The Arlington Outdoor Lab is expected to grow by 85 acres through the purchase of an adjacent tract in Fauquier County.
The Arlington Outdoor Education Association’s (AOEA) purchase will increase the lab’s current 226 acres by over a third.
The announcement came at the 58-year-old organization’s spring open house. AOEA partners with Arlington Public Schools, which offers environmental-education programming for county students at the site.
“This is the biggest investment in Arlington students by AOEA since its founding,” said Mike Maleski, the association’s outgoing president, “and we are delighted to permanently protect this portion of land and our watershed that provides so many opportunities for students to gain hands-on appreciation of the natural world.”
AOEA has long desired to purchase the adjacent Old Afton Farm property. A combination of fiscal reserves, a private donation and bank financing facilitated the purchase, AOEA secretary Colleen Rocha Levine told ARLnow.
The exact cost for the purchase remains to be determined, because the association anticipates selling off 40 acres to a nearby property owner while retaining 85 acres.
The news of the acquisition won strong support at the open house and in social-media posts.
“I attended the Outdoor Lab while in elementary school in Arlington, and that place holds some of my BEST memories,” Alicia Carter wrote on Facebook. “I also went to camp there for two summers. Love this place.”
The response of the school system was also positive.
“We are glad to see that the Arlington Outdoor Education Association will have more land. We look forward to our continued partnership with AOEA to support our students and their exploration of nature,” said Catherine Ashby, assistant superintendent for school and community relations at APS.
Boosters say the acquisition will pay immediate dividends for students visiting the site, which is about an hour’s drive west of Arlington.
“We hope the increased acreage will allow some of the current educational activities to expand over a larger area to reduce congestion around the pond,” Rocha Levine said.
She added:
“The purchase adds 4,300 feet of existing trail, connecting our Biscuit Mountain Trail with our current parcel at the summit, offering longer, more rugged hikes and opportunity to study our unique rock outcropping on the ridge. We anticipate summer campers will get to explore this more as soon as this summer.”
In addition, the AOEA has engaged architects to begin master planning land use and new facilities. Much of the work will be done in conjunction with the upcoming 60th anniversary of the Outdoor Lab’s establishment in 1967.
The Outdoor Lab was conceived by Dr. Phoebe Hall Knipling (1910-88), an Arlington science teacher and administrator who believed students in the increasingly urbanizing community of Arlington would benefit from access to nature.
A property owner who was impressed with the plan sold the initial 210 acres to AOEA for $90,000, less than half its full value.
Every time proposed school-system budget cutbacks have imperiled the facility, the community has rallied to support it. Most recently, community activism defeated a proposal in the preliminary APS budget last year to eliminate all overnight trips to the facility for fifth-graders.
The FY 2026 budget proposal, set for adoption May 15, provides sufficient funding for Outdoor Lab staffing, association officials recently said.
During the pandemic, staff provided “‘virtual’ field trips” to students until classroom instruction and in-person visits resumed.
