Stream Monitoring Citizen Science & Training Opportunities, June

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Photo: FMN Janet Quinn, Hidden Pond stream monitoring

NoVa Soil & Water Conservation District: Stream Monitoring Citizen Science & Training Opportunities

Horsepen Run Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Sunday, June 9, 9:00am-12:00pm

Where: Horsepen Run Stream Valley Park, Herndon

This site has undergone a lot of change over the last few years! While it had become more challenging to monitor this site in the past, recent changes to the streambed have brought more riffles to monitor and we’re excited to see how this changes the macroinvertebrates we may find! This is an accessible stream site, which can be reached by wheelchair and/or other assistive tools over a paved path (there is a moderate slope). Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

 

Wolftrap Creek Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Thursday, June 13, 9:00am-12:00pm

Where: Wolftrap Creek Stream Valley Park, Vienna

This site features a small, shallow stream which usually has a good number of beetles along a popular paved trail. This is an accessible stream site, which can be reached by wheelchair and/or other assistive tools over a paved path (there is a moderate slope). Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

 

Pohick Creek Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Saturday, June 15, 9:00am-12:00pm

Where: Pohick Creek Stream Valley Park, Springfield

Our stream monitoring site on Pohick Creek is located on the cross county trail, popular with runners, dog walkers, and families. This is the largest and deepest stream that we monitor in our public workshops. This is an accessible stream site, which can be reached by wheelchair and/or other assistive tools over a paved path (there may be some uneven spots). Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

 

Other Training and Stream Monitoring Opportunities

The NoVa Soil & Water Conservation teams are  very excited to contribute their stream data to state and national datasets. If you’d like to see data from all the NVSWCD regional stream monitoring team’s active sites, you can find our organization on the Clean Water Hub.

Create a Mini Meadow

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Article and photo by Plant NOVA Natives

When they aren’t being bulldozed over, the natural state of most meadows in Northern Virginia is to gradually revert to forest, but that fact does not lessen their importance to the ecosystem. Although there are many threats to our woods, it is the meadows that are disappearing the fastest, which is a big problem for birds and other critters that depend on sizable meadows for habitat. When was the last time you saw a meadowlark or a quail, for example?  So if you own land with a natural meadow, you do a great service by preventing it from reforesting (or from being developed.)  

Most of us don’t have natural meadows on our properties, but we, too, can help repair some of the damage by adding meadow plant species to our yards. In most cases, that translates to creating pollinator gardens that can serve as mini-meadows or small-scale meadow analogs that attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinating insects. Even relatively small spaces can foster meadow habitats, especially because much of the ecological value of a meadow comes from common, easy to find, easy to grow species.
Start with just two or three sturdy and meadow-loving natives that produce beautiful flowers and attract pollinators as well, such as Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Goldenrod (e.g., Solidago rugosa or Solidago caesia), Mountain mint (e.g., Pycnanthemum tenuifolium), and Hollow Joe-pye-weed (Eutrochium fistulosum). Plants like to grow in communities near other plants. It’s a good idea to put three to five of them together, which mimics the way plants grow naturally in meadows. You can always increase the types and number of native flowering plants in your mini meadow, expanding it over time as your space and interest allows.
Pollinator turnout on flowering natives is high. Dozens if not hundreds of hummingbirds, bumblebees, flies, beetles, and hummingbird moths, along with many other kinds of pollinators, will show up. The more varied your mini meadow offerings, the more diverse the pollinator population it will attract. It is sure to delight and amaze you, especially when compared to the dearth of pollinator activity on non-native landscapes. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing more insect-eating birds such as warblers, Eastern Phoebes, and Eastern Wood-Pewees. They will certainly notice and take advantage of the opportunity.
When planning your mini meadow, don’t forget grasses. Somewhere between 40% and 70% of meadow plant species are some sort of grass, a term used here to include sedges, rushes, and grasses. All grasses are wind pollinated, so you won’t see the same level of pollinator interaction as with the native flowers listed above. But grasses are nevertheless essential to the wildlife of a healthy meadow.  Their dense roots, which you will only fully appreciate the first time you try to dig up a native grass plant and move it, help stabilize the soil, prevent erosion, corral assertive native flower species, and tamp down weeds. Birds use grasses for nesting materials. Monarch butterfly larva can use grass stems for cocooning. Grasses are host plants for skipper butterflies. The list goes on. They provide support and protection for many birds, insects, and other small meadow critters living in, on, or close to the ground.
You can find out more about garden-worthy grasses on the Plant NOVA Natives website. Good bets for your mini meadow include Broomsedge, Eastern narrow-leaved sedge, and Little Bluestem.
You won’t have to go far to find native meadow flowers and grasses for sale. Many sellers are close to where you live. Northern Virginia is fortunate to have several native-only garden centers. In addition, one-day native plant sales are held across the region in the spring and fall. Also, conventional garden centers now supply more native plant options than ever given the growing consumer demand.
No matter how modest or ambitious your plans may be, taking the first step to build a mini meadow habitat is what matters. Your new native plantings will expand meadow-like habitats, increase meadow-loving life, and ultimately improve the biodiversity of the region.

