World Migratory Bird Day Workshop (WMBD), May 9th

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National Wildlife Federation
11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston, VA 20190
Thursday, 9 May 2019
7-9 pm

Join the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV) for a FREE workshop to prepare for the longest running annual spring bird count in this area. The class will include an overview of WMBD, the Lower Potomac River Important Bird Area (LPR-IBA), key species, and techniques (eBird) used to count them. You’ll also learn how the data is used. Follow up what you’ve learned in the classroom by participating in the count on Saturday, May 11 with Jim Waggener.

Instructor: Larry Meade. Larry is President of the Northern Virginia Bird Club, and a former Board member of the Virginia Society of Ornithology. He has served as a Sector Leader for a number of years for several of our local Christmas Bird Counts and is an avid nature photographer (http://uberlarry.smugmug.com/).

This event is FREE, but registration is required.

Volunteers Needed – Fairfax County Watershed Cleanups, Apr. 27th

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Photo (c) by Barbara J. Saffir

Due to the weather and flooding this past Saturday, cleanups at four parks have been rescheduled to this coming Saturday, April 27. Over 100 volunteers are needed to finish up this year’s Fairfax County Watershed Cleanups with The Nature Conservancy and Fairfax County Park Authority.

If you can help at any of these parks, please let Maggie Hankerd know and she’ll send complete confirmation details.

April 27th from 9-11:30 a.m.
• Arrowbrook Park, Herndon
◦ 35 volunteers needed
◦ Meet at 13391 Sunrise Valley Drive, Herndon, VA

• Dulles Rock Hill Park, Herndon
◦ 35 volunteers needed
◦ Meet in the parking lot located at 2343 Dulles Station Blvd, Herndon, VA

• Merrybrook Run Stream Valley Park, Herndon
◦ 30 volunteers needed
◦ Meet at the trail entrance directly across from Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School, 2480 River Birch Rd, Herndon, VA 20171

April 27th from 8-11 a.m.
• Royal Lake Park, Fairfax
◦ 6 volunteers needed
◦ Meet at Royal Lake Park near the Tennis Courts or meet at the Picnic Tables at Lakeside Park a little before 8 a.m. in order to sign-in, get trash bags, and receive further instructions. It is important to arrive on time so you don’t get left behind. Royal Lake Park is located at 5344 Gainsborough Dr., Fairfax, VA 22032.

Help develop a feasibility study for community choice renewable energy options

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The goal of this Thriving Earth Exchange project is to carry out a feasibility study for the creation of a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program to provide options for the residents and businesses of Arlington, outside the incumbent electric utility, to choose their rate plans and energy sources. Arlington was chosen due to its transformative Community Energy Plan, though Arlington is not an official partner of this effort. This project will be accomplished through a study on CCA options to explore how Arlington could procure, generate and competitively fund renewable energy projects and inform policymakers and ratepayers of opportunities for renewable energy generation. The options to use of solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal energy in buildings has become increasingly cost-effective over time and aids in energy resilience to peak load events at the macro level when coupled with advanced energy storage. This project will align with Arlington County’s commitment to climate action and stand in accordance with the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement, and may serve as a demonstration model for similarly-urbanized communities or those with comparable energy use patterns and volumes.

The team will work in hand with Virginia Clean Energy led by local residents Silvia Zinetti and Morris Meyer. Virginia Clean Energy is a new nonprofit fiscally sponsored by LEAN Energy US, a 501 (c)(3) organization based in California.

Silvia and Morris seek a scientific partner to help Virginia Clean Energy with:

  • data analysis, visualization, and interpretation for the implementation of a technical study to incorporate renewable energy into the electricity market with a CCA.
  • resulting price structures and GHG reduction scenarios of various energy combinations.
  • Preparation and development of the findings for local conferences and County board meetings.

The community is looking forward to working with an energy engineer or energy economist and enthusiastic graduate student assistants with an interdisciplinary mindset.

Apply

Help with Water Quality Field Day, May 30

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The Fairfax County Urban Forest Management Division is looking for volunteers to help out with a Water Quality Field Day. 175 Fort Belvoir 6th-grade students will come in small groups to various activities. Urban Forest Managment’s will be a game demonstrating how water moves through soil of various types.

Thursday, May 30
10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Contact Katharine Layton to volunteer: 703-324-1857 or [email protected]

Sea Level Rise, Its Impact on the Potomac River Shoreline Ecosystems, May 15th

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Norma Hoffman Visitor Center, Huntley Meadows Park
3701 Lockheed Blvd., Alexandria Virginia 22306
Wednesday, 15 May 2019
7:30 pm
FODM will host an informal social gathering at 7:00 p.m. before the event.

