Please Use Bins or Black Plastic Trash Bags

Please keep in mind we have confirmed sightings of raccoons, rats, skunks, and turkey vultures in the neighborhood, and the longer trash sits outside the more likely they are to find it and chow down. The use of black, heavy-duty, securely closed trash bags--or covered plastic bins--placed out the morning of trash pickup will help to deter pests from tearing open and strewing trash across our beautiful grounds. Heavy duty black kitchen (11-gallon) size trash bags can also be purchased for homes with small amounts of trash.

Please Don't Feed the Animals

Our community was built around and through a forest - and the wildlife that called that forest home long before we came.  For many, this is still their home.  As tempting as it might be to feed them to see them up close, please don't.

Mostly because it's illegal, according to the Virginia Administrative Code 4VAC15-40-286, which reads in part:

"It shall be unlawful for any person...to place, distribute, or allow the placement of food, minerals, carrion, trash, or similar substances when it attracts any species of wildlife in such numbers or circumstances to cause property damage, endanger any person or wildlife, or create a public health concern. Upon notification by department personnel, any such person shall be in violation of this section..."

Squirrels, in particular, have become very aggressive in our neighborhoods, damaging decks as well as furniture and other property.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries warns that:

"Feeding wildlife interferes with normal behavioral patterns, and concentrating animals in urban or suburban areas increases the probability of negative consequences.  Over time, fed animals tend to lose their fear of people and can become more bold or aggressive."

Dr. Katherine Edwards, Fairfax County Wildlife Management Specialist, says the practice is harmful to the animals, as well, as quoted by the Fairfax County Police Blog:

"While the intention of those feeding wildlife may be to help these animals, it can create a problem or a potentially dangerous situation within their community. The reality is that healthy wild animals may lose their lives because they have become habituated to people after learning to associate humans with food.”

We live in a forest.  If you want to get up close, perhaps a pair of binoculars is a better (and safer!) investment for you, for all of us, and especially the animals.