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Spring Orientation, Spring & Summer Internships, and Volunteer Opportunities at Riverbend Park

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Spring is around the corner! Check out the many opportunities available at Riverbend Park. Park staff and volunteer coordinator Valeria Espinosa hope you can join them for any of these projects and events!

Spring & Summer Natural Resource Internships (18+)  

Interested in working for the Resource Management Division? Apply to the NEW internship program and get hands-on experience working alongside Natural Resources Manager, Rita Peralta. Applications accepted now until filled. 

Sign up here: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/184394

Contact: [email protected] 

Spring Volunteer Orientation: Preserving Our Parks! 

Saturday 3/14 | 9:00 AM | 8814 Jeffery Road, Great Falls, VA 22066 

Riverbend has many exciting projects in store and several positions available. Come learn about theprograms and get started on a field project or training right away! 

SIGN UP: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/185556  

Invasive Removal Team! 

Join the Invasive Removal team and help lead the effort to reduce the spread of invasive plants at Riverbend Park. Volunteers can join monthly removal events, Adopt-a-Spot, and/or assist with field surveying and monitoring. Scheduling is flexible! If you are interested contact Valeria and sign up for orientation on 3/14. 

GET INVOLVED! [email protected]  

Invasive Removal Days: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/184647  

Teaching Docent! (18+) 

Interested in Northern Virginia’s natural resources and heritage? Become a Teaching Docent and share your passion for the outdoors through Riverbend’s school programs involving history, nature, and science. Don’t worry, they will train you! 

SIGN UP: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/179279 

Resource Naturalist!

If you are interested in monthly/bi-monthly volunteering at Riverbend Park and/or Scott’s Run Nature Preserve, join our Resource Management Team! Become a Resource Naturalist and get involved in Wildlife surveys, Wildflower Surveys, Field Surveys, Trail Restoration, Invasive Control, Planting projects, and more! 

SIGN UP: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/179280  

Trail Work Days! 

SIGN UP: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/185491 

ESLI Volunteer Coordinator (18+) 

Looking for organization leadership experience? The Environmental Student Leadership Initiative (ESLI) is seeking a lead coordinator to work with high school student leaders on managing this environmental education organization. 

APPLY HERE: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/185533

Riverbend Gardener! 

Support our gardens at Riverbend Park! Volunteer 2-3 times a month and help our native gardens thrive.  

SIGN UP: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/184766 

Bluebell Festival! April 11th 

SIGN UP: https://volunteer.fairfaxcounty.gov/custom/1380/#/opp_details/180932 

For more opportunities CLICK HERE!  

Questions? Email Valeria at [email protected]

Invasive Management Workdays at Lake Accotink

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Lake Accotink Park
7500 Accotink Park Rd., Springfield VA
Saturdays, 15, 22 and 29 February 2020
9 – 11 am

Invasive plants prevent us from enjoying our forests. They degrade our natural ecosystems. Ever get stopped in the woods by climbing vines or shrubs with thorns? They may have been invasive species. Some of them, like multiflora rose, can completely swarm over a section of woods and block out everything else. However, invasive can be thwarted.

Join Fairfax Master Naturalists Elaine and Beverly as they combat invasives at Lake Accotink. No experience is necessary, this is a great opportunity to learn and everyone is welcome.

They have work gloves and equipment but please bring your own drinking water as the park’s drinking fountains have been winterized – the restrooms are still open.

If you can join them – even for an hour or so it would be greatly appreciated.

Lastly, the weather at this time of year is so unpredictable, please call or text Beverly at (571) 314-2107 if you are not sure.

Directions: There are several entrances to Lake Accotink Park, but it is easiest to take the Accotink Park Road entrance that comes off Highland Street in Springfield. Once you enter the park, follow the road all the way to the end and you will see the marina, mini golf course and a children’s carousel. There is ample parking. They are working in the area directly behind the children’s carousel but please call or text Beverly if you can’t find them.

Help restore native habitat at Lake Accotink Park, October 4

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Lake Accotink Park
Lake Accotink Park Rd., Springfield VA
Saturday, 4 October 2019
8 – 10am

Please consider helping Invasive Management Area volunteers to remove alien invasive plants that degrade natural areas by out-competing native plants for resources.

Wear long sleeves and pants (due to poison ivy), and sturdy footwear.  Bring water to stay hydrated (the park has water fountains so reusable bottles are recommended), and use insect repellant for protection against ticks and mosquitoes.  We will supply gloves and equipment.

Please let Elaine know if you can participate or have questions.  She can be reached at [email protected].

