It’s time well-spent when Virginia Master Naturalists convene in conference

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Mike Bishop 

The 2018 Virginia Master Naturalists State conference is over, but attendees left with a lot of useful information, new friends, and fond memories. This year’s conference was held in Fredericksburg, 7-9 September. Although I also attended the 2017 conference in Front Royal, this year I participated not only as a student, but as an instructor. 

Mike Bishop (left) discussing purple martins with Chris Ludwig

The organizing committee asked if I would be interested in teaching classes about the Purple Martin and the Northern Virginia Purple Martin Initiative that I founded several years ago. I immediately said I would, seizing a great opportunity to be able to spread the word about this conservation effort.

The conference started for me on Friday with a thrilling and educational 3-hour kayak trip down the historic Rappahannock River, with 25 other naturalists. Sights along the way were Bald Eagles, Osprey and Great Blue Herons, to name just a few. Our guides had extensive knowledge of an adjoining canal system that I didn’t even know existed. We pulled ashore at several places to explore them. This was just one of many field trips led by local experts on the area. I spent the rest of the conference teaching or attending classes by leaders in their fields of study. One class I particularly enjoyed covered current research and findings about bird migration patterns and habits.

The conference center was top notch; classrooms were excellent for teaching and the meals were delicious. The Rappahannock chapter did everything right to make this a most enjoyable and comfortable event. There were even three tables of superb, nature-related door prizes. Everybody walked away with something.

After attending the state conferences for the past years, I plan on going to as many future ones as possible. As important as the classes you learn from is networking with others from around the state—finding out what makes their chapters so fun and effective. 

In September 2019, the conference will be held in Harrisonburg. The close proximity again makes it convenient for the members of our chapter. Considering the area, the field trips should be visiting some spectacular natural areas of the Shenandoah Valley. 

Unfortunately, representation from our chapter has been low at the past two conferences. Let’s see if we can change that next year. Believe me, it’s time well spent and I hope to see you there! 

Volunteer at the Virginia State Fair

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Volunteers are needed to help with the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts (VASWCD) and Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF), or Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) exhibit booths at the Virginia State Fair, which runs from Sept 28th-Oct. 7th at Meadow Event Park in Doswell, Virginia.

Displays:

  • Interactive Watershed Address/Soil Water Conservation District Map
  • Mini Mock Dominion Envirothon Program
  • Virginia Conservation Assistance Program Educational Outreach Tools
  • Interactive stream table
  • Prescribed fire information
  • Kids activities

All workers will receive a free fair entrance ticket. There are two time slots for each day 9:45-2:00pm & 1:45-6:00pm, with the goal of having 4 people for each time slot.

To sign up for VASWCD/VDOF booth, please visit the Signup Genius https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084ca5ac22a6f49-2018 please choose the VASWCD Booth or additional volunteer slot as where you are signing up.

To sign up for the DEQ booth, go to https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f044baba72ca2fa7-volunteer2  and then email your preferred mailing address to [email protected] so she can mail you your entrance tickets.

Become a Wildlife Rescue League transporter

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Wildlife Rescue League operates a wildlife hotline in the Northern Virginia and surrounding areas to inform the help them find a wildlife rehabilitator. WRL also educates the public about the natural history of native wildlife, coexisting with it, and preventing the need for wildlife rehabilitation.

WRL has two types of support needs: transport and hotline support.

Transport volunteers are needed for:

  • Short, ad hoc trips
  • Long, scheduled trips between rehabilitators
  • Daily pick-ups from the Fairfax Animal Shelter

This project is year round, although Spring and Summer have a greater transport volume.

Hotline volunteers:

Retreive messages left by the public, shelter, or veterinarian’s office in a voice messaging system (VMS). The volunteer will return the call, providing advice or a referall to a wildlife rehabilitator. Volunteers work designated shifts from their own homes calling into the VMS. WRL asks volunteers to commit to signing up for 3-4 two to two and a half hour shifts per month.

This project is year round and takes place in the volunteer’s home or anywhere they have access to a phone and internet.

(Service code: consolidated with S081)

Health and Nature Connection Workshop and Conference

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Department of Energy and Environment‘s Biophilia Initiative working groups are reconvening after six months of work! At the culminating meeting: The Nature Health Connection: Biophilic Practices for a Healthy, Livable DC members are invited to share their best ideas. Join Biophilic DC and others as we tune into their presentations and participate in a timely discussion for our city.

Tuesday, 2 October 2018
4:00 pm – 6:30 pm
UDC David A. Clarke School of Law

Find out more and RSVP here. Free.

Friends of the National Zoo seeks Education Program Specialist

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Want to work with the National Zoo?

The Education Program Specialist will design and supervise education programs that meet the missions of Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) and Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Together with the Assistant Directors and Team Managers, the Education Program Specialist will lead a flexible and collaborative department that thrives on teamwork, innovation, and delivering mission-driven education and volunteer programming.

More information and application here!

From Cyanobacteria Blooms to Clear Water: The Remarkable Story of the Tidal Potomac River Recovery

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Talk by Dr. Christian Jones, Professor and Director, Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center, George Mason University. Part of George Mason University’s “Galileo’s Science Cafe” series of free science lectures open to the public.

