Photo: Fairfax County Park Authority

Hidden Oaks Habitat Management Work Day, November 9th

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Saturday, November 9, 2024
9 am – 12 pm
Hidden Oaks Nature Center
7701 Royce St., Annandale VA

Help Hidden Oaks get rid of invasive plant species! After a brief introduction on how to identify specific plant species of concern, how to remove them, and why they’re doing this, we’ll split up into groups and tackle designated areas of the park.  Bring work gloves and clippers if you have them, wear sturdy shoes, and dress for the weather. They’ll provide trash bags; restrooms available.

Canceled if inclement weather.  Contact Kristina Watts at [email protected] or 703-941-1065 to let her know you’re coming.

October Citizen Science Survey Opportunities: Butterflies and Dragonflies

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Photo by Ana Ka’ahanui, Halloween pennant dragonfly

Butterfly and dragonfly surveys are carried out in temperate months (April-October), normally on Friday mornings, at one of four sites around Occoquan Bay, all within the 15-mile diameter circle established for the annual North American Butterfly Association’s Annual Count.

Survey: Occoquan Bay NWR Butterfly and Dragonfly

Friday, October 4, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Occoquan Bay NWR
13950 Dawson Beach Road
Woodbridge, VA, 22191

Survey: Metz Wetlands Butterfly and Dragonfly

Friday, October 11, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Metz Wetlands
15875 Neabsco Road
Woodbridge, VA, 22191

Survey: Occoquan Regional Park Butterfly and Dragonfly

 

Friday, October 18, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM

Occoquan Regional Park
9751 Ox Road
Lorton, VA, 22079

Survey: Dyke Marsh Butterfly and Dragonfly Survey

 

Wednesday, October 23, 2024
8:30 AM 12:00 PM

Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve
George Washington Memorial Parkway and Tulane Drive
Belle Haven, VA, 22307

 

Survey: Meadowood Butterfly and Dragonfly Survey

 

Friday, October 25, 2024
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Meadowood Recreation Area
10406 Gunston Road
Lorton, VA, 22079

George Mason University Forager’s Forest, October 11th

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Photo by: Ayman Rashid/Creative Services/George Mason University -Fruits of labor

Friday, October 11, 2024
4:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Anyone interested in volunteering should register for shifts on the University Sustainability volunteer portal (you will need to create an account, but it’s easy): https://gmufacilities.knack.com/sustainability-volunteer#my-events/

Project Description
Help sustain a new food forest on Mason campus! The stewardship activities will focus on the Foragers’ Forest and nearby riparian forest at George Mason University’s Fairfax campus. This includes weeding, mulching, planting, etc. in the Foragers’ Forest; and invasive plant removal in the riparian forest.

The Foragers’ Forest is a 100% locally native food forest that was installed in 2023 by Mason students and faculty. The space can best be described as part food forest, part rewilding experiment as it incorporates the Miyawaki method of reforestation. The Foragers’ Forest is adjacent to a recently restored stream and riparian buffer forest.

Important Information for Volunteers
Volunteers should wear pants, long sleeves, and closed toed shoes, and bring water. You may bring your own gardening gloves and loppers/pruners if you have them. We’ll provide gloves and tools if you don’t have them.

Volunteers will meet at one of the Forager’s Forest groves. The groves are located directly across the street from the Aquia Building (4461 Aquia Creek Lane, Fairfax, VA 22030) in the large lawn area. If you have trouble finding he location, call Sarah at 832-917-4024.

The best nearby parking option is the Mason Pond parking deck. Please note this is paid parking and we’re not able to cover parking costs. We will cancel the shift in the event of dangerous weather during the shift (e.g., thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, extreme heat, etc). We’ll try to notify you as soon as possible if we’re cancelling for weather. 

FMN Activity Code Catalog Updates

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A few changes were recently made to the catalog of Activity Codes volunteers use to record service hours. Oh man – I can feel the eyes rolling now! Bear with me … it’s not that bad. Only two new codes, with one prompting a few others to be renamed to align code names with functionality. And of course, a few activity titles required updates because of the recent name change of Audubon Society of Northern Virginia to Northern Virginia Bird Alliance. Both new codes and all name changes mentioned below are in effect as you read this article.

The Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy unveils it’s Forragers’ Forest at the Forest Walk. Photo by: Ayman Rashid/Creative Services/George Mason University

The first new code is S600: George Mason University Stewardship Projects, created under Habitat Creation and Restoration. The focus of this activity is to help maintain the GMU Foraging Forest by promoting sustainable gardening. In part, these unique habitats contain a native food forest and a riparian forest. Both require planting native forbs, graminoids, herbaceous and woody plants, weeding, mulching, and other standard demonstration garden maintenance practices. Additional activity details are found in the BI activity code description, along with how to register for work days. Since this is a collaboration, registration will be facilitated via a GMU signup link found in the BI activity description. Go to the Opportunities List in BI to find the description.

