Conservation and Beautification

January 11, 2023

Chairman Tuckie Westfall, The Garden Club of Alexandria

A Conservation Workshop, “Thinking Outside the Bag,” was held at the Kent-Valentine House on September 29, 2014. The workshop was chaired by Elizabeth Christeller and included a virtual flower show presented by Peyton Wells; Pearl Homes by Tina Minter and Wendy Vaughn; A to Z Green Guide by Sarah Hellewell; and Go Native, Grow Native by Jane Pawlukiewicz. Photos

The 56th Conservation Forum, “Trees: Virginia’s Remarkable Renewable Resource” was held on November 12, 2014, at Old Dominion University. Forum chairman, Anne Beals, who has a lifetime of expertise in timber farming and the timber industry, put together a stimulating and educational program. Attendees were inspired by four remarkable speakers including Dr. Lytton Musselman, Professor of Botany, ODU; Bettina Ring, the first woman to head Virginia’s Department of Forestry; Dr. Richard Olsen, lead scientist for urban tree breeding at the U.S. National Arboretum; and Nancy Ross Hugo, acclaimed author, on her second book, Seeing Trees: Discover the Extraordinary Secret Lives of Everyday Trees. The forum was sponsored for the second year by Waste Management. Photos

The 2014 Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award for Conservation was presented to Paul E. Bugas, Regional Manager of the Virginia Department of Inland Fisheries. He has dedicated his life and profession to the preservation of local fisheries and the correct management of these natural habitats. He oversees habitats in 29 counties.

Legislative Day was held at Center Stage in Richmond on January 26, 2015, co-chaired by Leesie Leake and Wendy Vaughn.

A joint Conservation and Horticulture Workshop, “Edible Landscaping for Wildlife and Humans,” was held on September 28, 2015, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. The workshop featured two speakers: Cabell Cox, landscape architect with the Grow Company; and Tanya Denckla Cobb, a writer and environmental mediator at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Environmental Negotiation. Luncheon included a viewing of Charles Guggenheim’s award-winning film “A Life: The Story of Lady Bird Johnson.” Photos

The 57th Conservation Forum, “Film Festival on the Fourth,” was held November 4, 2015, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lynchburg, co-chaired by Sarah Hellewell and Zan Thomas. Chris Miller of the Piedmont Environmental Council moderated the films which included documentaries on uranium, fracking, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the Great Yard Clean-Up, the Life Cycle of the Plastic Bag, and the Rappahannock River (produced by the Friends of the Rappahannock). The Forum was sponsored by Investment Management of Virginia (IMVA) for $2,500. Photos

The 2015 Dugdale Award for Conservation was presented to Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. These two institutions of higher learning have demonstrated a commitment to conservation and energy responsibility. VMI’s most noticeable project is its stewardship of the Chessie Nature Trail, a seven-mile “Rail to Trail” project along the Maury River. Washington and Lee has created an Office of Sustainability, Initiatives and Education and is making remarkable progress toward energy efficiency and conservation. Most prominent is W&L’s installation of solar panels on both the law school and parking garage.

2016 Legislative Day was scheduled for Monday, January 25, with attendees invited to the Kent-Valentine House on Sunday, January 24 for issues briefings and Lobbying 101. Lt. Governor Ralph Northam was among the scheduled speakers, and a reception was to be held on Sunday evening at the Kent-Valentine House for legislators and government officials. Unfortunately, between 11 and 16 inches of snow fell in the metro Richmond area on Saturday and led to cancellation of events.

Read 2016 Legislative Issues of Interest and Concern

Conservation and Beautification Committee Topics 2014-2016

Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines

The Garden Club of Virginia is concerned that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is not undertaking a serious, comprehensive evaluation of the need for new interstate pipeline capacity in our region in its review of the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines. The Garden Club of Virginia believes that this evaluation must be the cornerstone of the commission’s review process for these projects to avoid unnecessary and negative ecological and economic impacts to our communities, our national forests, and our national resources and waterways. GCV will request a programmatic environmental impact statement by FERC, will encourage co-location for all pipelines in the Commonwealth and to have them considered as a regional network, not separately.

Opposition to Surry-Skiffes Creek Transmission Line

Led by the Conservation and Beautification Committee, the Garden Club of Virginia became an active member of an alliance to oppose Dominion Virginia Power’s effort to construct the Surry-Skiffes Creek transmission line across the James River. As chairman of the committee, Tuckie Westfall spent untold hours following the actions of Dominion, the Army Corps of Engineers, the SCC and the courts. She reported that the GCV’s support of the coalition opposing the towers caught the attention and praise of environmental and historic organizations, including the Garden Club of America which announced its opposition to the proposal. Discussions continued long after Jeanette’s two-year GCV presidency.

https://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/SkiffesCreekPowerLine.aspx

https://www.dominionenergy.com/projects-and-facilities/electric-projects/power-line-projects/skiffes-creek

Fones Cliffs

The Garden Club of Alexandria approached the Conservation and Beautificationn Committee, requesting that GCV send a letter to the Richmond County Board of Supervisors in opposition to the proposed development of Fones Cliffs on the Rappahannock River in Richmond County. President Cadwallender contacted Johanna Carrington, president of the Garden Club of the Northern Neck which has Richmond County in its membership, and to Anne Bland of the Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula. She also spoke to Helen Murphy, former President of the GCV as well as others in the adjacent area. All supported GCV writing the Board of Supervisors. The letter was written and approved by the Executive Committee and sent on October 1, 2015.

Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellowship

Conservation and Beautification Committee Chairman Tuckie Westfall reported that the single biggest achievement of her committee was the establishment of the GCV Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellowship. Approved at the January 2015 Board meeting, it is only the third GCV Fellowship and supports research having to do with the conservation of natural resources. Candidates are selected by a committee composed of the GCV President, Conservation and Beautification Committee Chairman, one at-large GCV member and a faculty member of a university in a related field. A committee member mentors the fellow for the year.

VCU senior Nikki Andresen was selected as the inaugural fellow, who worked to define the rhizosphere metagenome of the native pitcher plant. She and Phil Sheridan of Meadow View Biologic Research Station collected samples from sites where pitcher plants used to grow, but no longer do; from a natural site where they grow in the wild; and from where they have been reintroduced. They have “sequenced their extracted DNA on the Ion Torrent and created libraries which will tell them which species are present in the rhizosphere. They have generated 4 million DNA reads from each of the four sites they collected from.” She will report on her progress at the BOG 2015 meeting.

Kent-Valentine House Green Story

The Garden Club of Virginia engaged the Richmond Regional Energy Alliance (RREA) to perform an energy audit of the Kent-Valentine House. The audit was shared with Taylor & Parrish for their annual walk-through and recommendations are being referred to the Kent-Valentine House Committee.

The new Conservation Educator Award was created to recognize teachers dedicated to conservation education, to be awarded for the first time at the 2016 Conservation Forum.