SEEING GREEN WIth ODLC

Here's a guest blog from Henry Stribling of Old Dominion Land Conservancy, one of our major sponsors...

Old Dominion Land Conservancy is a non-profit land trust and proud supporter of
the Loudoun Appalachian Trail Festival. As a land trust based in Loudoun County,
our mission is to work with landowners and other stakeholders to protect in
perpetuity Virginia’s land and waterways as well as to assist environmental
stewards through scholarships and educational opportunities. We are proud to say
that since 2008, we’ve been able to permanently protect over 5% of Loudoun
County via conservation easement.

We are also proud of the work that we have done to enhance the opportunities for
residents to engage with nature throughout Virginia. To date, three properties under
easement have been transferred to either the County of Loudoun or NOVA Parks
and will soon be opening to the public. We also have been long-term supporters of
Sweet Run State Park, assisting with the Leggett Foundation’s transfer of the land
to the state and working with local landowners to conserve land near the park to
keep the area as natural as possible.

The staff and board of ODLC have enjoyed the Appalachian Trail throughout our
lives, from hiking it as scouts in our youth to taking our families to enjoy the vistas
along the trail. We understand the constant threat the trail and its viewshed are
under from encroaching development and seek willing landowners to place
easements on their lands. ODLC has been able to protect over 17,000 acres of land
within the viewshed of the trail, including over 500 acres that border the trail
directly in Loudoun County.

We look forward to the ongoing partnership with the Loudoun Appalachian Trail
Festival and local landowners to identify and protect land along the trail.

—Henry Stribling, Executive Director, ODLC

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