Become a Force of Nature: Support Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

When we refer to someone as a “force of nature,” we’re describing an individual who’s passionate, dynamic, committed … one who makes a lasting impact on the world around them. As a supporter of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, YOU are more than deserving of that title.

Our supporters helped us accomplish so much this year (just check out the list below), but the ongoing and future challenges to wildlife habitat in the county we call home make it clear: There’s so much more to be done … and we can’t do it without you.

Together, we are a force of – and for – nature; not just for today, not just for ourselves, but for generations to come. Thank you.

Here’s What Our Supporters Helped Us Accomplish in 2024. Together, We’ll Do Even More in 2025!

Teacher and student Celebrating its 25^th year, Loudoun Wildlife’s Peterson Young Naturalist Program has trained 2,000 teachers and helped over 15,000 students get outside to observe and record nature.

Group of teachers and students Through the Peterson Young Naturalist Program, 1,000 students per year are now participating in the nature journal award program, and teacher assessment of the Peterson Program has averaged 4.9 out of 5 (excellent) in terms of developing naturalistic intelligence, math and science skills, and visual art skills.

Sorting macroinvertebrates for stream monitoring Our Stream Monitoring Program volunteers conducted 47 biological stream surveys this year to track the health of our local streams. The program includes 26 macroinvertebrate sites (up from five in 2020); 31 certified benthic monitors (up from eight in 2020); and 40 non-profit, government, and community partners.

Chemical monitoring volunteers Our monthly Chemical Monitoring Program now operates six sites in Leesburg and has collected over 2,000 data points this year to help us better understand the health of streams at those sites.

Eastern Bluebird in nestbox Our Bluebird Program monitors 58 trails and 716 nest boxes, the most in both categories of any Virginia county. Since 2000, the program has fledged 42,739 birds, including 21,267 bluebirds.

We joined with other organizations to form the Loudoun Transmission Line Alliance, which helped reroute the proposed Western Power Line.

At this year’s General Assembly, nine of the bills we supported and advocated for were signed into law.

Proposed Westpark data center We successfully campaigned against plans for data center construction at the former Westpark conference and hotel site in Leesburg, leading the applicant to remove “data center” as a use for the property.

Collecting Salt Watch sample Raising awareness of the connection between salt and stream health, our Salt Watch Program now provides 12 percent of all the national Salt Watch Data reported to the Izaak Walton League of America. The program’s 60 sites are maintained by 70 volunteers who’ve collected 725 data points this year and identified 14 salt pollution hotspots.

Clean drinking water program Our “Securing Clean Water for Lucketts” project prompted an EPA mandate for a new wastewater treatment plant, inspired community outreach to increase local awareness of bacterial pollution, submitted 176 Level 2 E.coli data points to the Department of Environmental Quality, and provided water filtration systems to 17 homes in underserved communities.

We’ve conducted 177 free Educational Programs so far in 2024 (lectures, bird and butterfly walks, native plant talks, and much more), reaching 4,017 people, including many youths.

Volunteers We’ve conducted 70 Citizen Science and Habitat Restoration programs so far in 2024, including stream monitoring, insect surveys, invasive plant removal and more.

Volunteers planting natives at JK Black Oak Nearly 10,000 volunteer hours have been contributed so far this year from close to 500 volunteers for our varied Education programs, Citizen Science programs, and other events.

Meadow and forest edge at JK Black Oak Our JK Black Oak Wildlife Sanctuary has supported over 960 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, plants, and fungi this year.

Volunteer at JK Black Oak work day Volunteers participated in eight workdays at our JK Black Oak Wildlife Sanctuary. That vital work included planting and protecting tree seedlings, planting native plants, removing invasives, maintaining vernal pools, restoring a meadow, and more.

Wildlife Sanctuary program participants In partnership with the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance, our Wildlife Sanctuary Program reached its 1,000^th certification in 2024. During the year, 21 site visits were completed and 11 were certified as wildlife sanctuaries. The goal of the program is to inspire property owners and managers to become better stewards of nature in their own spaces.

Juvenile Eastern Spadefoot Our Amphibian Monitoring Program made the first sightings of Eastern Spadefoot populations in over 10 years. Further, the program added the Marbled Salamander and Red-spotted Newt to the Virginia Herpetological Society and the Department of Wildlife Resources databases as two species now present in Loudoun County.

Turtle (reptile) Our “LWC Reptiles and Amphibians” project on the iNaturalist app reached nearly 1,200 total observations in 2024. Started in 2022, this project is designed to enable Loudoun residents to contribute to the monitoring of reptiles and amphibians.

Walk for Wildlife participants Our Walk for Wildlife event through October was the largest ever, recording 13,100 total observations logged in iNaturalist, 645 parks and wildlife locations visited, 2,906 miles traversed, and 2,910 species identified.

Skipper counted during Butterfly Count Our 28^th annual Butterfly Count covered 174 square miles and recorded 44 different butterfly species. While the overall number of butterflies counted were among the lowest we’ve seen, the data gathered (submitted to the National American Butterfly Association) will help determine why.