How a Return to Tribal Management is Restoring Landscapes, Webinar, May 21st

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Photo courtesy of SERC

Tuesday, May 21, 2024
7 pm
Register here.

Tribal people have lived in North America for at least 10,000 years, shaping how the landscape evolved and functioned. During that time, they developed cultures and traditions that stressed the obligation tribal people had to the foods, medicines, and places that sustained and defined their way of life. However, disease and settlement disrupted the balance, replacing it with the extractive management approach that has dominated the landscape for the past three centuries. On May 21, discover how a return to tribal practices can help restore that balance. Cody Desautel, executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in northern Washington State, hosts our next Life on a Sustainable Planet webinar. He’ll reveal how the last 50 years have seen a resurgence of tribal self-determination, and how indigenous knowledge is helping reestablish healthy relationships between people and the land.

Discover stories of hope and resilience every month, at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s (SERC) free webinar series! SERC’s monthly science talks highlight the research and conservation that are leading us to a more sustainable future, featuring scientists from the Smithsonian and around the world. They air on Zoom every third Tuesday of the month at 7pm Eastern, January through October, unless otherwise noted. All of their talks are recorded. By signing up online, you’ll be able to watch live and receive a link to the recording after the event. Closed captions available at the event and on the recordings.

View recordings and slides from their past years here.

The Amazing Camp Zama Hornet’s Nest

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Feature photo:  At the Buildings and Grounds Office, Camp Zama, Japan.  The size of the hornet’s nest is placed in context with the office surroundings.

Photos and article by FMN Stephen Tzikas

Every now and then I see a wasp building a mud-based tubular shaped nest in some corner of my home’s front door portico. These are mud dauber wasps. Mud wasps are solitary wasps, which means it builds a single nest for itself.  They are fairly common and the internet has photographs of their nests.  That got me thinking about the most magnificent insect nest I’ve seen.

While serving as the Chief, Environmental Management Office for the US Army in Japan, I had many partners and stakeholder on the installations. One of them,

Close-up of the hornet’s nest from Camp Zama, Japan

in the same Directorate of Engineering and Housing as my office, was Buildings and Grounds.  In the pre-internet age, we visited other offices in person to conduct business, and the live interaction was always valuable and rewarding. During one visit to the Buildings and Grounds Office on February 10, 1993, some of its employees came back with a nice catch from someplace on the installation.  It was the largest hornet’s nest I ever saw.  I didn’t know it at the time, but years later after I took the photographs, I would be in a much better position to appreciate them as a Master Naturalist.

Close-up of the intricate and beautifully scalloped pattern of the Camp Zama, Japan, hornet’s nest

Hornets are a type of wasp, though wasps typically are paper wasps and yellow jackets.  There are differences in the way the insects build their nests.  Hornets construct nests using chewed wood and saliva and can take months to build, giving it a papery look.  Hornet nests are also much larger than wasps nests, being larger than a basketball size.  If you ever encounter such a nest, be careful.  Hornets can sting repeatedly, and may cause allergic reactions that can be life threatening.  If you discovered such a nest on your property, it may be wise to have a professional exterminator address the problem.  Hornet nests are structured in a closed architecture, that is, the nest has a surrounding envelope, with a small opening at the bottom of the nest.

