Current Issues
Local Issues
Last month, ASNV sent comments to Arlington County staff (and Board members) on a proposed Bicycle Element to the County’s Master Transportation Plan. ASNV forcefully opposed two proposed off-street bike trails that would endanger natural resources in Glencarlyn and Barcroft Parks, including Moses Ball Spring, the associated creek to Long Branch Creek, and the globally significant Magnolia Bog. ASNV also opposed widening or adding lighting to the W&OD and Four Mile Run trails in natural areas of Glencarlyn and Bluemont Parks.
Prince William County is reviewing its Comprehensive Plan this year. The Comprehensive Plan is vitally important for county planning of amenities such as parks and natural recreation areas. The county has far less parkland per resident than is called for by its own standards, a situation that will only get worse as population increases.
The loggerhead shrike, or butcher bird, has seriously declined over the last half century, with current numbers estimated to be only a quarter of what were in 1966. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) is currently working to understand what is driving the decline.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission is considering whether to remove two proposed bike trails through Huntley Meadows Park in southeast Fairfax County from the County’s Comprehensive Plan and Bicycle Master Plan. While supporting green forms of transportation is usually an excellent use of public resources, the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia is joining the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park to ask that you support the removal of the trails from the Master Plan.
Fairfax County law enforcement and emergency management staff are drafting an operations manual for using drones in their work. ASNV is participating in the task force drafting the manual. Below is the schedule. ASNVers may wish to speak at some of the public meetings or submit comments.
To ensure a strong conservation voice is heard early in the legislative session, please join fellow conservationists in Richmond on January 30th , 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for the Virginia Conservation Network's (VCN) Conservation Lobby Day.
ASNV submitted comments to the Arlington County Board in December on the final draft of Arlington County’s Public Spaces Master Plan (PSMP), which will guide public-space decisions for the next 20 years. ASNV urged the Arlington County Board to consider making the PSMP more unambiguously reflect the need for preservation of natural resources in Arlington County and the need for expansion of natural areas for public benefit.
ASNV’s Annual Report, now online, reviews major activities from July 2017 through June 2018, underscoring that ASNV has had a very productive fiscal year.
National Issues
The U.S. Congress is considering many measures that would, if enacted, undermine long-standing environmental protection laws.