Directions to the Invasive Management Area:  Take Springfield/644W exit from I-95, which puts you on Old Keene Mill Road. At 3rd stoplight, turn right on Hanover Rd. Continue on Hanover (through residential section) to Highland Ave. Turn Left. Turn right on Accotink Park Rd. The park entrance is on the left (an industrial area is on the right). Accotink Park Rd. continues here. Take it until you reach the marina area.

Stiltgrass overwhelms natives! Help remove it Sep. 7th

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Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts
1551 Trap Rd., Vienna VA
Saturday, 7 September 2019
9 am – Noon

The meadow garden at the  Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is in the one-acre circle (or “Dimple”) in front of the ticket windows. It is a vibrant pollinator habitat and nectar source but will not continue to thrive if the stiltgrass remains. Japanese stiltgrass is an aggressive invasive species that pushes out beneficial native plants. Late summer is the perfect time to pull it, right right before it flowers and re-seeds.

No experience necessary! Training on how to ID and remove stiltgrass will be provided at the event. Please bring water, garden gloves, insect repellent, and sun protection. Please RSVP here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0a45a5aa22a4f94-stiltgrass  

This volunteer event is organized by the Friends of Wolf Trap and Fairfax Master Naturalists. FMNs may record service hours to S263: Wolf Trap Stewardship Projects.

Help FODM remove invasive plants, July 8th & 22nd

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Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve
Haul Road Trail
Mondays, 8 July and 22 July 2019
9 am

Friends of Dyke Marsh must remove plants like mile-a-minute, Japanese stiltgrass and garlic mustard so that these invasives do not outcompete the more than 3,500 plants FODM put in in 2018. They will help you identify the target plants (no more than 5) and show you what to do. Volunteer whatever time you can and if the heat becomes unbearable, we can stop.

Please let them know if you can help. They will have some gloves and tools, but it would be helpful if you could bring your own gloves, clippers and loppers. Bring water, wear sturdy shoes, long sleeves and pants and sun protection. You might want to bring insect repellent. Meet at the native plant site along the Haul Road trail just past the second bench on the west side of the trail.
Please RSVP to [email protected].

A regional request for volunteer help with a study on the Bradford pear 

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Question 1: What is the most recent invasive tree added to Director of Conservation & Recreation’s invasive plant list?
Answer: Callery Pear, aka, Bradford Pear: Pyrus calleryana Decne

Question 2: What can we do about it?
Answer: Support a regional research project by collecting leaf samples.

Callery pear is one of the most rapidly-spreading invasive plants in the eastern U.S. This plant stems from cultivars of ornamental pears, most commonly the Bradford pear. Callery pear can have long thorns and grows singly or in thick patches in old fields, roadsides, or forested areas.

The Callery pear population genetics study, under the direction of Dr. David Coyle (Clemson) and D. Hadziabdich-Guerry (University of Tennessee), is determined to better understand the genetics of this cultivar to inform future management tactics. To this end, foliar samples are needed from Virginia. The protocol is simple and the only cost is time.

Detailed information and how to send the samples is in the attached pdf, which can also be found on the study’s website.

Summary of the basics

  • Find one or more patches of “wild” callery pears of at least 10 individuals (different sample/patches locations should be at least 15 miles apart).
  • From each individual tree (10 trees total/site), collect 10 leaves. (Ten trees in a patch are required.)
  • Put all 10 leaves from each tree into its own envelope with the GPS location noted and if the tree is thorny or not.
  • Put newspaper in between the leaves – this helps them dry out and ensures they don’t mold on the way to UT.
  • Therefore, each sampling site would have 10 envelopes (1 per tree) to send in together.
  • Envelopes can be FedEx’ed to UT (for free!) Details given in information sheet attached.

Questions?  Contact Dr. David Coyle: [email protected]

Meadow Restoration Day! May 11th

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8814 Jeffery Road Great Falls, VA
Saturday, 11 May 2019
2-3:30 pm

Join Resource Naturalists Christian Lansing & Nancy Wimberg for a habitat restoration project to help restore the meadow habitat and help native plants, wildlife, birds, and important pollinators thrive by keeping the invasive vine “mile a minute” OUT of Riverbend Park! Learn how to properly ID mile a minute, best control methods from experienced naturalists, and how you can make a difference! Meet at 8814 Jeffery Road Great Falls, VA.

Sign up here.

Riverbank Restoration Day! May 4th

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8700 Potomac Hills St. Great Falls, VA.
Saturday, 4 May 2019
9:30 – 11:30 am

Help restore a section of the riverbank along the Potomac Heritage Trail. Volunteers helped plant new seedlings earlier this spring. Now it’s time to check the planting and remove invasive plants that are a threat to the habitat, native plants and wildlife. All are welcome!

Sign up here.