This activity is a first for FMN, in that, it is a collaborative effort between the GMU campus community, ARMN, and FMN.

The second new activity code is also catalogued under Habitat Creation and Restoration. This activity was created to group stewardship activities for sites within the municipality of Fairfax City:
S210: Fairfax City Stewardship Projects — City of Fairfax
Description – This service code covers a broad range of activities associated with the creation and preservation of natural resources on City of Fairfax municipal grounds and within City of Fairfax Parks and Rec domain.
S210 code has a link in the description that points to Fairfax City Parks and Rec site, to easily identify Fairfax City park names

Because of the new code for Fairfax City, it made sense to rename a few other existing activity codes to simplify locating stewardship activities for all independent municipalities in Fairfax County.
Municipality Codes : (old name followed by *new name)
S124: Restoration of Vienna Township Parks — Town of Vienna
*S124: Vienna Township Stewardship Projects — Town of Vienna

S200: Falls Church Habitat Restoration — City of Falls Church
*S200: Falls Church City Stewardship Projects — City of Falls Church

S303: Habitat Creation and Restoration — City of Alexandria
*S303: Alexandria City Stewardship Projects — City of Alexandria

S215: Arlington County Park Stewardship Projects — Arlington County
*S215: Arlington County Stewardship Projects — Arlington County

Inactivated:
S199: Stewardship Projects at Long Branch Nature Center — Arlington County
(Merged with S215: Arlington County Stewardship Projects — Arlington County)

E253: Leading Reston Dragonfly Class & Count — Reston Association
(Zero hours in 2024; merged with E150: Walker Nature Center – – Reston Association)

NVBA logo – courtesy of NVBA

Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (NVBA)

Activity Code names required change due to the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia (ASNV) name change to Northern Virginia Bird Alliance. Basically, the acronym ‘NVBA’ replaced ‘ASNV’ in activity names along with similar description updates. No code numbers were changed. Please read the new descriptions to see updates.
Birds
C029: NVBA Christmas Bird Counts — Northern Virginia Bird Alliance
C036: NVBA Waterfowl Count — Northern Virginia Bird Alliance
Community Outreach
E117: NVBA Education and Outreach Projects — Northern Virginia Bird Alliance

Wildlife Surveys

C205: NVBA Wildlife, Bird, and Insect Surveys – – Northern Virginia Bird Alliance

In addition, two codes that formerly addressed ASNV’s Audubon at Home functions were modified. Collectively, ‘Audubon at Home’ is now referred to as ‘NVBA Wildlife Sanctuary Program’.
Community Outreach
E208: NVBA Wildlife Sanctuary Program Directors & Coordinators — Northern Virginia Bird Alliance
Habitat Creation and Restoration
E030: NVBA Wildlife Sanctuary Program Ambassadors — Northern Virginia Bird Alliance

There you have it – a summary for membership’s awareness. There is no action required by volunteers. No need to move hours or anything like that because none of the code numbers changed.

No Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) or Fairfax County codes were changed during this realignment exercise.

Annually, a majority of FMN volunteer hours are contributed to our parks, county, and municipal facilities. Hopefully, these changes help simplify locating stewardship activity codes for the independent municipalities in Fairfax County. This code realignment also helps FMN provide accurate annual reporting that reflects how we support our community and important chapter partners.

Acknowledgments:

Liz Train and Tom Blackburn: content for NVBA.

Cover photo: “a new day dawns” by Jerry Nissley

Jerry Nissley

Hidden Oaks Nature Center Seeks Volunteers

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Photo: FMN Jerry Nissley

Hidden Oaks Nature Center
7701 Royce Street, Annandale VA
Contact volunteer coordinator [email protected]

Front Desk

Wednesdays, 9am to 1pm or 1pm to 5pm

If you love nature and enjoy talking to people, consider volunteering at Hidden Oaks’ front desk. You will welcome visitors, orient them to the park, answer questions, and check in program participants. This is an opportunity to learn about the natural resources of the county and share your knowledge. Training provided.

Animal Care Helper

Fridays

Help with the care of animals on display at the nature center, including feeding and watering turtles, snakes, toads and other animals and cleaning their enclosures. Learn about the natural history of reptiles and amphibians. Training provided.

They are also looking for adult volunteers for a variety of other tasks, including helping with programs.

Help Count Butterflies for the NABA Butterfly Count , September 15th

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Photo By David Illig, Variegated Fritillary (NABA Butterfly Count)

Sunday, September 15, 2024
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Alexandria Area

REGISTER : Deadline to register is Thursday, Sept 12 at 9:00 PM

Organized by:  Northern Virginia Bird Alliance

The Butterfly Count is an ongoing program of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) to census the butterflies of North America (United States, Canada and partially Mexico) and to publish the results. Volunteer participants are assigned a count area with a 15-mile diameter. The volunteers conduct a one-day census of all butterflies sighted within that circle.

