Friends at the Appalachian Trail Festival 

Come join Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains at the annual Loudoun Appalachian Trail Festival on Saturday, June 8 in Hillsboro.

Loudoun’s three officially designated Appalachian Trail Communities offer a daylong celebration of the 2,198-mile Trail, featuring four bands, dozens of vendors, an art show, “Trail Talks,” kid’s activities, food, locally crafted beers, and wines, and more.

The Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. on the grounds of Hillsboro’s Old Stone School with performances on The Gap Stage until 8:30 p.m. A special Eat, Drink & Be Literary! featuring North Carolina Trail Artist Mike Wurman will kick of the Festival on Friday night.
Last year’s festival, held for the first time in Hillsboro, was a great success, said longtime AT Fest organizer Jody Brady. “With Hillsboro and Bluemont becoming Appalachian Trail Communities last year, joining Round Hill, we decided to collaborate to form the non-profit Loudoun Appalachian Trail Alliance to foster education and support for the Trail—and its hikers. With the support of our sponsors, the annual Festival is a great way to do just that.”

This year’s event features dozens of vendors offering hiking and outdoor gear, goods, and crafts as well as non-profit educational and advocacy organizations—and plenty of fun activities for kids, including a climbing wall and pony rides, along with music, food, and drink. 

In addition to artist Mike Wurman’s Friday night talk, artwork from a variety of Trail artists will be on display and for sale during the festival. A silent auction of donated items and artwork is also slated.

The Friday night Eat, Drink & Be Literary featuring artist Mike Wurman starts at 7 p.m. at Hillsboro’s Old Stone School, with doors opening at 6. For tickets and information, visit OldStoneSchool.org.

Performers on Saturday are Short Hill Mountain Boys at 11:30, Justin Trawick & The Common Good at 1:30 p.m., Frank Soilvan & Jillian Lea at 3;30 p.m. and Shannon Bielski & Moonlight Drive at 5:30 p.m. More information about the festival, including the lineup of Trail Talk speakers, the Appalachian Trail Art Show and Silent Auction, can be found at LoudounAT.org.

Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains will have a booth at the festival. Please come by and say hi!

Saturday June 1 – Sunday June 30 — “Shenandoah Summer” Exhibit—The Byrne Gallery in Middleburg will showcase Gerald Hennesy’s iconic views of the Shenandoah Valley. Hennesy is the Byrne Gallery’s signature artist for Plein Air landscape. The gallery is pleased to add a new artist, Katie Flack, who was chosen Best New Plein Air Artist for 2022. The Gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Sundays noon to 5:00 PM.

Friday – Sunday June 7,8 & 9 — 2024 Western Loudoun Art & Studio Tour — Please join the 17th Annual Western Loudoun Art & Studio Tour. For more information call (540) 338-7973 or email Elizabeth Bracey or Kellie Goossens, or visit the Franklin Park Arts Center. 10:00am – 5:00pm

Saturday June 8 – Milkweed Sale — Help bring back the Monarch butterflies by buying milkweed. The sale is co-sponsored by Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and, Northwest Federal Credit Union. This event will be drive-through only, so pre-ordering is encouraged.  Pre-order milkweed online here.   10:00 am and 1:00 pm at Northwest Federal Credit Union in Leesburg

Tuesday June 11 — Exploring Native Plants in Loudoun County — Learn about local native plants with Emily Southgate, President of the Piedmont chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society and member of the Loudoun County Environmental Commission. Middleburg Library 101 Reed St, Middleburg, VA 20117 6:00 am – 7:00 pm

Tuesday June 11 – Community Meeting on the MARL — Join Lansdowne Conservancy, the Loudoun Transmission Line Alliance (LTLA) and the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) for a community meeting on transmission line proliferation in Loudoun resulting from the data center explosion. 7 – 9 pm — Heritage High School, 520 Evergreen Mills Rd SE, Leesburg, VA

Thursday June 20 – An Overview of Butterflies in Virginia — Learn about the 100+ species of butterflies in Virginia. This family friends program takes place at Rust Library and is co-sponsored by Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and the Loudoun County Public Library. No registration necessary. 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm at Rust Library.

New Website – Understanding the Transmission Line Controversy

The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) has launched an excellent new website to help understand and respond to the environmental and economic threats posed by the construction of a new 500-kiloVolt (kV) transmission line proposed for the Blue Ridge Mountains and Western Loudoun County.

The new transmission line – known as the Mid Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL) — will have significant long-term impacts on the Blue Ridge and the surrounding ecosystem.

The location of the MARL in Western Loudoun is actually only one part of a large and exceedingly complicated set of public policy issues associated with the growth of data centers in Northern Virginia. These data centers require astounding amounts of energy, much of it to be generated by coal power plants in Ohio and West Virginia.

