Greenbrier Park and the Meadow Creek Trail

Greenbrier Park and the adjacent Meadow Creek Trail are nestled within an area known as the Meadow Creek Valley. The area provides an oasis for wildlife amidst a busy suburb of Charlottesville. The Valley contains a diverse complex of habitats: Meadow Creek, its surrounding woodland, a meadow, and wetlands, including Greenbrier Marsh, which is one of just two natural marshes in Virginia’s Piedmont region. Greenbrier Park offers easy access to the area with a crushed gravel, multi-use trail that parallels Meadow Creek. The “Meadow Creek Trail” is an unpaved hiking trail with a rock hop that crosses over Meadow Creek. Both of these trails are part of the Rivanna Trail system, a 20+-mile trail around Charlottesville.

Over 150 species of birds have been observed in Greenbrier Park. Numerous species of migrating warblers take advantage of this habitat in both spring and fall. In the late spring and summer months, look for orioles, Wood Thrush, Eastern Wood-Peewee, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Common Yellowthroat, and Indigo Bunting. Red-shouldered Hawk, Eastern Bluebird, a diversity of woodpeckers, and other common woodland birds may be seen year-round. In the cooler fall and winter months, look for kinglets, Winter Wren, a diversity of sparrows, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.

In addition to birds, Greenbrier Park provides excellent habitat for white-tailed deer, which may be observed year-round, and amphibians, including spring peepers, American toads, green frogs, and pickerel frogs. Frogs may be heard calling from late winter through the summer. In late winter, spotted salamanders migrate and breed in the park’s complex of forested wetlands.

Conservation Efforts in the Area

Once identified as an “impaired waterway,” largely due to excessive sediment from steambank erosion, Meadow Creek underwent a major stream restoration project from 2012-2013. The stream restoration project was a collaborative effort between the City of Charlottesville and The Nature Conservancy and was funded by the Virginia Aquatic Resources Trust Fund. The project restored 9,000 feet of Meadow Creek and protected over 75 acres of forest and wetlands. As part of this project, the entire Meadow Creek Valley, including Greenbrier Park and the Meadow Creek Trail, is now protected under a conservation easement with The Nature Conservancy. This easement protects this habitat corridor in perpetuity.