A Taste of Spring at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve

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A Walk with Carrie Blair

Sunday, March 25th, 9.00 am to 12 noon

Scott’s Run Nature Preserve, Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22102

“Bud break” at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve shows that spring has come. Scan the tree tops to see the brown of the elms, the red of the maples, and the yellow of the willows. The American hazelnut is flowering with golden catkins and the red, silver and boxelder maples are flowering. These are joining the greens that made it through winter on the forest floor, including ground pine, white avens, and patridgeberry.

Carrie has led hundreds of tree identification walks and classes over the last 25 years of volunteering with the VNPS Piedmont Chapter and as a docent at the State Arboretum of Virginia, part of the  Blandy Experimental Farm in Boyce, Virginia. She is a Virginia Master Naturalist and has served as a Front Royal/Warren County Tree Steward since 2010. She has been a board member, including president, of the Virginia Native Plant Society Piedmont Chapter for many years. Carrie lives in the Marshall, Virginia, area and knows the land intimately by walking and riding horses.

Sponsored by the Potowmack Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society.

VNPS programs are free and open to the public, but space on walks is limited.

Please click here to REGISTER.

To CANCEL your registration or ask a QUESTION, please email [email protected].

NVCT Conservation Lunch

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Protecting our Land, Protecting our Water

Saturday, 15 March, Belle Haven Country Club

6023 Fort Hunt Road, Alexandria VA  22307

11.30-Noon Registration and Networking

Noon-1.15 pm Lunch and Program

Featured speaker, Jason Samenow of the Capital Weather Gang, will explore how open space and conserved land is critical to a healthy, resilient Northern Virginia.  Plus, hear the inspiring story of NVCT’s signature property and one of our most successful partnerships.

Tickets $85

Click here to register online.  RSVP by Friday, 9 March.  For more information contact Greg Meyer
at Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, 703-354-5093, [email protected].

Wood Frogs in Ellanor C. Lawrence Park

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Ellanor C. Lawrence Park

Friday, 9 March, 7.00-8.30 pm

Wood frogs are breeding in vernal pools at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park.  Assist in collecting and releasing frogs and recording data for our amphibian survey.  Wear waterproof boots and bring flashlights.  Cost:  $7.00 per person.  Register with Fairfax County Park Authority Parktakes.

Protect and Preserve Trees in Yards and Neighborhoods

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Braddock District Tree Forum 2018

Wednesday, 7 March, 7.30-9.30 pm

Kings Park Library, 9000 Burke Lake Road, Burke VA 22015

Join the Fairfax County Tree Commission to learn about the benefits of trees, current issues facing our trees, tree pests and diseases, and great native trees for homeowners.  Sponsor tables will have additional information on tree care.  Free and open to everyone.  More information.

Coming Soon: The City Nature Challenge! 27-30 April

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Citizen scientists throughout the Washington DC metro area will be participating in the 2018 City Nature Challenge, a competition among 60 cities around the world to find and document the diversity of species. No experience required—just a mobile device and a love for nature. Participants will make observations of wild plants and animals using the free iNaturalist app (for Android or Apple).

Why get involved? By participating, you’ll not only get out and see some great urban nature, you’ll help scientists collect data on the biodiversity of our region (and the planet). City Nature Challenge contributors are invited to join the species ID event at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum on Monday, 30.

To sign up for an event, create an event, and learn more, click here.

To download the flyer, click here.

 

Green Breakfast: Harnessing the Power of Stormwater: Micro-turbines in GMU Storm Drains

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Saturday, 10 March, 8.30am
Brion’s Grille, 10621 Braddock Rd, Fairfax, VA 22032
Get ready to look at stormwater in a totally different way.  George Mason University’s Dr. Jennifer Sklarew, of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and STEAM Undergraduates for Renewable Energy will be placing two hydropower micro-turbines in the stormwater network on GMU’s Fairfax campus. Coupling the turbines with battery storage, the project will analyze the potential for small-scale clean power applications on a university campus, for use in cell phone charging stations and emergency lighting. This project will contribute to Mason’s sustainability goals and it is hoped that the lessons learned from this project can create other uses for this renewed energy source in other ways.
Dr. Jennifer Sklarew, George Mason University Department of Environmental Science and Policy
Nathan Moravitz, President, GMU’s STEAM Undergraduates for Renewable Energy

Dr. Leslie Reis to speak on butterflies and climate change at Huntley Meadows

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Join Fairfax Master Naturalists and Friends of Dyke Marsh for a talk by Georgetown University biologist Dr. Leslie Reis. She will discuss butterflies, their host plants, and how both are responding to climate change.

Summarizing her work with the monarch, the Baltimore checkerspot, and the silver-spotted skipper, Dr. Reis will show how she builds on work by citizen scientists such as Jim Waggener, who has contributed 25 years of data on behalf of the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia at the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

9 May 2018

7.30 pm

Huntley Meadows Park Visitor Center

3701 Lockheed Blvd., Alexandria, VA 22306

 

Bluebird Trails: Learn and Volunteer

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Saturday, 10 March from 3.00 – 5.00 pm

Pohick Regional Library

6450 Sydenstricker Road, Burke, VA

Come learn how a favorite songbird, the Eastern Bluebird, lives and breeds right in our community and how volunteers have helped this bird come back. There are about 80 bluebird trails which house at least three bluebird houses each, in Fairfax County.  The Virginia Bluebird Society is seeking volunteers to monitor these houses.  This presentation will include information about what is involved in monitoring and how you can help this species.

 

 

Rod Simmons presents Last Defense for Local Forests: Edges of Woodlands

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Thursday, 8 March, 7-9 pm
Dolley Madison Library,
1244 Oak Ridge Ave, McLean, VA 22101

Sponsored by the Virginia Native Plant Society, this program is free and open to the public.

Rod Simmons is a plant ecologist, with a background in biology and geology, who has extensively surveyed the flora and natural communities of the mid-Atlantic region, especially the inner Coastal Plain and Piedmont of the greater Washington, D.C. area. He is a Research Associate with the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; a member of the Virginia Botanical Associates; and works closely with the Virginia and Maryland natural heritage programs. He is the Natural Resource Manager and Plant Ecologist for the City of Alexandria, Virginia.

Semi-open conditions along woodland edges and openings give rise to a diverse suite of light-demanding native flora. A variety of habitats that occur in woodland edges and openings will be presented, including meadowy areas, seepage wetlands, stream banks, rocky outcrops, and others. Simmons will also discuss best management practices , including non-native invasive plant threats and control.

Fairfax Vernal Pools Tours

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Saturday Feb 24, Kutner Park – 1-2.30pm – 3901 Jermantown Rd, Fairfax, VA 22030 (Sign up here: https://www.meetup.com/Accotink/events/247996570/
Monday, Feb 26, Old Colchester Park – 9.30am-12pm – 10721 Old Colchester Rd, Mason Neck, VA 22079 (200 feet before the entrance gate to the Fairfax Yacht Club) Sign up here: https://www.meetup.com/Accotink/events/247997608/

Vernal pools are seasonal wetlands, rare ecological features that provide essential habitat for a variety of living beings, including frogs and salamanders. They are vulnerable to a variety of threats associated with human impact.  Michael Hayslett (Virginia Vernal Pools LLC), a state expert on vernal pools, will lead the tours.  He is conducting an inventory of the pools as part of an initiative for Fairfax County Park Authority and is being aided by the Friends of Accotink Creek.  For more information, contact Kris Unger at [email protected], or 301-980-5621.