FMN CE: South Run Herp Hike

/in , /by

What: FMN CE Herp Hike for Fairfax Master Naturalists
When: Tuesday, April 16th, 2024 @ 1:30 pm
Where: South Run Park and Rec Center in Springfield
How long: Approximately 2 hours.
Group limit: 10 individuals

Caroline Seitz from Virginia Herpetology Society (VHS) will lead a walk to discover reptiles and amphibians.
The parking is plentiful and easy. Plan to meet at the parking lot after the dog park parking area as you come in on Reservation Drive towards South Run Rec Center.

7550 Reservation Drive Springfield, Virginia

Please contact FMN John Wilson if you have questions
[email protected]

This is an FMN only CE event and registration is required thru BI

To register:
1. Login to BI and click on your ‘Opportunities’ tab.
2. Select ‘Opportunity Calendar’ from the pull-down list.
3. Find event in the displayed calendar and click on it to display event details.
4. To sign up, Click on the ‘Sign Up’ box in the lower right. This automatically signs you up and puts the event on your calendar.
5. To claim 2 CE hours: use All Continuing Education -> FMN All other Chapter Training

The Braddock District Tree Forum, Trees Need More Than Hugs: How to Care for Your Trees! March 20th

/in , , /by

Photo: Plant NOVA Trees

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 7-9 pm
7:00-9:00 pm

No registration is required.
Kings Park Library Conference Room
9000 Burke Lake Rd, Burke, VA, 22015-1683

Questions: [email protected]

Come to this informative event to hear three experts in the field talking about tree care.  Information tables will be set up to visit before and after the talk. Win a chance to receive a free native tree seedling!  Free, no registration, all are welcome. Come to learn about why you should care, and how to care, for your trees.  For more information, click, or copy and paste, this link:  2024 Braddock District Tree Forum flyer final.pdf

NVSWCD Seedling Sale is Coming!

/in /by

Photo:  Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash

The Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District is excited to share another year of seedlings with you! This year they are featuring a Nectar Lovers package and a Songbird Friendly package. Descriptions and pictures of the seedlings in each one are available on our website.

They understand that their seedlings are very popular and sell out quickly. To address some of the ordering challenges from past years, they will have a staggered release of seedlings. Seedling packages will be made available on the sales website at 10am, 2pm, and 6pm on Thursday, March 14, 2024 and will remain available until sold out. If you miss the 10am seedlings, check back later in the day at 2pm or 6pm after the inventory has been replenished. The seedling sale pickup dates are Friday, April 19, from 9am-4pm and Saturday, April 20, from 9am-12pm at the Sleepy Hollow Bath and Racquet Club in Falls Church.

Don’t want to miss the sale? You can sign up for their seedling sale emails by clicking here and they’ll send you reminders.

NVSWCD Green Breakfast: Knockout Natives, March 9th

/in , /by

Saturday, March 9, 2023
9 am
Free
Speaker: Sam Hoadley, the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center
Registration required. 

Join Sam Hoadley, the Manager of Horticultural Research at Mt. Cuba Center, as he highlights knockout native species and cultivars from their trials. Top performers and favorites of Monarda, Phlox, Echinacea, wild hydrangea, Carex represent some of the best native plants for the mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Sam will discuss their horticultural and ecological performance and will share important information on standouts that will make beautiful additions to your garden.

NVSWCD’s popular Green Breakfasts are now virtual! All Green Breakfast webinars begin at 9:00am and are hosted on Teams. No prior registration is required.

January Green Breakfast Recording available: Conserve Energy, Save Money, and Take Climate Action with OEEC

Speaker: Dr. Neely Law, Senior Planner, Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination
The January Green Breakfast was chock full of information, be sure to check it out if you weren’t able to join us! To watch the recording on our YouTube channel, click here.

Stream Monitoring Citizen Science & Training Opportunities, March

/in , , /by

Photo: FMN Janet Quinn, Hidden Pond stream monitoring

*NVSWCD Workshop*
Wolftrap Creek Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Saturday, March 2, 9:00am-12:00pm
Where: Wolftrap Creek Stream Valley Park/Foxstone Park, Vienna

Join NVSWCD for our first stream monitoring workshop of the spring season. This site features a small, shallow stream which usually has a good number of beetles. Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

Accotink Creek Spring Stream Monitoring
When: Saturday, March 9, 9:30-11:30am
Where: Lake Accotink Park, Springfield

GET YOUR BRAIN WET! Join Friends of Lake Accotink Park and Friends of Accotink Creek for a rewarding and fun time for adults and children who enjoy helping our parks and environment by identifying and counting stream critters to document the health of the stream. It’s fun for the whole family to learn what’s in the water by seeing and counting stream critters. The critter count is ever-changing, but volunteers have made some exciting finds, including small crayfish. Learn more and be sure to register here. 

