Documenting the surviving pieces of Historic Savannas and Prairies of the Virginia Piedmont!
2023 Piedmont Grasslands Assessment Fundraiser
We cannot do this without you!
Hiding in thousands of small and forgotten places are the intact remains of a rich, pre-settlement natural world. These leftovers, often called remnants, are extraordinarily diverse and resilient, and they provide insight and inspire hope for a future of greater biological diversity. These are the natural grasslands of the Piedmont, once vast, expansive, and teeming with color and vitality, now reduced to forgotten fragments and overlooked refugia. They may be forgotten, but they are not lost!
These ecological time capsules are inspiring new research and conservation, while informing the preservation and renewal of savannas and prairies on degraded landscapes. Old growth remains of this patchwork of Piedmont savannas and prairies, and the rare plants they harbor, have inspired us to take action before they are lost. It’s not too late!
We need your help!
Millions of people regard the Piedmont landscape as a biological wasteland of big agriculture and suburban sprawl. However, thousands of tiny old growth savanna and prairie remnants cling tenuously to existence. Roadsides, powerline rights-of-way, old fields, and other sites where human disturbance keeps woody vegetation at bay host remnants of one of the nation’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Thousands of plant and animal species, including the monarch butterfly and North American bumblebee depend on these high-quality grassland ecosystems for their survival. Unfortunately, each year, we lose more and more of these remnants to development or land mismanagement fueled by our collective ignorance of these remarkable communities.
In order to understand and protect the grasslands of the Piedmont, we must first find and study them. Over the past 2 years, Center for Urban Habitats has conducted research aimed at understanding the status, distribution, and diversity of grassland plant communities in the Virginia Piedmont. Our Grasslands Team has discovered over 800 hypothesized old-growth remnant grasslands over 17 counties in the central Virginia Piedmont. More than150 of these locations were chosen for in-depth study. This research has revealed over a hundred county record occurrences for plant species, many rare species, and multiple new occurrences of state and globally imperiled plant communities. The research has also generated data supports the potential recognition of several new types of Piedmont grasslands.
Our goal is to continue to conduct this research across the entirety of Virginia’s Piedmont from the Fall Line to the Blue Ridge, North Carolina line to the Potomac, and eventually beyond, into other states. These special places cannot be protected at a significant level without first being formally recognized by state and federal agencies, which is not yet the case in Virginia or other states. In order to fully evaluate the diversity and health of Piedmont grasslands, we must continue to conduct this research across the rest of Virginia’s Piedmont region and beyond.
We cannot do this alone! We need your help.
We are asking you to chip in and help support us so we can continue locating, studying, and protecting some of Virginia’s most ecologically significant and imperiled places in 2023 and beyond. Every cent will go toward funding research and conservation efforts in 10 Southern Virginia Piedmont counties in the heart of the historic “Grand Savanae” mapped by the early European explorers. We expect to find between 300-400 new grassland sites, 80-100 new county records, and several new occurrences of state and globally imperiled species. We also expect to discover at least one or two new grassland types not documented before. We are aiming for a goal of $75,000 which will cover the cost of wages for several highly experienced field techs, lodging over several weeks between July – October, fuel for the crew’s vehicles, and the important step of data analysis and publication. Every contribution brings us one step closer to making this a reality.
THANK YOU!
– Devin Floyd, Executive Director, and the research crew, Drew Chaney, Mary Jane Epps, Ezra Staengl, Evie Sackett, David Bellangue, Jordan Coscia, Leighton Reid, Jessie Wingo, and Emily Luebke.
We cannot accomplish this work without your support.
Donate with a Check
Please send a check to:
Center for Urban Habitats
989 Thorn Rose Lane
Charlottesville, Virginia 22902
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