Col . R . H . Dulany of Welbourne driving carriage with friends , 1900 . Below : Built in 1770 , Welbourne is listed on the National Register of Historic Places .
evant if we lost the open countryside around us .
Our response was to jump in the deep end of civic engagement , and we quickly understood that the only hope of preserving our special part of the world was through calculated and coordinated effort . In 2016 I joined the Boards of the Goose Creek Association ( GCA ) and Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association ( VPHA ) while my wife joined the Piedmont Environmental Council ( PEC ) Board and became involved with the Land Trust of Virginia ( LTV ). The more active we became , the more we realized the magnitude of what was at stake and the strength of the forces working against us .
Over the next few years , while serving as Chair of VPHA , we intensified our focus on preservation and doubled
down on our mission of “ Preservation Through Education ,” working to connect people of all ages with the incredible history of our beautiful landscape . I also became Chair of GCA ’ s Goose Creek Challenge , an initiative to plant 3,000 trees a year with student volunteers , again with the belief that if we teach about the importance of our landscape and environment , our community will join us in the effort to preserve it .
The preservation of western Loudoun benefits everyone . Not only is it Loudoun ’ s identity , which attracts residents and tourists , but it is an incredible recreational and agricultural resource , economic engine ( heritage tourism in Loudoun generated two billion dollars in 2019 ), and our collective peace of mind . There is a reason the halls of Dulles Airport display our rolling hills rather than scores of congested townhouses . Whether you are an equestrian , farmer , bicyclist , hiker , walker , wine enthusiast , county budget committee chair , or passerby , there is much to be gained from interacting with our special rural oasis , a mere 30 miles west of our Nation ’ s Capital .
This battle must be fought from every angle — historic significance , water quality protection , environmental stewardship , and conservation easements — and it will not be successful without bipartisan political