The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors reacted tepidly this week to a staff proposal that would shift wildlife management responsibilities from the county’s police department to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
“We need a little more time to discuss this [and] make sure we think this through, very carefully,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said at a meeting of the board’s safety and security committee on Tuesday (Feb. 11).
Even with increased development in the area, Reston’s bird population has remained steady — at least according to Reston Association’s annual bird counts.
The organization’s environmental staff and volunteers identified 1,685 individual birds from 52 different species during their 2025 Reston Winter Bird Count, which was conducted on a Saturday in early January.
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.
Beneath a bustling stretch of Fairfax County Parkway lies a little-known wildlife crossing that might hold the key to reducing animal-vehicle collisions in Virginia.
Last Wednesday (Oct. 30), Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and State Sen. David Marsden (D-35) toured the underpass nestled between Davison Army Airfield and Fort Belvoir. Constructed in the 1990s and still one of the state’s few such installations, the 192-foot-long, 20-foot-high structure facilitates safe migration for species from deer and bears to snakes and turtles.
A townhome development is now under construction on Fannie Mae’s former office campus in Reston.
When setting the stage for construction, which began in August, developer Wheelock Communities enlisted the nonprofit Tanya’s Turtle Project to relocate turtles inhabiting the ponds in the area. The ponds were dewatered to manage water quality and remove invasive plants in and around the ponds.
Dozens of volunteers will break out the work gloves and garden shears this Saturday (Sept. 14) to eliminate invasive plants around the “LOVE” sign by the Washington & Old Dominion Trail in Vienna.
The cleanup will clear the way for a native plant meadow that its organizer, the nonprofit Sustainability Matters, hopes will spawn similar beautification efforts all along the 45-mile-long regional trail.
Fairfax County let loose its archery program aimed at controlling the local white-tailed deer population this past Saturday (Sept. 7).
The Fairfax County Deer Management Archery Program allows qualified bowhunters to hunt deer in areas where firearm use is restricted or not an effective or sustainable method. The program started in 2010 to minimize the impacts of an overabundance of deer.
The continued development of Tysons doesn’t have to come at the expense of its remaining natural green space, argues a recent report on ways to preserve 65 acres of forest in the urban center.
A community task force has recommended two dozen actions that could help preserve and even enhance wooded areas collectively known as Tysons Forest, including tree plantings and clean-up efforts. Dated March 24, the report was formally accepted by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on April 16.
(Updated at 5:05 p.m. on 2/29/2024) Fairfax County’s supervisors believe that grassland birds deserve a safe nesting ground, even if it’s atop a former landfill.
The Board of Supervisors directed county staff on Feb. 20 to work with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia to identify areas within the I-95 Landfill Complex (9850 Furnace Road) in Lorton where mowing can be minimized to protect grassland birds during their nesting season.
(Updated at 3:55 p.m.) A local bald eagle stretched its wings for the first time in over a month when it got released at Burke Lake Park this past weekend.
The adult, male bird was found in Fairfax Station on Dec. 23 by Fairfax County Animal Protection Police officers, who were responding to a call for service. In addition to being “underweight,” the eagle had head injuries and “a deep laceration on a leg,” according to the Fairfax County Police Department.