Volunteers are encouraged to attend the butterfly identification webinar on Sept 3 (FREE for NVBA Members; $10 for non-members).

Volunteers of all experience levels are welcome! Every team will be led by an expert. Participants are encouraged to stay with their team for the duration of the event.

This count is organized by Larry Meade.Deadline to register is Thursday, Sept 12 at 9:00 PM so you can be assigned to a team on Friday. Teams will each meet at their designated count locations.

Larry Meade is president of the Northern Virginia Bird Club and a member of the NVBA Adult Education Committee. He is a frequent bird walk leader and has been involved in numerous Audubon Christmas Bird Counts and NABA Butterfly Counts. He is the compiler of the Alexandria Circle NABA Butterfly Count.

Earth Sangha Wild Plant Nursery Workdays

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Photo: Earth Sangha

Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays
9 am – 12 noon
6100 Cloud Drive, Springfield VA
Register here.

Earth Sangha propagates local ecotype native plants for sale and distribution in Northern Virginia.  They are a non-profit and rely heavily on volunteers to keep their plants growing.  They have plenty of repotting to do, in addition to weeding, watering and labeling.  With the summer heat in full effect, summer workdays wrap up at noon rather than 1 pm.

Stream Monitoring Citizen Science & Training Opportunities, September

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                                                                                                                              Photo: FMN J. Quinn, Hidden Pond stream monitoring

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

Wolftrap Creek Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Saturday, September 7, 9:00am-12:00pm
Where: Wolftrap Creek Stream Valley Park, Vienna

This site features a small, shallow stream along a popular paved trail. Come see where monitors have counted over 1,700 bugs this summer! 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/steep slope). Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

Sugarland Run Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Sunday, September 15, 9:00am-12:00pm
Where: Sugarland Run Stream Valley Park, Herndon

This site is located near one of the largest great blue heron rookeries (breeding/nesting areas) in the eastern US. Monitors often find plenty of newly hatched young crayfish in the spring and hellgrammites all year. This is also their most accessible stream site, which can be easily reached by wheelchair and/or other assistive tools over a paved path. Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

Horsepen Run Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Thursday, September 26, 4:00-7:00pm
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 they are excited to see how this changes the macroinvertebrates they 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/steep slope). Learn more and register for this workshop and others here.

 

Other Training and Stream Monitoring Opportunities

The NVSWCD are very excited to contribute 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.

Burke Center Library – Pollinator Gardens

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New Stewardship opportunity –

Pollinator garden care at Fairfax County’s Burke Centre public library.
FMN Nancy Klein coordinated the initial garden project and helped plant the Pollinator Garden in 2019.
Nancy is the Youth Services Manager at Burke Centre Library and she now needs a few volunteers to help maintain the garden on a regular basis. She will be on site to provide guidance for work efforts.

All Stewardship work days are scheduled in the BI calendar under:
S256: Plant Maintenance and Restoration Projects — Fairfax County
Shifts are 10 a.m. – 12 a.m:
– Every Thursday through Oct, except Sep 12 – (check BI Calendar)
– And Every-other Saturday thru Oct – 8/10, 8/24, 9/7, 9/21, 10/5.

To register:
1. Login to BI and click on your ‘Opportunities’ tab.
2. Select ‘Opportunity Calendar’ from the pull-down menu.
3. Find the S256 event in the displayed calendar; Click it to see event details.
4. To sign up, Click the ‘Sign Up’ box in the lower right. This automatically signs you up and puts the event on your personal calendar.

A few tools will be on site but please bring your own tools.
Stewardship hours and travel time may be recorded under:
S256: Plant Maintenance and Restoration Projects — Fairfax County

For questions, please contact FMN project lead:
Nancy Klein, Youth Services Manager
Burke Centre Library
5935 Fred’s Oak Rd
Burke, VA 22015
703-249-1534
[email protected]

cover photo courtesy of Fairfax County Public Libraries

North American Butterfly Association Counts – Find One Near You

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Photo: Rick Ahrens (NABA)

The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) has run the Butterfly Count Program in the United States, Canada, and Mexico since 1993. Each of the approximately 450 annual counts consists of a compilation of all butterflies observed at sites within a 15-mile diameter count circle in a one-day period.

The annually published reports provide a tremendous amount of information about the geographical distribution and relative population sizes of the species counted. Comparisons of the results across years can be used to monitor changes in butterfly populations and study the effects of weather and habitat change on North American butterflies.

Counts are open to the public and count on new participants like you. Depending on the count, one or more parties will survey sites within the 15-mile diameter count circle on a given day. Butterfly counts are driven by butterfly lovers just like you. All it takes is a desire to participate in a day-long count to help track the North American butterfly populations.

Find an active count near you on the map page, e.g., search for “Virginia.” (The map takes a moment to work so be patient.) Once you contact them, the compiler (count leader) will let you know when and where to meet.