2019 Virginia Environmental Education Conference February 7-9, 2019

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Virginia Association of Environmental Education (VAEE) has extended the earlybird registration for the 2019 Virginia Environmental Education Annual Conference, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA

Enjoy a gathering full of professional development, networking opportunities, learning, and field experiences that will expand your knowledge of Environmental Education efforts and resources in the Commonwealth and help you in your VMN endeavors. 

This year’s conference will feature many exciting presentations, keynote speakers, and field trips, including the annual member meeting for the Virginia Association for Environmental Education. 

Other events include various networking opportunities and the annual VAEE Social and Silent Auction.

Information about this year’s conference and registration can be found on the conference webpage

Early-bird registration is extended until January 11, 2019. Registration ends February 4, 2019.

For general registration questions, contact: Bruce Young at [email protected]

NOVA Green Festival 2019, April 25th

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Photo by Barbara J. Saffir (c)

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), Annandale Campus
8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA 22003
Saturday, 25 April 2019
9-4 pm

The theme for the 2019 event will be “Biodiversity and Urbanization.” At this time, the College hopes to host several presenters who will be able to touch on the many challenges of maintaining biodiversity in an urban environment.

The purpose of NOVA’s Annual Green Festival is to increase both the college and local community awareness of regional, national, and global environmental issues and provide information regarding ways that individuals can help preserve the environment. Participants at this community event will include faculty, staff, students and local community members. While the target audience is high school and college students, the event is free and open to the public.

The festival will be a combination of presentations, panel discussions, interactive demonstrations, film viewing, and informational displays. Ideally, it will help the audience to recognize ways they can conserve resources, promote change, and make a difference as individuals.

Join the College for this topical and educational festival. If you have questions or would like to participate as an exhibitor, you are welcome to contact Cheryl Robinette at, or Rob Johnson.

Earth Sangha January seed cleaning sessions

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Founded in 1997, the Earth Sangha is a nonprofit public charity based in the Washington, D.C., region. In the D.C. area, they operate a volunteer-based program to propagate local native plants, restore native plant communities, and control invasive alien plants. Their Wild Plant Nursery is the region’s most comprehensive effort to propagate native plants directly from local forests and meadows. Volunteers are needed to clean the seeds from native plants to prepare them for sowing and growing.

Sundays, January 6th, 13th, 20th, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Arlington Village: 1400 South Edgewood Street, Arlington. This is the community room of Arlington Village and is located on the lowest point of the street. Please look for the brown street sign that says “1400 South Edgewood Street.” The community Room is through basement door at the corner of the building. If you can’t find it, please call Rodney at 703-216-4855 for directions.
Mondays, January 7th, 14th, 28th, from 10 am to 1 pm, at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington: 625 South Carlin Spring Road, Arlington.

Free milkweed available to schools

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Deadline: Rolling
Monarch Watch is offering an opportunity for schools to receive free milkweed. Schools can receive a free flat of 32 milkweed plugs. Applications to receive milkweed for spring 2019 are being reviewed on a rolling basis. Learn more and apply here.

Chesapeake Bay Trust Environmental Education Mini Grants

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Deadline: Thursday, January 10, 2019
The Chesapeake Bay Trust mini grants are intended to support meaningful outdoor learning experiences around a watershed issue investigation. The deadline to apply is January 10, 2019 at 4pm. Learn more about the grant and apply here.

Coming Feb. 1st: NVSWCD 2019 Native Seedling Sale

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Potomac River clean-ups, Jan. 19 and 21

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Potomac River Cleanup at Fletcher’s Cove
When: Saturday, January 19, 10:00am-1:00pm
Where: Fletcher’s Cover, Washington DC
Potomac Conservancy and the National Park Service will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by spending “a day on, not a day off”! Join them in collecting trash at Fletcher’s Cove to support clean water and connected communities! Register online to volunteer.

Potomac River Cleanup at LBJ Grove
When: Monday, January 21, 10:00am-1:00pm
Where: LBJ Memorial Grove, Washington DC
Potomac Conservancy and the National Park Service will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by spending “a day on, not a day off”! Join them in collecting trash and removing invasives at the LBJ Memorial Grove to support clean water and connected communities! Register online to volunteer.

Five stream monitoring volunteer opportunites

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Photo by Barbara J. Saffir (c)

Bull Run Watershed Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Sunday, January 6, 12:00-2:30pm
Where: James Long Park, Haymarket
Join Elaine Wilson, one of Prince William SWCD’s pioneers/certified monitors and her team for winter monitoring at this beautiful site in Catharpin Creek in the Gainesville area. This site has some outstanding critters that are unique only to this site.  STEM kids are welcome. Spots are limited. For more information and RSVP, contact Elaine Wilson.  

Pohick Creek Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Sunday, January 13, 10:00am-12:30pm
Where: Wadebrook Terrace, Springfield
Join NVSWCD as we discover aquatic life in Pohick Creek! This official NVSWCD stream monitoring workshop covers watershed health, what macroinvertebrates tell us about stream quality, and what you can do to prevent pollution in your local stream. Registration is limited. RSVP to Ashley Palmer.

Reston Association Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Saturday, January 19, 1:00pm
Where: Reston
Assist in important winter stream monitoring by getting your feet wet in one of Reston’s streams? RA welcomes new volunteers to assist with stream monitoring at several locations. Get involved with a small team to collect data and identify insects with the goal of assessing the health of Reston’s stream. Not only do you get to learn about streams, it also provides an opportunity to make new friends. Learn more and register.