*NVSWCD Workshop*
Difficult Run Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Sunday, March 24, 9:00am-12:00pm
Where: Difficult Run Stream Valley Park, Great Falls

This stream site in Great Falls is a short walk through the woods to a river with wide, sandy banks. These trails are very popular with hikers and volunteers often get high water quality scores at this site. Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

*NVSWCD Workshop*
Big Rocky Run Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Thursday, March 28, 1:00-4:00pm
Where: Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, Chantilly

This stream monitoring site on Big Rocky Run is located near the historic Cabell’s Mill in Ellanor C. Lawrence Park. This park features great trails with interpretive signage and the stream site is a stone’s throw from Walney Pond, where you may get to see the happy beaver family that lives there. Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

 

More 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.

Geology of the Piedmont Tour, March 9th

/2 Comments/in , /by

Image: Courtesy of Clifton Institute

Saturday, March 9, 2023
9:00AM – 12:00PM

The Clifton Institute
6712 Blantyre Rd
Warrenton, VA 20187

Cost: FREE

Registration is REQUIRED.

It’s winter and that means that rock season is upon us! This year, it would be nice to branch out and check out a whole new geologic province. The last two years the class took a close look at rocks of the Piedmont Plateau and learned that several times in the geologic past, huge mountain ranges rose up where the Piedmont is today. Where did those mountains go? The sand and silt washed down from those soaring peaks must have gone somewhere and this class is going to find it! Join this tour for a journey off the western edge of the Blue Ridge Anticlinorium and into one of the world’s great thrust/fold belts, the Valley and Ridge Province of the Appalachian Mountains. you will be looking at layers and layers of ancient sediments laid out in a vast river delta. Like the pages of a book, these layers have a fascinating story to tell about life in the Paleozoic.

The tour will be heading out to Front Royal to begin the geology tour this year and making its way up into Fort Valley, stopping along the way. A few of the stops will involve a short hike but nothing too strenuous.

Participants can EITHER meet at Clifton at 9 a.m. and carpool to Front Royal, OR meet the tour in Front Royal around 10 a.m.

Sangha Stewards Applications Open Now!

/in , /by

Image courtesy of Earth Sangha

Sangha Stewards Application here.

Earth Sangha is excited to announce that they’re opening applications for their Sangha Steward program! The Sangha Stewards is a way for volunteers looking for more independent and technical work to join them at their nursery, field sites, and office to help them manage more complex tasks and receive extra training.

Sangha Stewards will be invited to work more closely with their staff and to join their monthly staff training sessions (they’ll have snacks!). Days and times are more flexible and they’re looking to work with their Stewards to develop their skills and what sort of work they’re most interested in.

They have four categories for Sangha Stewards:

Nursery and Propagation: While they already do a lot of potting up, they frequently have species that need a little bit more detailed care: perhaps it’s a tray with mixed species, maybe they have delicate seedlings that need to be teased apart, or they need someone with a keen eye and a steady hand to remove weeds among rare or sensitive native plants. Or maybe you just want to relax and help them hand water through the summer. This is work that can be done independently or as part of our regular volunteer days.

Building and Infrastructure: They always have a backlog of maintenance and construction tasks at the nursery, whether it’s adjusting irrigation lines or helping them build more oak and hickory rodent exclosures. If you’re handy with tools, they could use the help here!

Invasives and Field Sites: The invasives never sleep, so they could use an extra set of eyes and hands out at some of their field sites. This could mean checking sites periodically for Early Detection Rapid Response species or even doing a little bit of independent pulling or helping them lead volunteers at their field days. They’ll make sure to familiarize you with their sites and train you on the species and areas they’re looking to target. Keeping invasive vines off their Habitat Refuges will be one of their top priorities.

Office: For those of you who would rather be inside, they do need periodic help at their office. It may not be as frequent as the other categories, but printing labels and helping them organize their Acorn newsletter mailings would be a big help!

If you’re interested in joining, they’ve put together a Google Form you can fill out (see link above) and Michaelanne will be in touch soon. (If you have any questions, please see the volunteer page of our website or email Michaelanne at [email protected].) As they’re beginning this program, they’re going to limit the number of spots; as they grow, if folks are interested, they can open up this opportunity to more people.

