The modern battlefield preservation movement began in response to the tidal wave of suburban development that washed over Northern Virginia in the mid-1980s. Longtime supporters of this organization and its predecessors remember the days of fighting against theme parks near Manassas, NASCAR tracks at Brandy Station, shopping malls at Chantilly and more subdivisions than anyone could possibly count.
The Civil War soldiers who fought those battles – or even the veterans that created the battlefield parks we all still cherish – could not have imagined the scale and scope of development we have spent four decades confronting. Nor could we, at the Trust’s founding, envision the 21st-century threats that now constitute the most pressing danger to historic landscapes.
Worse than the hulking distribution warehouses and industrial solar facilities are the hyper-scale data centers financed by some of the largest corporations on earth – deep-pocketed opponents for whom price is no object. Every day, each of these facilities consumes as much water and energy as a small town… and they’re proposed on or adjacent to significant battlefields, including Brandy Station, Glendale, Manassas, North Anna, Reams Station and more.
Currently, more than 70% of the world’s internet traffic flows through Northern Virginia – with more data center facilities going online every day!
The most egregious proposal, however, centers on the Wilderness Battlefield...
Incidentally, this is nearly the same area that we successfully fought Walmart from developing 16 years ago. Sadly, this new proposal is worse — far, far worse — than that original big-box plan.
In the face of overwhelming public opposition, officials approved the building of 5,000 homes and, appallingly, as many data centers and distribution warehouses as they can cram into 750 acres. Originally, that type of hulking, windowless development had been capped at a sprawling five million square feet. However, any semblance of a limit was lifted in the final hours before the Board vote, creating a material difference in the proposal over what had been shared with the public and evaluated by county planning staff. The Wilderness Crossing project and rezoning process had numerous other substantive and procedural flaws.
If ever there was a time to fight, it is now. That’s why we and our preservation allies have filed a lawsuit. We have a strong case, but such legal action is costly and deep-pocketed developers have no problem dragging matters out as long as possible.
We have an urgent need for $100,000 to help us carry out this legal battle at the Wilderness, on top of the many time-sensitive land preservation projects across the nation we are also now engaged in.
With so much at stake,
please consider making a gift toward this urgent matter
and help us hold the line at the Wilderness.
'Til the battle is won,
David N. Duncan, President
American Battlefield Trust