The steady stream of visitors who descended on Great Falls Park this past weekend likely noticed little amiss, as they enjoyed a hike, picnic and scenic views of the Potomac River on a balmy spring day.
But the couple dozen protestors who lined a path near the McLean park’s visitor center on Saturday (March 22) fear that may soon change, if the Trump administration’s plans to terminate hundreds of federal workers and open up more public lands for resource extraction move forward.
The Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NOVA Parks) is turning up the pressure on Dominion Energy to end widespread tree clearings along the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail.
At the regional agency’s request, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-0 to approve a resolution on Tuesday (March 18) urging Dominion to halt reported plans to cut down any tree along the 45-mile-long trail that might someday interfere with its overhead power lines.
Update 3/6 — Wally lives
Wally the Beaver’s days at Kingstowne Lake may be numbered.
Some tree trimmings and removals were expected when Dominion Energy initated a project last year to replace electrical lines in the Vienna section of the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail, but the extent of the clearings has taken local residents, elected officials and even the agency that owns the trail by surprise.
Starting in November, the utility began cutting down trees and vegetation along a 4-mile stretch of the trail from Vienna to Dunn Loring at a much more “aggressive” scale than it has in the past, according to Paul Gilbert, executive director of the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority (NOVA Parks).
Fairfax County says it’s making steady progress toward its long-term goal of saving Lake Accotink from disappearing completely, but some residents worry the drawn-out timeline will make it harder — and more expensive — to preserve what’s left.
Years of sediment buildup from Accotink Creek have steadily shrunk the lake from 110 acres to about 49 acres. While the county has dredged the lake in the past — most recently in 1985 and 2008 — sediment continues to accumulate at a rate of 23,000 cubic yards per year.
Its future remains uncertain, but legislation in Richmond could bring the towns of Herndon, Vienna and Clifton more money to spend on environmental and social-service initiatives.
A bill patroned by Del. Marty Martinez (D-29) would allow Virginia towns to get a portion of the plastic bag tax revenue collected by their surrounding county. After passing the House of Delegates on a 52-45 vote on Jan. 23, the measure advanced from a Senate Committee on Local Government on a party-line tally of 8-7 on Monday (Feb. 10).
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed County Executive Bryan Hill on Tuesday (Feb. 4) to develop proposals refining how the county government deals with illegal dumping.
The directive was based on a Jan. 15 memorandum from the county’s Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) that laid out both concerns and possible solutions.
Fairfax County leaders have joined hundreds of municipalities across the nation in pledging to do more to help the monarch butterfly’s survival.
The county’s Board of Supervisors agreed during its Jan. 14 meeting to sign on to the National Wildlife Foundation’s Mayors’ Monarch Pledge Program, which commits local governments to take various actions to stem loss of habitat for pollinators.
Northern Virginia’s wary embrace of data centers could have major long-term impacts on both water consumption and wastewater treatment across the region, the Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) says in its annual report for 2024.
The 134-page document offers a status update and recommendations on environmental issues, including land use, air and water quality, transportation, waste management, climate change and ecological conservation.
A new report says Fairfax County leaders need to work on better determining the county’s deer population, explaining the need for deer management to the public and recruiting volunteers for deer-culling efforts.
Those are some of the suggestions made to the Board of Supervisors by the Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) in its 134-page annual report for 2024.
