CONSTRUCTION BEGINS JANUARY 2022!
As with any construction project, there may be traffic issues and delays. Please be patient and stay aware as you drive near the site!
SULLY WOODLANDS STEWARDSHIP EDUCATION CENTER
AWARENESS AND ENGAGEMENT WITH NATURE
Inform the community on stewardship actions FCPA is taking to preserve and protect natural and cultural resources.
EDUCATION AND STEWARDSHIP
Provide hands-on activities and instructor-led presentations; educate on actions community members can take to help ensure their personal health through healthy landscapes, buildings, and practices in the built environment.
SUSTAINABILITY
Teach the principles of stewardship for resources and healthy choices in use of water, energy, and geography though The Living Building Challenge, which defines the framework for operational, cultural, and environmental design goals for the facility. All aspects – structure, design, systems, materials, and operations of the center itself – will be used in these efforts.
EQUITY
Provide educational outreach to all residents of Fairfax County to promote social equity, diversity, and inclusiveness.
ACTION
Empowering, encouraging, and/or challenging people to use their awareness and education from interaction with the center to make their lives, homes, and personal environments healthier places!
The SW-SEC Living Building Challenge:
An International Model of Environmental
Sustainability and Stewardship.
Spring is always an exciting time at the park. Flowers bloom, trees bud, animals awaken, life begins again. But spring of 2022 doesn’t just hold the promise of nature’s timeless renewal. It holds the reality of the brand-new Sully Woodlands Stewardship Education Center. This incredible project will change the way our community can experience and learn about the natural world that sustains us every day.
What makes The Sully Woodlands Stewardship Education Center (SW-SEC) so amazing? It is designed to be one of only two “Living Buildings” in Virginia, and only one of 25 in the world! The SW-SEC is designed to be wholly sustainable in order to meet the stringent requirements for The Living Building Challenge. It will use renewable energy and operate in a pollution-free manner, year-round. The SW-SEC will be built from environmentally friendly materials and be fully accessible to everyone. This unique community resource is designed to be an international model of sustainability and environmental stewardship.
What You Do Affects Everyone.
The word “Stewardship” implies a responsibility for actively taking care of something worth passing on to future generations and making sure that it is as good or better than when you received it. It is the continuing process of accessing resources and issues, performing management actions, analyzing the results, and applying lessons-learned to build healthy landscapes and preserve cultural features and artifacts. The SW-SEC will model best stewardship practices in its design, construction and usage. It will provide education and interpretation about the Park Authority and its partnering groups’ stewardship of the resources in the region.
Healthy Landscapes Ensure Healthy Communities.
You can make a difference that will contribute to a healthier community – and a better world. The Stewardship Education Center will leverage the art and science of interpretation, which is built on the principle of connecting people to resources through universal concepts and compelling stories to create emotional connections. The Center will provide meaningful and memorable interpretive experiences that connect visitors directly to resources.
The Stewardship Education Center will provide interpretive services to the general public and partner organizations that include:
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Programs
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Camps
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Rentals
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Events
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School Field Trips
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Education and study for partners
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Public and corporate rentals and events
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Walk-in use of outdoor experiential learning area(s) and trails.
The Sully Woodlands Stewardship Education Center will provide a place for the community to gather and explore their dependent connection to natural & cultural resources.
The Woodlands Stewardship Center is being built within FCPA’s Ellanor C. Lawrence Park. The Park is a square mile of resource rich land set aside by a gift from Ellanor and David Lawrence to the people of Fairfax so it could be preserved and open for everyone to enjoy as they had. Setting the land aside protected its cultural resources while allowing its large collection of natural habitats to flourish as the area around continues to change and grow. The park is a vital part of not only the surrounding community, but the FCPA ecosystem as well.
Your Local Park is Making a World of Difference.
AWARENESS & ENGAGEMENT WITH NATURE
Inform the community on stewardship actions FCPA is taking to preserve and protect natural and cultural resources.
EDUCATION AND STEWARDSHIP
Provide hands-on activities and instructor-led presentations; educate on actions community members can take to help ensure their personal health through healthy landscapes, buildings, and practices in the built environment.
SUSTAINABILITY
Teach the principles of stewardship for resources and healthy choices in use of water, energy, and geography though The Living Building Challenge, which defines the framework for operational, cultural, and environmental design goals for the facility. All aspects – structure, design, systems, materials, and operations of the center itself – will be used in these efforts.
EQUITY
Provide educational outreach to all residents of Fairfax County to promote social equity, diversity, and inclusiveness.
ACTION
Empowering, encouraging, and/or challenging people to use their awareness and education from interaction with the center to make their lives, homes, and personal environments healthier places!
American children now spend fewer than seven minutes a day in unstructured outdoor play and seven hours a day in front of an electronic screen.
That has to change.
GENERATION EARTH: The STEAM Learning Area
The Sully Woodlands Stewardship Education Center will have a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math (STEAM). Located adjacent to the Center, the STEAM Learning Area will have accessible outdoor activities that teach about subjects such as weights and measures, solar energy, sustainable building practices and other areas of interest that promote the restoration and management of natural resources to improve their health and function. The STEAM LOOP will provide a place for the informal, unstructured, childhood nature experiences that most influence the development of adult conservation values. It is more important than ever before that our children connect with nature and become good stewards of the earth and its resources.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT UNIQUE STEAM LOOP SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES, CONTACT US TODAY!
For more information, please visit:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/planning-development/sully-woodlands-stewardship-education-center