Join the Friends of Dyke Marsh to hear Geoffrey Sanders, a National Park Service (NPS) biologist, give a presentation on the impact of sea level rise on Dyke Marsh and other shoreline communities based on modeling of several scenarios. His study concluded that “significant habitat changes are likely at Dyke Marsh as a result of rising water levels,” including changes in vegetation.

From 1900 to 2017, sea levels rose about a foot and a half along the Chesapeake Bay, according to scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. An Old Dominion University study, “Climate Change, Global Warming and Ocean Levels,” assumes a mid-range estimate of a 3.7-foot increase in sea level rise by 2100. Former Governor Tim Kaine’s Commission on Climate Change in 2008 predicted that sea levels in the Chesapeake Bay region will be 2.3 to 5.2 feet higher by 2100.

The program is sponsored by the Friends of Dyke Marsh and cosponsored by the Environmental Council of Alexandria, the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, the Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation, and the Potomac Riverkeeper Network.

2018 in review for Fairfax Master Naturalists

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Our year in numbers, courtesy of Michelle Prysby, Director, Virginia Master Naturalist Program

Heres’s the flyer

2018 infographic of FMN accomplishments

Help stop the spread of a new species of Water Chestnut

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Localities, pond management personnel and the general public are asked to look for a new species of Water Chestnut (genus Trapa) recently found in the Potomac Watershed. It has been spreading since 1995 so you may have already encountered this floating aquatic vegetation growing over the surface of a pond, lake or other fresh waterbody. This species is identified by the seed cases having two spines instead of four found in the Eurasian Water Chestnut. Reports of this or other invasive aquatic species can be made via a free phone app. Water Chestnut (an annual) will sprout in May 2019, spread over the water surface and then flower and fruit by July, it drops seeds all season until it senesces after a hard frost. To stop the spread, management, by harvesting the plants by mid –July, is very successful in eradicating the plants but it may take several years of effort, if some seeds lay dormant.

Rain Barrel Workshops, 18 & 25 May

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Walker Nature Center, 11450 Glade Dr., Reston VA
Saturday, 18 May 2019
10:30 am-12:30 pm

Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, 5040 Walney Rd.,
Saturday, 25 May 2019
10 am-12 pm

Rain barrels purchased from retail sources can be expensive. As part of a regional initiative, Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District offers build-your-own rain barrel workshops and distributes low-cost rain barrels to Fairfax County citizens. You will learn how to install and maintain a rain barrel and take one home! By installing a rain barrel at your home you will provide your plants with water they will love, save money and water, and protect the Chesapeake Bay! The workshop fee is $55, which includes the rain barrel for you to take home. Learn more about the program and register to attend a workshop.

Green Breakfast, May 11th

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Photo (c) by Barbara J. Saffir

Brion’s Grille
10621 Braddock Rd., Fairfax VA
Saturday, 11 May 2019
8:30 am

Thinking about the “wild” spaces in and around a busy metropolitan area can be difficult, but we are fortunate to have several wildlife refuges at our fingertips. How did these areas become protected and what’s next for the system? Patuxent Wildlife Refuge Manager Brad Knudsen will present “The Evolution of the National Wildlife Refuge System.” He will present information on the important wildlife resources the NWRS conserves, how the NWRS as grown in its 116 years, how legislation and public involvement have impacted the direction the NWRS has gone, and a glimpse at what the future holds.

Breakfast begins at 8:30am, $10 at the door, cash preferred. No prior registration required. Breakfast includes an all-you-can eat hot buffet with fresh fruit and coffee, tea, orange juice or water. If you have any questions, please contact the Northern Virginia Soil and Water at [email protected].

Lake Barcroft Earth Day volunteers needed, April 28

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Earth Day weekend provides the opportunity to promote nature and the environment!

Hidden Oaks especially needs nature table hosts for Lake Barcroft Earth Day on Sunday April 28, 2:00pm – 5:00 pm at Lake Barcroft Beach 5.

Host the table for Hidden Oaks Nature Center with all training, materials and displays provided. Shorter hours are ok, if needed. In past years have shown tadpoles, benthic macroinvertebrates, toad, turtle, variety of backyard bugs. Flexible to volunteer’s interest. Always a warm reception. Outdoor free activity for all ages. Typically 200-300 attend. 

To volunteer, contact Suzanne Holland, Hidden Oaks, at [email protected] or call 703-941-1065.  Record service hours as E110: FCPA Nature Programs.