Wheelock Communities is committed to creating a beautiful community that will provide lots of opportunities to enjoy the incredible natural environment that residents and visitors can enjoy. Our community will offer trails, a new park and playground, and access to the W&OD trail that runs along the south side of the community. To ensure that the community is developed using sustainable development practices and to combat a variety of invasive plant species, LandDesign, our landscape architect, has created a sustainable landscape plan that will use native plants, as well as landscape techniques that will limit water and other harmful chemicals. 

Wheelock Communities has collaborated with Sustainability Matters, a local non-profit that has a contract with NOVA Parks to ensure that, when there is an opportunity, the W&OD trail system is being replanted using non-invasive plants. Wheelock Communities is excited to see Sustainability Matters’ landscape plan for the trail. Sustainability Matters was founded in 2018 as a grassroots environmental nonprofit operating in Virginia’s rural Northern Shenandoah Valley and Piedmont regions and in the DC suburbs. The organization is the architect of transformative, scalable projects like Making Trash Bloom, hosts webinars with global reach, and creates conservation education videos that reach millions of viewers across social media. 

Since its inception, Sustainability Matters has organized more than 250 educational and outreach programs for over 25,000 participants. They recently completed a meadow in Vienna, as part of the W&OD trail improvement initiative. “We’re excited to be part of the effort to improve the W&OD trail, including the area adjacent to the American Dream Way community. We are currently in the planning stages with this project as well as the trail that abuts the Metro Rail. As a nonprofit, we are able to work with a wide variety of partners, cities, and counties to ensure that sustainability is at the forefront of development efforts,” said Andrea McGimsey, Executive Director of Sustainability Matters. 

The organization is looking for sponsors, donors, and volunteers to assist in the American Dream Way W&OD Trail project. If you’re interested in joining the effort, visit https://www.sustainabilitymatters.earth to find out ways you can help!