Piedmont Environmental Council
Geographic Region: PEC focuses on nine counties and one city in the northern Piedmont of Virginia: Albemarle, Charlottesville, Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Loudoun, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock. PEC also teams with local organizations to promote thriving communities and healthy natural resources in a much larger region, including the Shenandoah Valley, the central Piedmont, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Corridor and greater D.C.
Virginia’s northern Piedmont is an exceptional place. Located at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Piedmont is beloved for its scenic beauty, unparalleled in its significance to America’s history, and valuable for its productive family farms, thriving communities and vibrant economy. Its forests, fields and wetlands provide clean water for the people of this region as well as those downstream, and they offer bountiful habitat for numerous species of wildlife and native plants. This splendid natural setting, together with its distinctive towns and cities, make the Piedmont a wonderful place to live, work and visit.
News Feed
-
Piedmont Environmental Council Statement on the Potomac River Being Named the Most Threatened River in AmericaThis week, American Rivers released its 2026 list of most endangered rivers, and the Potomac River leads the list, due in large part to uncontrolled data center growth throughout the watershed.read more -


The Piedmont Environmental Council Celebrates New Legislation Supporting Sustainable EnergyThe Piedmont Environmental Council is delighted to announce that 12 solution-oriented energy bills that PEC either authored, informed, and advocated for have been adopted into Virginia law.read more -


Bike Cville: Jump Starting Sustainable MomentumThis is the second in a series of blog posts reflecting on BikeCville’s eighth year. The previous post described the rides from the viewpoint of a participant. This post talks...read more -


Virginia Piedmont Protects 5,552 Acres in 2025In 2025, landowners and conservation organizations in The Piedmont Environmental Council’s nine-county region conserved over 4,178 acres through conservation easements. The Conservation Fund’s purchase of Oak Hill in Loudoun County...read more -


In Major Win, Massive ‘Digital Gateway’ Data Center Project Has Been HaltedOn March 31, the Virginia Court of Appeals issued a unanimous ruling that effectively halts the controversial "Digital Gateway" project proposed in Prince William County, barring an appeal to the Virginia Supreme...read more -


Shenandoah Borderlands project protects 5,000 acres for clean water, habitat, scenic viewshedShenandoah National Park is one of Virginia’s most beloved and visited outdoor spaces, attracting 1.7 million visitors in 2025. It’s also a global conservation priority for biodiversity protection and climate...read more -


Hilton Farm: A Key Piece of the Conservation Puzzle in the Rappahannock-Rapidan WatershedYou know that feeling when you’re putting together a puzzle and there’s that “Aha!” moment, when filling in one missing piece brings everything together? Hilton Farm in Orange County is...read more -


15,000 Reasons to Celebrate: Plantings, Partnerships and Protecting WaterAfter compiling the data for 2025’s spring and fall plantings, I sat staring at my screen. Could that be right? Did we actually plant 15,000 trees last year?read more -


Meet the Team: ConservationAt the heart of The Piedmont Environmental Council’s efforts to protect and restore the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont is our dedicated conservation team. You’ve likely met some...read more -


Who’s Protecting the Piedmont? – Spring 2026Here, we highlight three people who are protecting the Piedmont by growing local food, stewarding conservation easements and donating to make PEC’s work possible.read more




