If you want to help make your community a better place, VolunteerFest 2018 is the place to get started.

VolunteerFest is an annual week of community service throughout Fairfax County and the Washington, D.C. area on Saturday, Oct. 27. Hundreds of volunteers are mobilized to help nonprofits on projects they would not have the time or resources to handle on their own.

In McLean, volunteers are requested to help plant hundreds of native plants at the Marie Butler Leven Preserve.

Over the last year, Buddhist-environmentalist group Earth Sangha has worked to remove invasive plants from the forest’s edge. Now, Earth Sangha is requesting help from volunteers to restore native plants that local wildlife relies on to survive.

The event runs from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. The maximum number of volunteers for the effort is 25, with ten spaces remaining. Parking is available at the site but it is not Metro or wheelchair accessible.

Volunteers are asked to wear sturdy shoes and long pants. Work gloves and a bottle of drinking water are also encouraged. Earth Sangha will provide tools, gloves for those that don’t have them, a water cooler for refills and snacks.

In Tysons, volunteers are requested to beautify the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library. The event will run from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturday.

Outside, volunteers will improve the outdoor landscape by trimming plants around the parking lot and doing general litter pick-up. Inside, volunteers will clean the meeting room tables and chairs. 

Volunteers are requested to wear comfortable clothes that can get dirty and closed toe shoes.

Photo via Earth Sangha

The 4th annual DC Sustainability Summit and Green Product Expo (DCSS) is bringing industry leaders to Tysons to discuss sustainability.

The summit will be held in Valo Park (7950 Jones Branch Road) from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. this Thursday.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Seth Goldman, CEO of Honest Tea Company, will be the keynote speakers in the day-long discussion of environmental equity issues. Discussions will focus on helping to develop regional solutions to work towards reducing carbon emissions.

The Green Product Expo following the summit will give attendees a chance to ask questions about, and see in action, new green building technology and products.

A full schedule of events is available online.

General registration for the event is $95 and student registration is $45. Breakfast, lunch and happy hour are included in the admission.

The summit is sponsored by DCS Design and the Tysons Partnership.

Photos via Facebook

At its meeting tonight (Monday), the Vienna Town Council is set to vote on a funding agreements for two major environmental restoration projects.

The larger project is the next phase of the Hunter Branch Stream restoration project, estimated to cost $1.92 million.

The project will restore 1,800 feet of the stream along Nutley Street SW. The first phase of the project, completed in 2016, worked to combat the erosion of another part of the stream and add native plant species. The stream is located within the Chesapeake Bay, Accotink Creek and Potomac River watersheds, with the ultimate goal of the project being the reduction of sediments and pollutants flowing into those larger bodies of water.

Design work is expected to take place throughout fiscal year 2019 with an estimated cost of $400,000.

The other funding agreement is for the Tapawingo/Kingsley Urban Bioretention Project, will build bioretention along Meadow Lane SW where it intersects Tapawingo and Kingsley roads. The new bioretention areas will extend the curb and add new environmental control measures aimed at treating storm runoff from the street.

The bioretention project is expected to cost $200,000.

The funding for the projects come from an agreement with Fairfax County.

Photo via Facebook