Stop Mowing, Start Growing! Webinar, February 6th

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Photo courtesy of Virginia Native Plant Society

3rd Annual Native Plant Symposium Webinar for Beginners
Saturday, February 6, 2021
9am – Noon
Registration fee $5
Register here.

Create a beautiful yard, save time and money, improve water quality, AND build habitat for pollinators and birds. The keynote speaker is Alonso Abugattas, The Capital Naturalist on social media and the Natural Resources Manager for Arlington County. He will speak on The Interconnectedness of Nature.

Breakout Sessions Topics
Establishing and Maintaining Meadows
Natives for the Suburban Yard
Trees: Reestablishing the Cornerstone of Our Ecosystem
Waterfront Properties and Native Plants
Natives for Small Properties
Introduction to Soils
Site Assessment and Design

View the full schedule here.

Waterfowl Identification Webinar with Bill Young, January 11th & 12th

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Hooded Mergansers, photo by Bill Young

Two sessions:
Monday, January 11, 2021 7-8 pm
Tuesday, January 12, 2021 7-8:30 pm
Fee: $25
Limit: 150
To register, click here.

Waterfowl can be easy to see, but difficult to tell apart. This two-part program, presented by Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, will provide techniques for identifying ducks, geese, and swans. It will also show how to identify other species typically seen on the water, such as loons, grebes, cormorants, and coots. Suitable for beginning and skilled birders. Practice your skills during the second session with a fun Kahoot!

Urban Wood Use, Keeping Lumber out of Landfills and More

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The Virginia Department of Forestry along with the Virginia Urban Forest Council is promoting better use of urban wood from both tree removal and building deconstruction.  This is a nationwide movement to use a valuable resource, extend the carbon storage of urban wood and provide jobs.  Below is a YouTube video of a story from CBS:

Less than six minutes long!

As part of this effort they have developed the Urban and Small Woodlot Forestry Business Directory found here: https://treesvirginia.org/education/directory. This directory covers small lot management, harvesting, milling, and end use production.  If you or your neighbors have a tree they are planning to take down, consult the directory and look for something other to do with the tree than sending to the landfill or the chipper.

A Choice on MLK Day of Service, January 18th

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A Dyke Marsh inlet. Photo by Ned Stone.

January 18, 2021
10am – Noon
Meet at the Belle Haven Park south parking lot registration table. This will be canceled if there are heavy storms or lightning that morning.

Friends of Dyke Marsh and National Park Service will host two activities:

(1) a shoreline trash cleanup and

(2) removing English ivy from trees.

Volunteers can choose either activity. You do not need prior plant identification experience.

To follow covid-19 protocols, we must require registration and limit participants to 15 people in each group. We will provide work gloves, tools, trash bags and hand sanitizer.

Wear a mask, sturdy shoes, long pants and sleeves, winter gloves and sun protection. Bring your own water.

Register here and indicate your choice:
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=urWTBhhLe02TQfMvQApUlHWAzFDL3hpMiePFqcjTpuxUMTVQUzZRSFo1WEdST1JaTTk5MkZTSTlXUy4u

The Environmental Defense Fund’s Yesh Pavlik Slenk Hosts “Degrees,” a Podcast About Sustainability

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Six inspiring episodes so far:

Why employees are key for a hopeful future, with Bill Wiehl

Chemical soup: The quest to create a toxic-free marketplace, with Boma Brown-West

Global recycling, career reinvention… and the double life of Vienna Teng, with Cynthia Shih

Tackling trash with data… and turning disappointment into delight, with Chris Kirschner

Climate intrapreneurship: Think big, start small, scale fast!, with Chris Castro

Transforming energy, unlocking change… and Bubba Gump Shrimp, with Steph Speirs

But, hey, start here for a real overview so you can meet the people and the host and the mission.

Native Southern Flying Squirrels Webinar, February 17th

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Photo (c) by Barbara J. Saffir

Wednesday, February 17, 2021
7 pm
To receive the Zoom link, register at [email protected] and put “Flying Squirrels” in the subject line

Join the Friends of Dyke Marsh for a presentation by naturalist, Kim Young and explore the often hidden life of the native southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). Learn how to look for them, their adaptations for nocturnal living and the truth about their ability to “fly.”

Wine to Water Filter Build: Create A Meaningful Experience for Your Family and Community

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Conservation, community service, hands-on environmental engineering, and social justice intersect in the work of Wine to Water, a North Carolina-based 501 (c) (3) nonprofit whose mission is to support life and dignity through the power of clean water.

The organization enables many ways to participate, one of which is Filter Build, a guided experience to build small, portable water filters that the organization distributes to communities in the U.S., Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Nepal, Tanzania, and elsewhere. Here is a copy of their 2018-2019 Annual Report, which presents the results of their work in both quantitative and human terms.

Do Fairfax County residents need these filters themselves? Nope.

Can Fairfax County residents and Master Naturalists host virtual events to actually build them for communities that do? You bet.

Might we, our children and grandchildren, and our neighbors learn about some of the engineering that goes into making water potable? Yup, that, too.

Learn one, do one, teach one?

Start here–with a video by founder Doc Hendley.

Winter Wildlife Festival, January 28th-31st

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Join the City of Virginia Beach for a month-long celebration of coastal wildlife and nature culminating January 28-31! They’re going the distance this year and presenting virtual and in-person components to ensure a safe, yet engaging experience for all.

See all the festival highlights here.
Virtual workshops are here.

Integrating Storm Water Management in Landscape Design, February 20th

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Step Pool Conveyance System photo from Green Spring Extension Master Gardeners

The 17th Annual EcoSavvy Symposium
Saturday, February 20, 2021
9:30am – 12:30 pm
Cost: $26 in-county/$28 out-of-county
Registration (703) 642-5173 or online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/parktakes
Code ITG.QARB

Learn innovative techniques to capture, store and collect rainwater.
Presented by VCE Green Spring Master Gardeners. Speakers are Dr. Laurie Fox, Horticulture Associate, Virginia Tech, Hampton Roads Agriculture Research & Extension Center and Christine Horner, Water Quality Engineer, Town of Vienna.
Also, a presentation on Virginia Conservation Assistance Program by Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.

FMN Annual Chapter Meeting includes Lanternfly Training, December 14th

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Photo from nps.gov

Monday, December 14, 2020
7 – 8:30 pm
Request Zoom link by emailing [email protected]

Rachel Griesmer will talk about spotted lanternfly, an invasive planthopper new to Virginia. Rachel is an urban forester with Fairfax County Forest Pest Management Branch. She earned a Bachelor of Science in environmental biology and botany from Michigan State University and a Master of Science in forest ecology and management from Michigan Technological University. She holds certifications from the International Society of Arboriculture as a Certified Arborist as wells as a Qualified Tree Risk Assessor and has participated in suppression programs for invasive insects.

The meeting will also include the graduation of our Spring 2020 Basic Training class and an election for some key board positions.