Friends Of Frying Pan Farm Park Awarded $20K Grant For Forest Restoration Project

HERNDON, VA — The Fairfax County Park Authority Board approved a $20,000 Mastenbrook Volunteer Matching Fund Grant request from the Friends of Frying Pan Farm Park to help fund a forest restoration project at the Herndon park.

Frying Pan’s friends group will use the money to help restore four acres of forest at the park that have been heavily degraded by human activity, invasive species and white-tailed deer. The county will seek to turn this degraded portion of Frying Pan Farm Park into an oak-hickory forest, which will provide improved habitat for wildlife.

Once the project is completed, on-site and digital interpretive programs will be used to educate visitors on the park’s unique forest communities, native biodiversity and the importance of restoring degraded ecosystems.

The Fairfax County Park Authority Board voted in favor of the grant request on Oct. 13.

Work over the next three years will include removal of invasive plant species, installation of deer-exclosure fencing and planting of native trees, such as oaks and hickories. Volunteers will participate in the project to help complete it and sustain its impact.

The Friends of Frying Pan Farm Park plan to donate an initial $24,540.67 to the project, to be followed by an additional $11,158 in years two and three. With the grant money, a total of $55,698.67 will be available for the restoration work.

Staff from the Fairfax County Park Authority Resource Management Division’s Natural Resources Branch will manage the project, which is scheduled to be completed by fiscal year 2024.

Since 2002, the Fairfax County Park Authority's Mastenbrook Grant Program has awarded about $1.9 million in grants for about 200 projects valued at more than $14.4 million.

Grants ranging from a few hundred dollars to the maximum of $20,000 have funded such projects as trail improvements, construction of gazebos and shelters, and athletic field improvements. Following this latest grant to Frying Pan Farm park, nearly $50,450 remains in the current grant account.