Mary Louisa Pollard, of The Garden Club of the Northern Neck, and a founding member of the Northern Neck Land Conservancy, has been awarded the 2023 de Lacy Gray Memorial Medal for Conservation in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the preservation of Virginia's natural resources and land heritage. The award was presented at the Garden Club of Virginia Annual Meeting hosted by the Winchester-Clarke Garden Club on May 17.
First presented in 1965 as a memorial to de Lacy Thompson Gray and originally given by the Dolley Madison Garden Club, this award recognizes an individual member or member club of the Garden Club of Virginia for outstanding effort to further the knowledge of our natural resources and encourage their wise use. Mary Louisa was nominated by the Garden Club of the Northern Neck.
Mary Louisa's journey towards conservation began in the 1990s when she and her brother placed a conservation easement on a large tract of woodland and meadows in the western part of Virginia through the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. This experience taught her about the process and benefits of easements and was the catalyst for the creation of the Northern Neck Land Conservancy (NNLC).
Mary Louisa's passion for conservation led her to gather interested residents together in her home area of White Stone, Virginia, to collaborate and create the NNLC in 2004. NNLC’s mission is "to promote the rural heritage of the Northern Neck by conserving its lands, waters, economies, and culture for future generations." Mary Louisa served as the first board president from 2004-2007 and was on the board until 2014. The group originally operated out of a small outbuilding at Mary Louisa's home on Mosquito Creek. Her husband, Bill, jokes that he was booted out of his office.
In 2005, recorded easements totaled 301 acres. Today, the Conservancy holds 6,909 acres. Mary Louisa developed fundraisers and attracted educational exhibits operated by Master Gardeners, Native Plant Society, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Department of Forestry, Oyster Growers Association, Raptor Conservancy, and more, to engage the public.
Together with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, Mary Louisa and the NNLC identified a 19-mile stretch along Cat Point Creek as a Special Area Project for Land Conservation, which now provides an open space corridor between historic sites on the Potomac River and existing protected areas on the Rappahannock River. The Garden Club of Virginia recognized the Garden Club of the Northern Neck and the NNLC in 2012 with the Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award. The award’s intent is to fund implementation of a conservation project that will serve as a catalyst for community action and helped to generate public interest in this project that continues to preserve the sense of place of historic sites such as Stratford Hall and Menokin Plantation.
The Garden Club of the Northern Neck, of which Mary Louisa is a long-time member, has also been a key player in conservation. Under her leadership, the club applied for the 2017 GCV Centennial Grants to promote and assist the Belle Isle and Westmoreland State Parks by supporting permanent infrastructure in the new visitor center exhibits, landscape conservation for pollinator habitats, arborist support, and education opportunities for youth. Mary Louisa organized Historic Belle Isle Work Days to clean up the overgrown gardens and held open houses to draw people to the park. She championed environmental literacy in a time when state parks were suffering from budget cuts.
Mary Louisa also served a term in the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for the 99th district under the governorship of Tim Kaine. Hers was a voice with experience in the conservation of land as the department of Game and Inland Fisheries is the largest land-owning agency in Virginia.
Mary Louisa's talent in creating a collaborative team enabled the NNLC to thrive. She garnered community support and has shown a quiet but determined voice for activism in conservation. GCV is proud to recognize her work and her gifts to the state of Virginia. Mary Louisa's commitment to conservation has had a lasting impact, and her efforts have ensured that future generations will be able to enjoy the natural beauty of Virginia's Northern Neck.
Pictured are Mary Louisa Pollard (standing) and her family: daughter Sarah Chiffriller (The Boxwood Garden Club), granddaughter Jane Chiffriller and husband Albert Pollard Sr.