The PEC website has clearly written information about the demands for energy; forecasts for future energy needs; maps illustrating possible routes for transmission lines; explanations of the impact of such large power lines on the environment and the local economy with accompanying photos.

Perhaps most importantly, the website provides tools to help both individuals and organizations communicate with appropriate local, state, and federal regulators.

One immediate regulatory issue is that the Department of Energy (DOE) is in the process of designating National Intertest Electric Transmission Corridors (NIETC) one of which includes portions of Loudoun and other Northern Virginia counties. The significance of the NIETC designation is that it would allow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an independent agency under DOE, to override local and state regulations governing the location of the transmission lines. The PEC web site provides detailed information about the NIETC designation and a link for citizens and organizations to submit comments to DOE on the designation.

Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains has joined with many other environmental and conservation organizations in the formation of the Loudoun Transmission Line Alliance (LTLA). One major objective of the LTLA is to advocate for locating the new MARL along existing transmission corridors as opposed to new, greenfield construction. Friends will also be submitting comments on the NIETC designation.
The PEC website can be accessed at

https://www.pecva.org/work/energy-work/transmission/nietc/

Friends has formed an internal MARL Working Group and will be developing a policy position regarding the NIETC designation over the next several weeks. If you would like to work with our MARL Working Group, please contact FBRM’s Executive Director, Larry Malone, at 703/709-1066.

Extension of Potomac Heritage Trail to Sweet Run State Park 

The Potomac Heritage Trail (PHT) is a designated National Scenic Trail corridor running through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC. The trail network includes 710 miles of existing and planned sections and is managed by the National Park Service as one of three National Trails.

Unlike the Appalachian Trail, the Potomac Heritage Trail is an informal route with numerous side trails and alternatives, some in parallel on each side of the Potomac river. Currently, many of these segments are separate, connected to the others only by roads. The PHT crosses the Appalachian Trail near Harpers Ferry, and is concurrent with the American Discovery Trail along the portion of the C&O Canal Towpath between Oldtown, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

In Loudoun County, the trail is almost complete from its eastern boundary to Leesburg. The Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) is examining ways to close the largest remaining gap in the region—between Leesburg and Harper’s Ferry. 

According to an article by Norman Styer in Loudoun Now, Loudoun County’s chief park planner, Mark Novak, as well as representatives of NVRC, staff of the National Parks Service, and members of the Potomac Heritage Trail Association met in Lucketts on May 16^th.

The purpose of the meeting was to gather ideas for extending the route into Western Loudoun. The trail currently ends at North Lake Boulevard on Leesburg’s eastern boundary, with current plans to extend it to Whites Ferry. A feasibility study will look at existing trails and rural roads and the potential construction of new trails to extend the route to Loudoun’s northern boundary near Harper’s Ferry or to Sweet Run State Park, which will provide a link to the Appalachian Trail. The goal is to link trail users to the Rt. 340 bridge that will provide access to the C&O Canal Towpath in Maryland.

The feasibility study, which is being conducted by Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects,  will identify and assess potential routes in the corridor, including considerations for trail construction, maintenance, accessibility, park connections, scenic views, and other elements of trail development. The study will include the possibility of using Loudoun’s gravel roads to create linkages and building on the work done to develop Loudoun’s Linear Parks and Trails in 2021.

Klein plans to have recommendations available for public review in October and complete the feasibility study by the end of 2024.

MARL Threat to The Waterford National Historic Landmark

The US Department of the Interior designated The Waterford National Historic Landmark in 1970, it includes the Historic Village of Waterford, the Waterford Mill, John Wesley Community Church, the Second Street School, and the surrounding agricultural and open space.

Unfortunately, in 2024 Preservation Virginia found it necessary and appropriate to add the 1,420-acre landmark to the list of the 10 most threatened historic districts in the Commonwealth.

The immediate threat to historic Waterford is the transmission line project, known as the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL), which was approved by PJM Interconnection, the regional power transmission coordinator, in December. NextEra is now going through a process to determine the exact route of the line before it will be submitted to the State Corporation Commission for a final decision.

According to the May 14^th announcement by Preservation Virginia CEO Elizabeth S. Kostelny:

“The urbanizing development that has taken place over the last decades in Loudoun has pressured the Town of Waterford. Now the County is or has considered multiple proposals for data centers which comes with associated infrastructure development including substations and transmission lines.

In late 2023, NextEra Energy released a proposal to construct 500 kV transmission lines through the Waterford Historic District. These lines range from 80 to 200 feet tall and are proposed to run through several western Loudoun County properties under conservation easements. PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization that requested and reviewed the NextEra proposal, recently approved the proposal to move forward despite receiving countless letters of opposition from residents and organizations.

The proposed transmission lines challenge many existing assumptions about the reality of easement protections and would mar the viewshed from much of the Waterford Historic District.”