25 October 2018
7:00-8:00 pm
Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas, Virginia

Learn more

Wildlife Ecology class

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This class runs 2-9 October 2018, 6-8 pm, at Graduate School USA. Cost $365

Course description

Gain an understanding of wildlife techniques and theory, including the basics of life history, identification, population and community ecology, habitat management, and animal behavior. Learn how institutional missions and federal laws influence wildlife and habitat conservation, and how humans affect and are affected by wildlife in rural, suburban, and urban environments of the Mid-Atlantic region. Pressing concerns about invasive species, the effects of climate change on wildlife, and the loss and degradation of habitats will also be discussed.

Previous courses such as Biology for Naturalists (NATH1110E) and Intro. to Ecology (NATH1160E), or equivalent, are recommended. Field Trips: October 20, November 3, and November 17, 2018.

If minimum student enrollment is not reached by one week before the scheduled start date, the course may be canceled.

Register

Designing for Environmental Sustainability and Social Impact

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This is an online, self-paced class from +Acumen, taught by MAVA Foundation. It begins 9 October and ends 20 November. The class is free.

Course Description

How do you solve a problem like deforestation? How might you restore a marine ecosystem, while recognizing that the community depends on fishing to survive? When your renewable energy product is no longer wanted, does it end up in a landfill?

The challenges of poverty and environmental conservation are interconnected. This course will introduce mindsets and methodologies to help you promote both environmental sustainability and social impact in your work.

You will discover the dynamics that contribute to complex environmental and social challenges using systems thinking. Then, you will learn about the circular economy and find opportunities to reuse resources and reduce waste. Next, you will explore how behavior change principles can encourage people to act in ways that benefit the planet. Finally, you will make the case for environmental conservation with lessons from the natural capital movement.

The course features insights from Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy; Vien Truong, CEO of Green for All; and Michael Kobori, Vice President of Sustainability for Levi Strauss & Co. It also shares case studies from social entrepreneurs and conservation organizations around the world.

What You’ll Learn

  • Explore opportunities for collaboration between social entrepreneurs and conservation organizations to promote environmental sustainability and social impact
  • Discover mindsets and methodologies for tackling environmental challenges, including systems thinking, circular design, behavior change, and natural capital
  • Understand how to design products and services that contribute to a circular economy, and how to change behavior to conserve biodiversity
  • Make the business case for investing in environmental conservation with lessons from the natural capital movement

This is a hands-on, project-based course for teams or individuals that consists of weekly readings, videos, and workshops. In the first week of the course, you will select an environmental challenge to explore. In each workshop, you will apply the concepts you learned in the reading to propose solutions to the environmental challenge.

More Questions

Please visit our +Acumen Page for more information.

Is This Course for You?

  • You are a social entrepreneur who wants to design solutions that create social impact and promote environmental sustainability.
  • You are a conservation specialist who wants to apply entrepreneurial methodologies to environmental challenges.
  • You are an innovator in a company or corporation who wants to make the business case for investing in conservation.

The Innovation Toolkit, ’cause you want to make stuff better, right?

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A multi-disciplinary team of engineers from the MITRE corporation curated the MITRE Innovation Toolkit to help the community of innovative thinkers jumpstart the innovation process.

These tools help people understand how, when, and why to innovate, provide best practices and guidance, and jump-start the problem-solving process. They have organized the catalog of tools according to a team’s objective, team size, and style.

Do you ever have to? want to? facilitate problem solving sessions in your work or community of naturalists?

Try Rose-Bud-Thorn to conduct an analysis by visually categorizing positive (rose), potential (bud), or negative (thorn) aspects of a topic (e.g., system, product, process).

Try Lotus Blossom to focus the power of brainstorming using a structured, visual representation of ideas—pushing you to fill out every box with new ideas.

Try Trimming to visually document a someone’s experience through actions, pain points, wins, and opportunities in a process.

There are more tools on the site, and all of the materials are free to download.

Students in Community Science blog posts

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These blog posts are part of Students in Community Science, a series of Thriving Earth Exchange articles featuring students who have had internship, educational or volunteer experiences in community science.

14 September 2018

Haley Gannon – Translating a Pivotal Internship Experience into a Satisfying Career

When I first came to the Thriving Earth Exchange, I was relatively new to the idea of community science. My experience up […]

13 September 2018

Shahan Haq – Adapting to Life after Adaptation Analytics: Reflection from an Intern

During an atmospheric chemistry course I took a few years ago, the professor would pause his lecture before major discoveries in the […]

11 September 2018

Babak J. Fard – Insights from an Interdisciplinary Community Science Experience

The Brookline, Mass. Thriving Earth Exchange project “Building Community Resilience to Extreme Heat” started in February 2016 with several initial meetings […]

10 September 2018

Angela Dapremont – How Studying Mars is Relevant to Helping Earth’s Communities

angela.jpgI was fortunate to have a unique Thriving Earth Exchange internship experience during the summer and fall months of 2015. I started from scratch by familiarizing myself with the definition of community science, and ended up participating in the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting Thriving Earth Exchange events. […]