Shenandoah Valley Conservancy

Did you know that we were established by a group of Valley locals in 1990?

We first started as the Valley Conservation Council and had a main goal of directly protecting land through conservation easements. 🌳

Throughout the last 36 years, conservation in the Valley has grown immensely, so we re-branded in 2024 and became the Shenandoah Valley Conservancy, to better represent our geographic location and our identity as an accredited land trust.

Check out some photos found from the last three decades of conservation work! 📸

Conservation Species Highlight!

The Bobolink is a songbird that lives throughout Virginia Grasslands.🌾

These incredible songbirds don't nest in trees; they lay their eggs right in the ground of local hayfields and pastures. Unfortunately, this makes them highly vulnerable to early spring mowing, contributing to a major population decline over the last 50 years.

Males sport a dapper tuxedo-look with black and white plumage and a distinct yellow patch on their heads, while females are more subtly camouflaged in brown.

The loss of Bobolinks, and other grassland birds, poses a serious threat to the biodiversity in the Valley and Ridge and Piedmont regions.

The Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative is working on innovative ways to reverse the decline of grassland birds, like the bobolink, across the Commonwealth of Virginia.🐦

To learn more about their work, or how you can help Virginias Grassland Birds, visit https://www.vagrasslandbirds.org/

Note: All handling of wild birds for our studies are conducted by trained professionals under a federally authorized banding permit.

📷 : Brooke McDonough- Smithsonian