Conservation and Beautification

July 13, 2022

Chairman Anne Doyle, The Garden Club of Norfolk

A Conservation Workshop was held September 8, 2008, at the Kent-Valentine House. “Connect the Dots: Sharing Resources for Greater Effectiveness,” was chaired by Lynne Caldwell. Delegate Albert Pollard, 99th district, offered advice on effective communication with lawmakers; Nathan Lott, Executive Director of Virginia Conservation Network, spoke about Virginia’s environmental community; and Marsha Merrell showed how GCV can effect positive change, by presenting  a case study on the Citizen Board legislation.

The 2008 Conservation Forum, “Mountaintop Removal and Coal-Fired Power: What Every Virginian Should Know,” was held November 6-7, 2008, in Martinsville. Chaired by Merry Outlaw and Karen Jones, events were held at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Dinner the evening before included entertainment by musicians Robin and Linda Williams, who perform on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion. The forum’s internationally known speakers were Jeff Barrie, author of the film documentary Kilowatt Ours, and Mary Ann Hitt, Executive Director of Appalachian Voices. Photos

January 19, 2009, GCV Legislative Day in Richmond was chaired by Sarah Chiffriller of the Boxwood Garden Club and was co-sponsored for the second year with Virginia Conservation Network. Photos

A Conservation Workshop was held on September 14, 2009, at the Kent-Valentine House, chaired by Sarah Chiffriller. Delegate Albert Pollard provided advice for effecting legislation.

November 5-6, 2009, Conservation Forum was held in Charlottesville at UVA’s Darden School of Business, chaired by Karen Jones. “Building Sustainable Communities” encompassed smart growth infrastructure, green buildings, and healthy local food. Thursday afternoon options included: an insider’s tour of Monticello, a visit to an organic farm, or a conservation hike. Leaders representing academia, government and conservation groups offered creative strategies for municipalities to reduce their ecological footprint and included Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth; Rachel Flynn, Director of Community Development for the City of Richmond; and Chris Miller, President of Piedmont Environmental Council. Photos

2010 Legislative Day was held on January 18, 2010. GCV endorsed the Chesapeake Clean Water Act, currently before both houses of Congress. This legislation proposes a comprehensive approach to address pollution from all sources and provides the authority and resources to make sure it gets done. Most importantly, it focuses on storm water runoff that feeds pollutants into Virginia waters that feed into the Chesapeake Bay. Photos

Conservation and Beautification Committee accomplishments during this period were impressive.

Its members developed the Conservation and Beautification Speakers Bureau in 2009, spearheaded by Sallie Sebrell of the Nansemond River Garden Club, creating “Global Warning: A Virginian’s Guide to Climate Change,” based on the National Wildlife Foundation’s PowerPoint presentation, “A Gardener’s Guide to Global Warming.” The Pew Charitable Trust funded a projector for the project. Nine committee members received training from NWF in August 2009 and began sharing the presentation with garden clubs in September. At the end of the year, the PowerPoint had been presented to 24 GCV and GCA clubs around the state.

Committee member Karen Jones began to research guidelines for holding environmentally friendly conferences and adopted green meeting standards at the 2009 Conservation Forum.

In response to the Strategic Plan, the Conservation and Beautification Committee recommended a collaboration with Scenic Virginia, Virginia Conservation Network, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and Nature Camp. Chairman Anne Doyle noted that collaboration with these organizations would include being co-signatories to letters, joint event announcements, and other non-monetary displays of support, but would not include endorsement of legislation or adoption of resolutions.

The committee’s “Virginia Bags the Bags” campaign was an offshoot of a James River Garden Club project. Committee members met with other stakeholders in Virginia to explore the possibility of introducing legislation and to organize an educational campaign. Leighton Powell of Scenic Virginia served as advisor to the committee. Club conservation chairmen were interested in the subject, and Nadia Stanfield from Fauquier and Loudoun agreed to chair a sub-committee.

Given GCV ‘s long history of preserving Goshen Pass, the committee felt that environmental studies were needed before a permanent venue of the magnitude of the National Scout Jamboree was allowed to be established in the area. As a result, a GCV resolution in support of protecting Goshen Pass from development was approved and sent in January to Governor Kaine, Secretary Bryant, Secretary Gottschalk, DEQ Director David Paylor and Department of Conservation and Recreation Director Joseph Maroon. Chairman Anne Doyle credited the Blue Ridge Garden Club and, in particular, Catharine Gilliam, for the groundswell of interest in preserving the natural resources of Goshen Pass and suggested that next steps may include recasting the resolution as a press release and speaking before the public forums of government agencies.

The committee was instrumental in establishing the GCV Position Statement on Climate Change.