Paper wasps also create nests out of a paper-like product of maceration.  Paper wasps nests may have an exterior that looks less elegant, a sort of conglomeration of parts and crater-like surfaces often lacking an envelope. A yellowjacket wasp nest will have a single opening, but these wasp nests are usually in the ground, and only visible as a small hole in the dirt.

Upon returning to the US in 1994, I worked at the Washington Navy Yard for a couple years.  One of Naval installations under our responsibility was the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland.  At least on one occasion if not more, I drove out to the location for an environmental evaluation. Runner up to the Camp Zama, Japan, hornet’s nest were the termite mound nests at this Maryland location.  I recall they looked nearly as high as humans, but in some parts of the world they can be 25+ feet.  Besides those tall termite mounds, I saw many wild turkeys and large bulb eye insects nearly a couple inches in length.  I was beginning to think about what an unusual place this Patuxent River area was.

 

William Ramsay Science Night

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 Cover photo – Jerry Nissley

William Ramsay Elementary in Alexandria is an interesting facility, housing the school, a recreation center, and the Buddie Ford Nature Center. Hosting the first annual Science Night was a natural neighborhood outreach for the school. They were indeed a gracious host too providing dinner, signage, and setup assistance for all the volunteers.

FMN’s connection to the event is Peter Jones, an FMN member and EL teacher at William Ramsay. FMN responded to Peter’s call for volunteers with two nature related topics.

FMN Tom Blackburn with Audubon display – Photo Peter Jones

Tom Blackburn donned his Audubon hat and provided a colorful interactive presentation on “Birds and Beaks”. Jerry Nissley was there with “Turtle Talk”, a fun-fact-filled show and tell display focused on Woodland Box turtles.
The event was set up in the rec-center gym and included tables on a myriad of environmental topics such as Energy Concepts, Water Cycle, Climate Action, and Air Quality Technologies. On the nature side, Buddie Ford Nature Center, Geology and Minerals, Entomology (drawers of awesome bugs from USDA collection housed at Natural History Museum), Pollinators, Spotted Lantern Fly, and the aforementioned Birds and Turtles all had tables.

FMN Jerry Nissley talkin turtles – Photo Peter Jones

Vesta Nelson, Science Coach at Ramsay followed up with a message to the volunteers saying, “WOW! We had over 300 visitors last night.  We weren’t getting a lot of feedback about kids attending, so I really didn’t think it was going to be that big.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Words cannot express how thankful I am because you all really did an AMAZING JOB! The kids learned a lot!  I couldn’t believe what they remembered. We do shout outs at our school and the 4th and 5th graders gave us a lot of shout outs! WOO HOO! I’m so pleased with how it turned out.”

Ethnobotany and Floral Folklore with Alonso Abugattas, May 16

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Photos by Alonso Abugattas

Thursday, May 16, 2024
7:00 – 8:00 PM

Virtual Seminar
ASNV Member ticket: $15 (Non-member ticket: $25)

Registration required!

Ethnobotany is the study of how people relate to and use plants in their lives, be it for food, medicine, tools, and many other ways. Learn about plant folklore and how people here used locally native and commonly available plants in the past. Alonso Abugattas will review the natural history of various plants, and provide some tips and references for finding out more about the various native plants.

Alonso Abugattas (The Capital Naturalist) is a well-known local naturalist, environmental educator, and storyteller in the Washington, DC area. He is the Natural Resources Manager for Arlington County Parks and the long-time Co-Chair for the Beltway Chapter of Region 2 of the National Association for Interpretation, the professional association for naturalists, historians, and docents. He is a former officer with the Virginia Native Plant Society, including past president of the Potowmack Chapter. He was awarded their Regional Outstanding Interpretive Manager Award in 2018 and the national Master Interpretive Manager in 2018.

Clean the Bay Day, June 1st

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Saturday, June 1, 2024
9 am-12 pm
Various locations.
More information here.

This short, three-hour annual event has a massive cumulative impact. Since it began in 1989, this Virginia tradition has engaged more than 170,066 volunteers who have removed approximately 7.30 million pounds of debris from more than 8,595 miles of shoreline.

Each year, on the first Saturday of June, thousands of Virginians simultaneously descend on the rivers, streams, beaches, and inland parks of the Chesapeake Bay watershed to remove harmful litter and debris. Clean the Bay Day has been a staple for Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay community since its inception more than three decades ago. A true Virginian tradition, it is an annual opportunity for individuals, families, military installations, businesses, clubs, civic and church groups to give back to their local waterways.

