• Help keep parks on the minds of our Fairfax County Supervisors!

    We need your help again this year to ask our Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to continue to prioritize funding for equity and stewardship programs in our Park Authority!


  • Data Centers in Maryland

    Data centers are large buildings that store computers to process and store data. There are many different types of data centers, and each one specializes in storing or processing data based on who owns the facility. These large computer and cable-filled structures end up taking up vast amounts of space and using lots of energy…


  • Conservation team visits Capitol Hill

    Once a year, Nature Forward’s Conservation Team joins advocates from across the Chesapeake Bay region to go to Capitol Hill to ask our federal legislators to support initiatives that clean water as part of the annual Choose Clean Water Coalition’s Lobby Day. It’s an exciting opportunity to join forces with organizations across the Chesapeake Bay…


  • Woodend Reports: Marching into Stream Monitoring

    Grace Dho As we enter springtime and warmer weather, one can find natural clues all around us that the seasons are changing. At Woodend, some of the first signs of spring can be found in and along our restored streams. We begin to hear the chorus of spring peepers on late February evenings, see the…


  • 2024 Maryland General Assembly Legislative Priorities 

    Energy is the theme of this year’s top 2024 Maryland General Assembly legislative priorities. Read up on each bill below.You can TAKE ACTION NOW by using our simple form at the end of this post to send a letter to your MD state legislators telling them why it’s important to you that they support (or oppose) one or…


  • Woodend Reports: Tracking the Health of Woodend’s Forest 

    By Grace Dho With a new year comes new data! This past fall, restoration staff and volunteers began resurveying Woodend’s forest. The original, comprehensive forest survey of Woodend’s deer-protected area was completed between October 2019 and April 2020 by Habitat Manager, Bradley Simpson, and many dedicated volunteers. The forest survey team collected data within 67…


  • 2024 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Priorities

    2024 Virginia General Assembly Legislative Priorities (Updated as of 4/26/24 @ 11:35am) This year’s Virginia General Assembly, when legislators get together to make a new set of laws, takes place from January 10 through March 9 with the Governor taking action on bills in April. Nature Forward, with help from several partners (such as VCN’s…


  • What are the big issues in Virginia in 2024? Think data.

    Thank you to Nature Volunteer Elyzabeth Earnley for partnering with us and for co-authoring this article with me! While much of the work we do at Nature Forward is focused locally, we pay attention each year in Virginia as legislators gather for the General Assembly to write new laws that will affect us both state-wide…


  • Water Protectors empowers community leaders!

    In 2023, Nature Forward completed the 3rd year of our Water Protectors of Little Hunting Creek outreach, working with communities along the Route 1 Corridor in the Hybla Valley area of Fairfax County, VA.). Thanks to funding from Virginia Environmental Endowment and in partnership with United Community, Northern Virginia Soil & Water Conservation District (NVSWCD),…


  • Speak up against the I-270 highway expansion & demand environmentally friendly transit alternatives in November!

    It is time to take action on the Beltway (I-270 & I-495) and American Legion Bridge expansion once again.