We seek peace in our own lives through meditation and the study of the Dharma (the traditional Buddhist teachings). We contribute to peace in our communities through ecological restoration, as a remedy for some of the violence done by development.
At our Wild Plant Nursery and the field sites that it serves, we work to conserve the native plant communities of the greater Washington region, home to one of the richest floras in eastern North America. Our Tree Bank / Hispaniola is conserving the forests of central Hispaniola, the richest surviving remnant of the Caribbean forest biome, a global biodiversity hotspot.
We see ecological restoration as essential to conservation because many natural areas are now too small and isolated to persist over the long term in their current state. In the greater Washington region, we are reestablishing forests and meadows on degraded sites. In central Hispaniola, our Tree Bank farmers are replanting native forest on their lands.
Meadowood Recreation Area consists of 800 acres of forest, field, and horse pasture on the Mason Neck Peninsula in the southeastern corner of Fairfax County, Virginia. Mason Neck puts a big bend in the Potomac just 15 miles south of Washington, DC. Most of the peninsula is protected, and Meadowood is Mason Neck’s newest protected area. Meadowood is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency in the Department of the Interior.
Since 2008, we have been collaborating with Meadowood’s staff on a range of restoration projects for the property. Our work includes tree planting to extend forest and “woody old-field,” reintroducing native herb and shrub layers in disturbed forest, developing an Ecological Display Site, and, most recently, the beginnings of a large meadow restoration project that will eventually reach several sites on the property.
Meadowood is a fascinating and beautiful property; it is also one of the best places that we know of to learn about the complexities of managing land for multiple purposes. By the standards of northern Virginia, Meadowood is a big place and it never feels crowded, but addressing the interests of horseback riders, hikers, birders, scouts, assorted naturalists, and (soon) mountain bikers, in addition to caring for the property itself—this is no mean feat, especially given the very small staff in charge of the property. Under such conditions, volunteers can make a huge difference. We hope you’ll take a look at our volunteer opportunities for Meadowood.
There are no Meadowood updates at present.
The Meadowood Map shows all of our sites at Meadowood. (The map uses large files so broadband internet, or patience, is recommended.)
For recent activities at Meadowood, read the Meadowood News.
Several sites have slide shows devoted specifically to them. You can look at slide shows for:
the Horse Barn Site,
the Ecological Display Site, and
Thompson Creek.
The Meadows slide show covers work on our various meadow sites.
Meadowood, like most natural areas in the mid-Atlantic, is heavily browsed by deer. To learn more about deer-browsing pressure, read our Backgrounder on White-Tailed Deer and Our Plant Communities.
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The first planting of the Horse Barn Site (May 2008).
Breaking ground on the Ecological Display Site (April 2009).
Planting the Thompson Creek Site (April 2009).
A family of volunteers at the Thompson Creek Site (April 2009).
The second planting of the Horse Barn Site (April 2009).
Shifting stone at the Ecological Display Site (May 2009).
First complete checkdam at the Ecological Display Site (May 2009).
Working the edge of the “Dimple Meadow” (March 2011).
Planting a patch of the Big Meadow (April 2011).
Restoring understory along Thompson Creek (May 2011).
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Scenes from our work at Meadowood.