April 2016

I became a Virginia Master Naturalist to learn about and get involved with natural Virginia.  My mostly non-profit career was largely devoted to working for zoological institutions.  I helped build national and international collaborations of coordinated species survival and reintroduction programs for mostly exotic and/or endangered species.  In the process I built a working knowledge about the flora and fauna of Africa, Asia and South America.  By contrast, living in the natural beauty that is Charlottesville, Virginia I knew relatively little about the flora and fauna in my own back yard.  As a member of the Virginia Master Naturalist class of 2012 I was looking for an opportunity to learn more and to get actively involved as a Citizen Scientist on a local level.   I had no idea what that might entail and where that might lead.  Little did I know that I was about to embark on a great bluebird adventure.

One of our earliest class sessions was devoted to presenters from various organizations describing volunteer opportunities.  One of those presenters was Ann Dunn, Virginia Master Naturalist and County Coordinator for the Virginia Bluebird Society.  Ann was seeking volunteers to monitor established trails in Albemarle County.  I inquired about the possibility of establishing a trail in my neighborhood.  Then and there the all-important first piece of my life-changing journey fell into place when she agreed to come to Ivy and assess the viability of our habitat for bluebirds.   The second piece fell into place when she identified 10 suitable spots.  Being a compulsive designer/builder with a well-equipped work shop, I volunteered to build and donate the 10 bluebird set ups.  Ann provided me with the Virginia Bluebird Society recommended and approved “Carl Little” nest box design and formally approved “Owensfield Trail” as a designated Virginia Bluebird Society trail making me the trail monitor.   It was then that the wheels of the universe turned and something that felt like destiny fell into place and put me squarely on the path leading to where it has presently led.  I never could have imagined then in 2012 where that path would so quickly lead by 2016.

One side of my heritage is German.  My grandfather was an inventor during the industrial age.  He built and ran a steel forging plant to make the things he sold to General Motors, Frigidaire and, during WW II,  the RAF for the British Spitfire.  That means I am genetically predisposed to be incredibly organized.  Thankfully the other side of my family introduces a French gene that keeps my German organizational obsession from becoming a crippling neurosis and actually transforms it into an art form.  It is a fine line I walk between obsessive compulsive disorder and art.  I like to think so anyway.  That also means I like doing things on a big scale so if I’m going to be building 10 bluebird nest boxes anyway, I might as well do more. 

Things started small when I offered to build bluebird set ups for my Master Naturalist classmates for the cost of materials.  A few took me up on my offer and in early Spring 2012 I built my first 20 nest boxes with poles and baffle predator guards – 10 for me and 10 for them.   When I delivered those 10 to the next Master Naturalist class session, bluebird nest box envy swept through the room.  Everybody wanted some and I needed to build another 48 for class members and instructors.  More orders trickled in and I ended my first year having built 91 bluebird nest boxes.  I could hardly believe it and so close to 100!  That seemed like a magical number to me and I hoped that I would have occasion to build at least 9 more in the coming years.   Little did I know. 
 
The following February in preparation for the 2013 nesting season I needed a few more boxes to expand my trail.  Only two months removed from my last building session, I was anticipating little or no demand for more nest boxes.  Nevertheless, I repeated the offer to my classmates and a few other local VMNs to build nest box setups for the cost of materials.   I was truly surprised when the response was immediate and steady.  As orders accumulated through the year I periodically mounted building sessions to meet demand.  Orders totaled 170 nest boxes in 2013.  Once again, most of those were going to Virginia Master Naturalists in the Charlottesville area to replace worn out boxes and to establish new bluebird trails.  I passed the magic number of 100 nest boxes so fast I should have been ticketed for speeding in a building zone. 

By February of 2014 my call for orders was being passed on to Virginia Master Naturalists and Virginia Bluebird Society members statewide and had crossed state lines to attract blue birders from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio.  My call for orders was also reaching bird clubs, institutions and educational projects at schools including Rutgers University, Innis Free and Fredericksburg Academy.  Individuals and groups were arriving in rental vans or with trailers to pick up 30 or more bluebird setups at a time.  A group of Master Naturalists from Blacksburg made an all-day outing to pick up their large order, visit my shop, and tour Charlottesville.  Others brought their grandchildren to visit the shop for a “hands on” bluebird box building session.  I built 240 nest boxes that November (the single largest building session to date) and finished 2014 with 365 nest boxes built for the year.  My original goal to build 100 nest boxes had long dropped out of sight and now I watched as 500 nest boxes built faded into the distance in my rearview mirror.  Far ahead a new magic number was just visible on the horizon and I dared to dream.  It would take years and years to get there… if only I could live long enough and stay healthy enou
gh.    