Submit Your Best Bird Photos to the 2024 Audubon Photography Awards, deadline February 28th

/in , /by

Photo: Green-winged Teals, James Fatemi/Audubon Photography Awards

The 2024 Audubon Photography Awards is now accepting photographs until February 28. This prestigious contest attracts photographers from around the country to compete for 9 prizes. Winning photographs will be published in Audubon’s Magazine and on their website. We have wonderful natural resources here in Virginia and some very talented photographers! We hope you will submit your best photos for consideration. In the last two years we have had two high school students from Northern Virginia win Honorable Mention. This year’s Youth Prize is a free ticket to Hog Island’s Audubon Camp for Teens. Enter your photos here or see the full rules here. Check out some tips and tricks to photograph birds here. Need some inspiration? View the top 100 photos from last year’s contest here.

The Magic of Winter Trees: Making a Deeper Connection

/in , /by

Photo: Plant NOVA Natives/Plant NOVA Trees

Article by Cindy Speas, Fairfax County Tree Commission

Winter is a lovely time to get to know your trees better. Many folks spend some of the colder days of January and February planning their spring gardens, winter sowing, or putting in nursery orders for spring delivery of native plants. Dreams of warmer days are lovely, but if you have trees in your yard or a nearby park, winter might also be the time to learn how to appreciate and protect their incredible beauty.

When our trees are bare of leaves, you can visualize more clearly their beautiful shapes, identify some species characteristics and assess their health status. There are several local organizations that provide winter educational hikes or webinars to examine and learn about our forests, including Nature Forward, Virginia Native Plant Society – Potowmack Chapter, Capital Nature, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy, Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, Prince William Conservation Alliance, and others.

If you haven’t taken a long walk or hike in the winter before, it’s time to bundle up and head out on the trail. Even if you aren’t an experienced birder, it’s often easier at this time of year to observe hawks, owls, or other raptors at work. Smaller birds can be spotted searching tree bark or leaf litter for insects and berries, and mammals often make a long-distance appearance as they look for food. Native evergreens or the lovely marcescent (persistent) leaves on oaks and beeches provide beautiful color among the gray tree trunks. While you may not want to linger for contemplation, if you walk gently, there is a type of forest bathing you can experience surrounded by the still, silent trees in the chilly air. One of the loveliest things you can see in a winter forest is found by looking up to the sky:  it is in this season that you can see how the tree canopy develops—trees grow side-by-side leaving a path around each canopy’s branches so that sunlight may reach down to the forest floor. This is called canopy shyness. While more common in rain forests, these fascinating patterns of sky and crown branching can sometimes be seen in groupings of the same tree species, and are spectacular to observe.

For those that love to undertake vigorous outdoor work in the winter, now is the time to protect our trees by starting to pull, dig, or hack and squirt the invasives in your yard or to volunteer for similar ongoing activities in your community. With the exception of a few native evergreens, almost all the large swaths of green you see in your neighborhood and along the roads are invasive, non-native plants—from Wintergreen to Vinca, to English Ivy, from Privet to non-native Holly species, to Bamboo. You can find organizations with volunteer opportunities on the Plant NOVA Trees website. Invasive plants displace the tree seedlings that are essential for our future forests, and some of them directly kill the larger trees.

So, if you want to learn about trees, to more closely observe nature, to find quiet time for spiritual reflection, or to vigorously get rid of tree enemies, winter is a magical time to spend outside in the stillness and beauty of the forest.

 

CE – Blue Bird Trail at River Farm, March 7th

/in , /by

New on-line CE opportunity for FMN.

When: Thursday evening, March 7th at 7pm.
How long: Approximately 1 hour
Description: Eastern Bluebirds were once as common as robins in Northern Virginia until the early 20th century when introduced species, habitat loss and pesticides caused alarming population declines. Join in to learn how this lovely species has made a heartening comeback and how Fairfax Master Naturalists are helping at Washington’s River Farm.

Presenter: FMN Susan Farmer is a longtime Blue Bird nesting box monitor at Huntley Meadows and a member of Virginia Blue Bird Society. She is the FMN liaison for the FMN-AHS partnership and recently organized the installation of 8 nesting boxes at River Farm. An article on that installation may be found in this newsletter.

This is an FMN only CE session and registration is required via Better Impact (BI) by 5 March.

To register:
1. Login to BI and click on your ‘Opportunities’ tab.
2. Select ‘Opportunity Calendar’ from the pull-down list.
3. Find event in the displayed calendar and click on it to see event details.
4. To sign up, click on the ‘Sign Up’ box in the lower right. This automatically signs you up and puts the event on your personal calendar.
5. To claim 1 CE hour: please use “All Continuing Education -> FMN All other Chapter Training”, as the Approved Org.

6. The Zoom session link will be sent to all who register by 5 March. The email will be sent to the email of record in BI. The session will be recorded.