NOVA Parks (formerly named Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) is an inter-jurisdictional organization that owns and operates more than 10,000 acres of woodlands, streams, parks, trails, nature reserves, countryside and historic sites in Northern Virginia in the United States. The Authority was organized in 1959. NOVA Parks presently operates 34 regional parks. A 12-member policy-making Board governs NOVA Parks. The city council or county board of each member jurisdiction appoints two representatives to the Board. Three counties (Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun) and three cities (Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax) currently have representation on the Board. History NOVA Parks was founded in 1959, when Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the City of Falls Church decided to create an agency to protect the drinking water sources of the area, as well to provide passive recreation. NOVA Parks purchased its first parkland shortly thereafter in Centreville, VA from Gardiner Means and his wife Caroline F. Ware, in what would become Bull Run Regional Park. The park is well-known for the Virginia bluebells that grow along Bull Run and is a destination in the early spring for visitors to view their blooming. The pair later donated their farm home in Vienna, VA, which would eventually become Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. Within its first decade of existence, NOVA Parks conserved over . In the ten years that followed, that number was increased to approximately . NOVA Parks then added sites in Clifton, VA, the City of Fairfax, VA, Fairfax County, Arlington and Alexandria, VA in the 1960s. The agency welcomed Loudoun County, VA in the 1970s. The latter arrangement would lead to the addition of several key sites, including what would become Algonkian Regional Park on the Potomac River, as well as Red Rock Overlook, Temple Hall Farm and Ball's Bluff Battlefield and National Cemetery. NOVA Parks continued their growth through the 1990s, adding Brambleton Golf Course in Ashburn, VA, and then later, in 2006, adding Aldie Mill Historic Park. The agency recently added a new facility at Occoquan Regional Park, named after former board member and Fairfax County leader Jean Packard. In 2022, NOVA Parks acquired Winkler Botanical Preserve as part of an arrangement between NOVA Parks, the city of Alexandria, and then Winkler Organization, which had been the owner. Historic sites NOVA Parks manages a number of parks that have historical significance, including an 18th-century mansion, a Civil War battlefield, a 19th-century grist mill,