Category: Latest from the Blog
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Data Center Frontiers Summit Recap
Screenshot from the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit 2024 Website – note the sold out sign. Source: https://www.dcftrends.com/2024/home In early September 2024, Nature Forward Conservation Director Lydia Lawrence and I attended the Data Center Frontier Trends Summit in Reston, Virginia. Thankfully, I was on week three of my new role and was fully prepared to…
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Introduction to Maryland Conservation Advocate
Hello, Nature Forward! My name is Angie McCarthy (she/her), and I’m proud to be Nature Forward’s new Maryland Conservation Advocate. Before your heart starts pounding, Denisse Guitarra is still an important part of our Conservation team. She will now be focused on our community outreach events. I am so grateful to be able to learn from…
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Speak up for a stronger Data Center Zoning Ordinance
UPDATED 8/5/24 Join us on September 10 @ 4:30pm: testify for stronger protections! The Data Center ZOA public hearing was held on July 16 and the Board deferred their decision until July 30. On the morning of July 30 however, it was reported that, due to a clerical error regarding a change in state law…
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June Conservation Café: Data Center impacts on National Parks with NPCA
On June 4th, Kyle Hart, Mid-Atlantic Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, spoke about the impact of data centers on our DMV region’s national parks. Failing to reform the data center industry in the region threatens to undermine decades of conservation and environmental efforts in Virginia, Maryland, and beyond. See below for the…
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2024 Naturally Latinos Conference
This year’s Naturally Latinos 2024 took place from January 24 to January 28. The theme of this year’s conference was Perteneciendo: Nuestras Raíces, Nuestra Tierra (Belonging: Our Roots, Our Earth). Before we delve into the conference magic and recap, I want to highlight upcoming bilingual/bicultural programming featuring our super talented Naturally Latinos speakers and friends: …
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National Park Service Decision of the Rock Creek Golf Course Rehabilitation Sidesteps Environmental Concerns
Written By Nature Forward Volunteers, Anne Cottingham and Christine Powell. Last September the National Park Service (NPS), in cooperation with the National Links Trust, issued an Environmental Assessment (EA) evaluating the impacts of a proposed rehabilitation of the Rock Creek Park Golf Course. The RCP golf course, which opened in 1923, occupies about 100 acres in…
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Virginia’s General Assembly: some wins and a long road
How did the 2024 General Assembly go? In this year’s General Assembly, Nature Forward selected a handful of bills to track dealing with natural resources / trees, solar energy, and data centers (read our prior blog post for bills and details). While there were some wins on the bills we tracked, overall, Virginia has a…
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Woodend Reports: Spotting the Lanternflies
By Grace Dho In 2014, Lycorma delicatula was recorded in the US for the first time just outside of Philadelphia. In 2022, it had its own skit on Saturday Night Live. Lycorma delicatula, otherwise referred to as the spotted lanternfly (SLF), has become one of the most well-known invasive species on the East Coast. With…
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2024 Maryland General Assembly comes to a close
Thank you to Nature Forward members, supporters and volunteers for a record level of advocacy outreach!