 

Common Plant Family Identification Workshop, June 15th

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Image: Courtesy of the Clifton Institute

Saturday, June 15, 2024
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

The Clifton Institute
6712 Blantyre Rd
Warrenton, VA 20187

Cost: FREE

Registration is REQUIRED.

If you’re learning to identify plants, learning the common families can really help narrow down your options when you’re faced with an unfamiliar specimen. If you already know a few plants, learning their families can provide a useful framework to help organize all the species rattling around in your brain. Whatever level you’re at, learning to identify the plant families around us is a really fun way to get to know the natural world. In this program, Managing Director Eleanor Harris will give a brief talk on the ways to identify the most common plant families in Virginia. Then she will lead a short walk in the Institue’s fields to practice your plant family identification skills!

 

 

Dragonfly Identification Workshop, June 14th

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Image: Courtesy of the Clifton Institute

Friday, June 14, 2024
10:30 am – 12:30 pm

The Clifton Institute
6712 Blantyre Rd
Warrenton, VA 20187

Cost: FREE

Registration is REQUIRED.

Dragonflies and damselflies are some of the most mysterious and beautiful animals that live at the Clifton Institute, and June is the perfect time to search for them. Join participants for a workshop that will cover the basics of dragonfly identification and biology. They will then practice what they learned by visiting lakes, streams, and fish-free vernal pools, each of which host distinct dragonfly communities. You are welcome to bring a lunch and eat on picnic tables after the program.

Cancellation policy: If you register and can no longer attend this event, please let the Clifton Institute know as soon as possible so that they can open your spot to someone else.

 

Woodlands Environmental Stewardship Education Center

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“Drive by the new Woodlands Stewardship Education Center in Ellanor C. Lawrence Park at night and see a magical building tucked within the trees as if it grew there. The gentle glow you see could be starlight or fireflies, but it belies this architectural jewel’s significance in our park.” This lyrical observation by Jennifer Grinnell, President of the Ellanor C. Lawrence Park Friends group, was enough to capture my interest … and spark my imagination.

Welcome to the Woodlands Stewardship Education center at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park. This new interpretive center is designed to educate visitors on stewardship actions the Fairfax County Park Authority is taking to preserve and protect natural and cultural resources. As an exemplar to inspire visitors to engage as resource stewards, the facility is constructed of reclaimed materials, generates solar energy, collects rainwater, and has on-site wastewater treatment. The Center provides an incredible teaching platform by demonstrating technologies and processes that can reshape our individual relationship with the environment around us.

The web site further explains that the facility was designed to meet the rigorous standards of the Living Building Challenge – an achievement attained by only a small number of projects worldwide.
“When looking at the concept for this project, we knew we wanted to raise the bar to a whole new level,” said Park Authority executive director Jai Cole. “Every aspect of this facility is an exhibit that illustrates our connection to the natural world and creates an experience that will ignite the imaginations and creativity of young people through hands-on experiences and play.”

A learning station in the play space

The total project cost was $8.8 million and included $7.2 million in park bond funding, $1.1 million in proffers, and $500,000 in financial contributions through the Fairfax County Park Foundation. General project features include an interpretive center with multipurpose spaces, kitchen and restroom; an educational kiosk and plumbing room; outdoor amphitheater and observation deck; a large STREAM (science, technology, recreation, engineering, arts and math) activity play space with connecting trails; native plantings; and related site improvements.

Jennifer Grinnell elegantly concluded, “Just as it shines through the forest at night, so too, it shines every day as a beacon of stewardship and a concrete call to action; one this community will do its best to answer.”

Volunteer Opportunities: There will soon be volunteer opportunities for FMN, both interpretive and stewardship, at the Center. Keep an eye out for postings on the FCPA volunteer main page.

You may also contact the E. C. Lawrence Volunteer Coordinator, Kristin Mahieu via park information services.

For a glimpse inside the doors and a short video, visit their Website

Acknowledgements:

Thank you Kiersten Fiore, Visitor Services and Operations Manager at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, for contributing to this article.

Thank you FMN Marilyn Schroeder for the topic suggestion and initial content.

All photos curtesy of FCPA.