Local Volunteers Join PEC Planting Trees at Lovettsville EcoVillage

Streamside plantings help protect water quality in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

LOVETTSVILLE, VA — On Tuesday, October 28, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) Plantings for the Piedmont program, along with roughly 30 community volunteers, planted about 220 native trees at the EcoVillage of Loudoun County in Lovettsville. Volunteer activities included “scalping” land with a hoe to remove grass, digging shallow holes, planting tree saplings, and hammering wooden stakes. This is one of four volunteer planting projects scheduled this fall.

Just a few miles from the Potomac River, which ultimately flows to the Chesapeake Bay, this “common land” is stewarded by the rural community. Riparian buffers, the vegetated areas along rivers, streams, creeks, and other waterways, are a highly effective means of protecting water quality throughout the Chesapeake Bay. With healthy riparian buffers, drinking water throughout the watershed is clean and can be a sustainable resource for future generations.

About 60% of Virginia, including Loudoun County, lies within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. A recent mapping project by the Chesapeake Bay Program revealed that the Chesapeake Bay watershed has lost about 100,000 acres of tree canopy to development in just seven years, and half of this loss occurred in Virginia. Loudoun County has lost 3,400 acres of tree cover.

Since 2021, PEC’s Plantings for the Piedmont program has provided free technical assistance, project design, materials, and labor on dozens of projects in both the Potomac River and Rappahannock River watershed — both of which flow into the Chesapeake Bay. Plantings for the Piedmont is part of PEC’s mission to protect and restore lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, and thus far, this program has restored over 100 acres of streamside areas with approximately 30,000 native trees and shrubs.

To learn more, contact PEC Plantings for the Piedmont Assistant Ellie Young at eyoung@pecva.org.

Posted on: October 30, 2025