Reston Association Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Thursday, January 31, 12:30pm
Where: Walker Nature Center, Reston
Assist in important winter stream monitoring by getting your feet wet in one of Reston’s streams! RA welcomes new volunteers to assist with stream monitoring at several locations. Get involved with a small team to collect data and identify insects with the goal of assessing the health of Reston’s stream. Not only do you get to learn about streams, it also provides an opportunity to make new friends. Learn more and register.

Reston Association Stream Monitoring Workshop
When: Saturday, February 2, 1:00pm
Where: Reston
Assist in important winter stream monitoring by getting your feet wet in one of Reston’s streams! RA welcomes new volunteers to assist with stream monitoring at several locations. Get involved with a small team to collect data and identify insects with the goal of assessing the health of Reston’s stream. Not only do you get to learn about streams, it also provides an opportunity to make new friends. Learn more and register.

EQAC 2019 Public Hearing – January 9, 2019

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Photo by Barbara J. Saffir (c)

The Environmental Quality Advisory Council will be holding its annual public hearing on the environment on Wednesday, January 9, 2019.

The public hearing will be held at 7:30 PM in Conference Rooms 4 and 5 of the Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA.  All interested parties are encouraged to sign up to speak. To sign up to speak, call the Department of Planning and Zoning at 703-324-1380 or send an e-mail message (and/or submit written testimony) to [email protected]. Or,  just contact Joe Gorney directly at [email protected] and he will sign you up.

Please note that EQAC is again providing the opportunity for interested parties to present video testimony.  Video testimony (five minutes or less is preferred) can be uploaded to YouTube, Ustream or Vimeo.  Let EQAC know by email to [email protected] how to access the video. They will present the video at the public hearing.* The deadline for posting videos on-line and informing EQAC of the URL through which they can access the video is 5:00 PM on Wednesday, January 2. EQAC requests that there be no more than one video submitted per person.

EQAC’s Annual Report on the Environment, which will be presented to the Board of Supervisors on November 20, is now available on EQAC’s website.  Please note that, while the public hearing is being held shortly after the completion of the Annual Report, the public hearing is not intended to focus on this report but is instead intended to hear your views and concerns regarding any environmental issues of interest to you.

Questions?  Either call Joe Gorney directly (703-324-1267) or e-mail him.

*All videos will be screened by county staff prior to the public hearing. Each video must address one or more environmental topics. Any video with profanity or other objectionable material will not be presented at the public hearing. You will be notified if county staff determines that your video is unsuitable for presentation. You do not need to attend the public hearing for your video to be presented.

Look what you’ve done!

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by Michael Reinemer

As I sign off as president, passing the baton to Joe Gorney, I want to thank each Virginia Master Naturalist in the chapter for what you do. The numbers of volunteer hours are astounding.

It’s hard to overstate how desperately your hours and your expertise are needed. Fairfax County and the whole region suffer from habitat loss, climate change, pollution, fragmentation, overuse – among many other assaults.

Meanwhile, we humans are increasingly disconnected from nature, suffering from the “landscape amnesia” Pete Mecca describes to FMN classes. Or shifting baseline syndrome: It’s impossible to notice the many gradual declines in the natural world – unless you understand the natural world, and you care about it and you actively monitor it. Which is one of the things you do as master naturalists. The statewide mason bee monitoring project is a great example.

You may have read “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here,” the cover story by Brooke Jarvis in the New York Times Magazine, Nov. 27, 2018.  The now global, scientific alarm about loss of insect diversity and abundance was triggered in part by small bug club in Germany. That club of 63 amateur naturalists, which included a few with science backgrounds, documented an astounding 80 percent drop in insect numbers in their research plot over a 30-year period. They had been consistently monitoring and recording changes in insect numbers or biomass in addition to species.

What’s the big deal? As E.O. Wilson put it, “If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.”  While the “10,000 years” part is probably optimistic, the role of decomposers, pollinators, and other insects is indisputable.

In her NYT piece, Jarvis talks about the long amateur naturalist tradition in Europe and how that has figured into faster, more aggressive response to the insect apocalypse there, compared to the U.S. 

So as part of the growing master naturalist movement in the U.S., you are a vital resource in this era of shrinking budgets for conservation and a time of overt hostility toward science in some quarters of the federal government. Your work as monitors, mentors, and stewards is invaluable.

While all the 2018 numbers aren’t in yet, look what you’ve done:

680 hours staffing information desks at nature centers

445 hours working on nature programs for the county

435 hours removing invasive plants

375 hours as Audubon at Home ambassadors, assessing wildlife habitat

360 hours for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology feederwatch program

350 hours managing habitat and land for Fairfax County Park Authority

343 hours for school programs for Fairfax County Park Authority

330 hours for citizen science programs for the park authority

267 hours monitoring trails for Virginia Bluebird Society

260 hours working with the Plant NoVA Natives campaign

That’s just a small snapshot of your amazing numbers and work. Congratulations, and thank you. 

And a hearty thanks to the many volunteer leaders who serve as officers, committee chairs, and committee members who manage the training and all the mechanics that make the Fairfax Master Naturalists the force for nature that it is.