Blog

This winter, Northern Virginia experienced a frosty blast from the past, as snow and ice returned after years of little to no accumulation. If your plants didn’t survive the first very deep freeze, we can help you prepare for the next one. These tips are helpful for any gardener or landowner looking to ensure their plants make it through winter each year—no matter what the climate brings!  Plant Natives  This will always be our first suggestion! Native plants are adapted to t

Two weeks ago, we gathered at Busboys and Poets in Shirlington to host our annual Conservationists of Color event—an event NVCT has hosted the last 4 years.   Did you know this event used to have a different name? Before becoming Conservationists of Color, it was the Aldo Leopold Read-a-Thon. Participants would gather to read excerpts from A Sand County Almanac. This popular event brought together inspired conservationists who wanted to honor a powerful conservation legacy. 

Another year, another successful heron count! This year marks 21 years of nest surveys at Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve in Stafford. For even longer, Great Blue Herons have called Crow’s Nest home, their rookery ranking among the largest Great Blue Heron nesting sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. When the Heron Rookery was acquired by NVCT in 1997, it spanned 70 acres. Through persistent work to protect additional land for inclusion in Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserv

This week, the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust was back in Richmond as the General Assembly convened for its 2026 session. On January 28, we joined partners from across the Commonwealth for Virginia Outdoor Recreation Day, a lobby day championing the Virginia Great Outdoors Act! Virginia’s Great Outdoors Act would provide $230 million annually to protect critical natural, agricultural, historic, and water resources, expand public access, and invest in trails, parks, and

This month, we interviewed Margaret Fisher, a familiar and inspiring voice in the Northern Virginia conservation community. Margaret has been involved with Plant NOVA Natives for nearly 10 years and has also been a longtime partner and collaborator with Northern Virginia Conservation Trust (NVCT). Many in our community may recognize her from a previous NVCT feature highlighting her property and her neighbor’s, which she conserved prior to their sale. In this interview, Margar

We’re excited to welcome our newest board member, Shane Hanlon! Shane joins the NVCT Board after previously serving on our Advisory Council, bringing with him a strong foundation in science communications, policy, and conservation. With a Ph.D. in Biology and a career dedicated to helping scientists and organizations share their work more effectively, Shane offers a unique perspective that bridges research, storytelling, and impact. His familiarity with NVCT’s mission and wor

Christopher Timothy is NVCT’s newest Land Conservation Fellow, bringing a strong background in geography and GIS to our lands team. A recent graduate of James Madison University with a Bachelor of Science in Geography, Christopher supports NVCT by helping develop strategic conservation maps across the Potomac region. With a lifelong fascination with maps, a passion for conservation, and hands-on experience working with Indigenous land management perspectives, Christopher is e

Northern Virginia is no stranger to the extreme effects of climate change, experiencing everything from longer, hotter summers to record-breaking snowfall within a single day ( The Woodgrove Outlander, 2025 ). In other years, we observe the opposite, but regardless of temperature, the seasons have shifted to extremes at both ends. These dramatic shifts in seasonal patterns create ideal conditions for invasive species to spread and intensify their impact. Invasive species are

Cheryl and Steve Honard aren't your typical landowners. The newest NVCT conserved property is a pocket park just down the street from where Cheryl and Steve live in Loudoun. While the Honards care deeply about preserving open space for their community, their decision to protect their  property was rooted in something far more personal. Today, the small 0.33-acre park features benches, a mulch path, and plantings throughout. At one corner stands a large boulder beneath a matu

Every year brings new critical lands and waters to protect, new partners to work with, and new challenges to face! Here’s our end-of-the-year wrap-up of the newly conserved places that stood out most this year because they represent the diversity in partners we work with, how our work contributes to enhancing public access to nature in Northern Virginia, and, of course, the stories of the wonderful people and organizations who make conservation possible.    Lubar    The Lubar