 2025

In 2025, landowners and conservation organizations in The Piedmont Environmental Council’s nine-county region conserved over 4,178 acres through conservation easements. The Conservation Fund’s purchase of Oak Hill in Loudoun County and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s …
Lush green forested mountain landscape.

Shenandoah Borderlands project protects 5,000 acres for clean water, habitat, scenic viewshed

Shenandoah National Park is one of Virginia’s most beloved and visited outdoor spaces, attracting 1.7 million visitors in 2025. It’s also a global conservation priority for biodiversity protection and climate resiliency. For these reasons, The …
A sign reads "Hilton Farm, Inc. Somerset, VA". Below that, a separate sign reads "2015 Clean Water Farm Award"

Hilton Farm: A Key Piece of the Conservation Puzzle in the Rappahannock-Rapidan Watershed

You know that feeling when you’re putting together a puzzle and there’s that “Aha!” moment, when filling in one missing piece brings everything together? Hilton Farm in Orange County is an example of this phenomenon …
People working near a stream.

15,000 Reasons to Celebrate: Plantings, Partnerships and Protecting Water

After compiling the data for 2025’s spring and fall plantings, I sat staring at my screen. Could that be right? Did we actually plant 15,000 trees last year? …
A group photo

Meet the Team: Conservation

At the heart of The Piedmont Environmental Council’s efforts to protect and restore the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont is our dedicated conservation team. You’ve likely met some of our conservation staff somewhere …
Sara Gouda harvesting sweet potatoes outdoors, smiling at the camera.

Who’s Protecting the Piedmont? – Spring 2026

Here, we highlight three people who are protecting the Piedmont by growing local food, stewarding conservation easements and donating to make PEC’s work possible …
General Assembly Update — Spring 2026

General Assembly Update — Spring 2026

Every day, Piedmont Environmental Council staff engage at the local, state and federal levels to shape public policy with an eye toward protecting and restoring the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont while building …
Large group photo at event. People are holding a sign that says "Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition" and a large decorative check made out to "Big Tech" for "one point nine BILLION!"

President’s Letter: The Crucible of Change

Dear Friends, When we look back on 2026, we will recognize that it was a crucial time in the history of Virginia. The General Assembly, faced with mounting evidence of the impacts of data centers, …
| | The Piedmont View
From above, a view of a crowd of reporters with cameras listening to a group of people speak at a podium.

The PEC Leadership Felt ‘Round the World

Finally, the world is hearing the alarm that The Piedmont Environmental Council has been sounding for years: that the unconstrained and unregulated explosion of the data center industry is forever changing the face of not …