Research Department: 2025 in Review

Above: Louisa County High School students learn about vegetation survey methods and data collection from Emily Luebke. Photograph courtesy of Louisa County High School.

2025 was a banner year for the Piedmont Discovery Center Research Team. To accomplish an unusually high volume of education and research, our core staff – Drew Chaney, Emily Luebke, Matt Smith, and Devin Floyd – enlisted other PDC employees and interns, including David Bellangue, Joanna Currey, Charlie Aller, Paul Cipriani, Carter Frazee, Emma Stephens, Mary Cotterman, Daniel Carmelo, and Rose O’Shea. During the Piedmont Grassland Assessment, Leighton Reid (PDC Co-P.I., Virginia Tech), Ezra Staengl (PDC Data Analyst, Virginia Tech), Bert Harris (Clifton Institute), Maeve Coker (United States Fish and Wildlife Service), the Southeastern Grasslands Institute, and rising star botanists, Rosie Green and Gray Catanzaro, contributed invaluable assistance and expertise. Leighton and Ezra continue to propel our research results toward publication, and Maeve helped us expand our research into the Coastal Plains ecoregion! We are grateful for the teamwork that enabled the research, education, and outreach we accomplished in 2025.

Education Programs. The PDC Research Department delivered programming to numerous groups on a wide array of topics, including restoration ecology, old-growth Piedmont grasslands, prescribed fire, and ecological community classification. Devin guided expeditions for The Virginia Master Naturalists, Nelson-Byrd-Woltz, Waterstreet Studio, and the Virginia Native Plant Society. He also provided immersive field lectures for the Masters of Landscape Architecture program at the University of Virginia. Drew and Emily led experiential learning for students at Louisa County High School. As part of their science curricula, we introduced them to grassland research and data collection methodology. We also conducted a bioblitz at the savanna restoration at Darden Towe Park with students from the Peabody School and members of the general public. To give the public better access to the research we do, we provided immersive education programming. This allowed participants to be a “scientist for a day” and get an inside look at our data collection methodology. Drew led walks throughout the year, exploring a wide variety of topics, including the plants, birds, and dragonflies of the Piedmont. Emily was a speaker at PDC’s Dragonfly Symposium and led two vernal pool education events at Brook Hill River Park. Emily worked with Jessie Wingo (Albemarle County Parks and Recreation) and Chris Asquith (Biology Teacher, Western Albemarle High School) to familiarize the public with the magic and wonder of vernal pool ecosystems and the spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), marbled salamanders (Ambystoma opacum), and other fauna that depend on them. In addition, Emily and Jessie organized a rewarding stewardship effort removing invasive plants and trash from the vernal pools and their surroundings.

2025 was a record-breaking year for our Piedmont Grasslands Assessment. Our survey of seven counties from northern Virginia to the North Carolina border (Arlington, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Halifax, Lunenburg, Pittsylvania, Prince William) resulted in the documentation of 582 old-growth grassland sites – double what we found in 2024! The abundance and quality of these sites led us to choose 72 of them for further intensive data collection. Three of these sites represent the highest-quality grassland plots we have ever documented. During the 2025 season, we partnered with numerous organizations to gain access to research sites, including the Clifton Institute, Arlington and Fairfax County parks, the Virginia Natural Heritage Program, and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

Other highlights of the season include discoveries of the first Virginia records of coastal dog-fennel (Eupatorium compositifolium) and wand blazing star (Liatris virgata), two new populations of state critically imperiled southeastern bold goldenrod (Solidago jacksonii), a large new population of globally imperiled Torrey’s mountain-mint (Pycnanthemum torreyi), and several new occurrences of a rare grassland-endemic insect called the prairie katydid (Conocephalus saltans). A total of 98 new county record species were documented. Specimens have been sent to Virginia Tech’s Massey Herbarium, where access to them can help further scientific research. It was a memorable research season. We could not have accomplished so much without the financial support of the BAND Foundation and private donors – thank you! We plan to expand the Piedmont Grassland Assessment in 2026 to explore eight new jurisdictions in Virginia (Bedford, Brunswick, Franklin, Greensville, Loudoun, and Mecklenburg counties, the City of Lynchburg, and Washington, D.C.). We hope to establish satellite operations in other regions of the Piedmont.

In the News. PDC Research Department’s work also received coverage in several media outlets, including interviews on NPR, the Washington Post, and Cville Magazine. The Piedmont Grassland Assessment will also be featured in an upcoming documentary about North American grasslands by Reuben Danyali, a graduate student at Boston University. 

Award-winning Project! Drew Chaney, Emily Luebke, MJ Epps, Rachel Floyd and Matt Smith’s hard work resulted in Piedmont Discovery Center being awarded the Virginia Recreation & Park Society’s Best New Environmental Award for the Charlottesville Interpretive Trails project with Charlottesville Parks & Recreation. Visit Greenbrier Park, Riverview Park, or the McIntire Triangle Trails to learn more about local flora and geology by scanning the QR codes.

Biological Surveys in Albemarle County. The PDC Research Team also delivered final reports for completed projects and conducted new biological surveys in 2025. This included surveying an exceptional example of a xeric woodland at Mint Springs Valley Park for Albemarle County Parks and Recreation, a spring survey of a woodland restoration site at Clover Hill Farm in eastern Albemarle County, and a survey of a property owned by the Albemarle County Service Authority (ACSA) containing remnant savanna and thicket woodlands. 

The Ball Mountain Biome Survey. One of the biggest projects of the year was conducted on PDC’s newly acquired land in Schuyler, Virginia. This biological assessment covered 141 acres and documented 22 unique ecosystem types. Our research team found over 400 plant species, 47 species of breeding birds, 9 county-record plant species, and a plethora of insects, fungi, and other life forms during the Ball Mountain Biome Survey.

In 2025, the Research Department brought in 18% of PDC’s total revenue. We thank you for supporting Piedmont Discovery Center’s research in 2025. With your support, we will continue to have a positive impact on education and conservation in the Piedmont region in 2026 and beyond.