5040 Walney Road, Chantilly VA
1.00 – 4.00 pm, Sunday, April 22nd
Come and celebrate Earth Day at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park! Learn how plastics affect our environment and our park. Explore what we can do to reduce, reuse, restore and recycle through walks, talks and games.
This free program runs from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, call 703-631-0013. Learn more.
Saturday, April 14th
1.00-4.00 pm, Lake Accotink
The Friends of Accotink Creek invite you to join them for a vernal pool exploration led by Mike Hayslett, a passionate and dedicated champion of these special habitats! This is an excellent opportunity to enjoy a lovely spring day in nature, learning about some of our intriguing neighbors like fairy shrimp and spring peepers and spotted salamanders!
The group will meet in the lower parking lot at Lake Accotink, below the dam.
Youth are welcome! Please dress for the weather. Some areas will be muddy, and there’s some possibility of ticks and poison ivy, so long pants and boots are recommended.
Mike Hayslett (Virginia Vernal Pools LLC), a state expert on vernal pools, is conducting an inventory of vernal pools in Fairfax County, as part of an initiative by the Fairfax County Park Authority. Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands, rare ecological features that provide essential habitat for a variety of living beings, including frogs and salamanders. They are vulnerable to a variety of threats associated with human impact, and this inventory will support efforts to monitor and protect them.
Please RSVP at the meetup or by email to [email protected]. If the group doesn’t get enough participants (12) then they will need to cancel the event, so it’s important to RSVP!
Saturday, May 5 • 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Free • All Ages • Rain or Shine
Walker Nature Center, 11450 Glade Drive, Reston, VA
Produced and presented by Reston Association, the Spring Festival is fun for all ages with live animals, fishing activities, craft-making for kids, displays and information from environmental groups, including Fairfax Master Naturalists, and family-friendly entertainment. Entertainment sponsored by Reston Community Center. Learn more here.
Saturday, 21 April
10.00 am – 4.00 pm
This is Fairfax County’s official Earth Day and Arbor Day event! Visit with the Fairfax County Park Authority, workshops, vendors and activities and take action to make a “Healthy Planet-Healthy People.” Over 75 vendors, exhibitors, and food trucks will be at SpringFest. Admission is FREE! Learn about the great work of Fairfax County Parks; pet an alpaca; run through an environmental obstacle course; participate in environmental crafts; check out the bees and the trees; consult with Fairfax Master Naturalists and Master Gardeners; buy plants for your garden and MORE!
Entertainment includes food trucks, The Recycling Pirates puppet show, petting zoo, Touch-a-Truck, and more!
Clean Fairfax produces SpringFest with our partner Fairfax County Park Authority. Learn more here.
18-20 May
Wintergreen Resort, Route 664
Wintergreen, VA 22958
Register by 20 April to receive an early registration discount
Presented by The Nature Foundation, for over 30 years Wintergreen’s Spring Wildflower Symposium has offered the best and most diverse coverage of wildflowers and mountain ecosystems. The setting is unique, with over 30 miles of hiking trails and convenient access to diverse geological sites. No one comes away from this event without learning more about botany, geology, entomology, ornithology and ecology. And all of this is available in the most beautiful springtime region in Virginia. Learn more here.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) allows Virginia citizens to nominate water bodies to be monitored by DEQ’s professional ecologists. The results of DEQ monitoring are used to determine if a waterbody is meeting water quality standards set by the Clean Water Act, or if a mandatory cleanup plan–called a Total Maximum Daily Load–needs to be formulated. If you have a water body that you would like to have professionally monitored, please complete the nomination form available on the DEQ website.
Application due by 30 April
Locations: Any waterbody in Virginia
Blue Ridge Prism Quarterly Meeting: Restoring the Landscape
Thursday, 19 April
1:00 – 4:00 PM
Front Royal, VA
Join VWL partners, Blue Ridge PRISM for their quarterly meeting. They’ll focus on natural lands restoration following invasive plant treatment. Registration is required.
Remarkable Trees of Blandy: Arbor Day Celebration
Friday, 27 April
12:00 – 7:00 PM
Boyce, VA
Celebrate Arbor Day with VWL partners at Blandy Experimental Farm. Attendees may participate in activities such as outdoor workshops, a panel discussion, the Foundation of the State Arboretum annual meeting, and a social with refreshments. Registration is required.
For more events and courses, follow the VWL events page!
Join the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s 30th annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup! Volunteer to pick up trash at one of the many participating cleanup sites throughout Fairfax County and beyond, or better yet, get some friends or family together and organize your own cleanup – with bags and gloves provided, of course! The official day of the Watershed Cleanup is April 14th, but events will be held throughout the month of April, and even into May. Please visit the Alice Ferguson Foundation website to volunteer.
Saturday, May 12th
10.00 am to 6.00 pm (8.00 am for a pre-opening bird walk)
Mason Neck State Park, 7301 High Point Rd, Lorton, VA 22079
See shows and talks in two tents, including live animal presentations by Reptiles Alive, Secret Garden Birds and Bees, and Wildlife Center of Virginia; and, with luck, there will be a visit from Buddy the Bald Eagle. In addition, there will be hay rides, pony rides, food for purchase, two live bands, walks to view nesting bald eagles and (hopefully) their young, a live Bald Eagle Cam, and mini-clinics by REI, Inc. Check out the booths set up by environmentally-oriented groups such as the Fairfax Master Naturalists, Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, Dogue Hollow Wildlife Sanctuary, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Potomac Riverkeepers, and the Virginia Sierra Club.
Weather permitting, we’ll also have a Boating Bonanza, where you can try out canoes, kayaks and stand-up paddle boards. Presented by Friends of Mason Neck State Park. Learn more or volunteer to help at the event.
Saturday, April 14th, 10.00 am to 3.00 pm
Riverbend Park, 8700 Potomac Hills St., Great Falls, VA
See the first signs of spring’s arrival, the carpet of Virginia Bluebells throughout the forest! These breathtaking beauties usher in springtime by carpeting the park’s floodplain with their magnificent blooms. The bluebells are so abundant in some areas you can’t see an end! Enjoy wildflower walks, face painting, live animals, moonbounce, and music. There will also be food vendors, crafts, the longhouse to explore, puppet shows and wagon rides. The cost is $7 per person in advance; $9 at the door. For more information, call 703-759-9018 or learn more here.