From the beginning Ann Dunn made it clear that when building bluebird nest boxes I was to use the Virginia Bluebird Society recommended and approved “Carl Little” design.  I had heard of the Peterson box and other famous birders with their names attached to box designs, but I was not aware of Carl Little. I decided to remain silent on that subject and nodded my head like I knew when in fact I did not know.  From the beginning whenever people picked up their boxes I would dutifully explain they were getting the Carl Little design and they would nod their heads solemnly in what I assumed was reverential respect for the great birding man Carl Little lost to the ages.  Yes, they seemed to know exactly who I was talking about and I was not yet ready to ask one of them to tell me.  And so it went happily along for about 500 boxes until the fateful day when someone finally asked me “Who was Carl Little?”  I was horrified… so I went with the truth.  I admitted I didn’t know and that I imagined Carl to be a famous local birder who lived long, long ago and tramped around in the woods with the other famous Charlottesville naturalist and explorer Meriwether Lewis.  Yes, I figured the great Carl Little was now long dead and gone, but never forgotten.  A few days later there was a knock at my door. I answered it to a nice couple standing there and the man says to me, “Hi!  I’m Carl Little.”  My first reaction was to blurt out “You can’t be, you’re dead!”  However, my ability to stay silent on things I don’t know about remained blessedly intact when I needed it most.  About this time I began to see the light and realize that there was a connection between Carl Little and the lovely Ann Little standing next to him who, coincidentally at that time, just happened to be President of the Virginia Bluebird Society.  With good reason they could have worried about me and that could have been the end of my blue birding days right then.  However, they were kindly forgiving.  Carl visited my shop, signed my “Carl Little” blueprints and positively made my blue birding year.  I was twice honored – they had come to pick up 50 Carl Little boxes.  Holy mackerel!  That’s like Thomas Edison coming to me for a light bulb not to suggest that I would or could build light bulbs for the cost of materials.  I would much prefer a visit from Carl Little anyway.  Anybody can design and build a light bulb. 

2015 was more of the same.  More boxes to a wider audience coming from farther and farther away. The big new magic number barely visible in the distance not so long ago was barreling towards me at an alarming rate.   This past October was my biggest one-time building session yet with 310 nest boxes plus 258 poles/baffle predator guards.   I finished 2015 with 376 nest boxes built for the year and, in all the excitement, the big magic number slipped past me before I knew it.  The grand total built since it all began with those 20 boxes in the Spring of 2012 is 1,002 nest boxes and 733 poles and baffle predator guards. 

The past year has been a thrilling experience.  Individuals and organizations came from every corner of Virginia to pick up boxes.  Organizations taking large numbers of boxes in 2015 included the Monticello Owners Association, Monticello Bird Club, Loudon Wildlife Conservancy, Dorrier Park, Brambleton Community, Sunset Hills Winery, Pleasant Grove Trail, Brambleton Bluebird Club, Monticello High School, Fredericksburg Academy and the Augusta County Bird Club.
Managing the time, material costs, material needs, expenses and communications related to this project have evolved into a small not-for-profit enterprise.  I need Excel spreadsheets to monitor pricing of parts, material lists, inventory, orders, and scheduling of pickups and deliveries.  I have an account at a local builder supply to buy materials cheaper in quantity.  On two occasions I have bought out the available supply of 1 x 6 cedar.  This past Fall big trucks delivering large loads of lumber had the neighbors asking if we were putting on an addition.   Fork lifts came down the driveway carrying 100 10’ metal conduits at a time.  I tell inquiring minds that I am building a nuclear sub. 

I’ve accumulated more than 750 hours of Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer service since 2012 including 240+ hours this past Fall.  I also monitor Owensfield Trail for the Virginia Bluebird Society that has grown to 20 boxes fledging an average of 85 bluebirds per year over the last 4 nesting seasons.  A wonderfully memorable moment was the first time I opened a box to see 5 baby bluebirds in the nest.   I was so happy I wanted to pass out cigars and put balloons on our mail box.   

I have organized the entire building process for mass production.  Before a single nest box was assembled this past October all the pieces and parts for 310 boxes were cut, pre-drilled and stacked in sequential order ready for assembly.    Material costs in 2015 were approximately $10,000. Material costs since 2012 exceed $22,000.

This experience has been and continues to be positively wonderful and rewarding.  I watch the floor space of my shop disappear as it fills up with nest boxes ready for pickup until I can literally only just set foot inside the door.  And then I watch it reappear as people pick up their boxes and take them away to the far corners of the state and beyond.   It is positively thrilling to have all the Virginia Master Naturalists, Virginia Bluebird Society members, various institutions and other individuals from all over come to my shop to pick up their boxes and stay for a visit.  They like the smell of the red cedar that hangs in the air.  Word that I will build for the cost of materials for all comers has spread to people outside of Virginia Master Naturalists and Virginia Bluebird Society members to envelope organizations like Master Gardeners and Tree Stewards.   It is inspiring to see all of these people get interested in blue birds. Two years ago people from adjoining neighborhoods who walk our street found me and got bluebird houses for their respective neighborhoods.  Last year people walking in those neighborhoods tracked me down and got bluebird houses for their neighborhoods.   And so it goes… spreading happiness on the wings of bluebird diplomacy. 

I see no end in sight.  October 2016 is already blocked off on the calendar for building blue bird nest boxes.  Between now and then I will continue perfecting my predisposed German-French organizational skillset as an art form finding new ways to make boxes faster and cheaper.  

Yes, this has gone far beyond what I ever dreamed.  Early in my Virginia Master Naturalist training I wondered how I could ever accumulate the 40 hours of volunteer service a year required to remain certified.  If someone had told me in February 2012 that I would one day volunteer 243.5 hours in one month as a Virginia Master Naturalist building blue bird nest boxes for the Virginia Bluebird Society and loving every minute….   Ha!  No way! ​

​For several years, a few of our VMN chapters have done chapter “focus projects” – projects that the chapter works on as a team, engaging volunteers from across different training cohorts, and that are intended to have more significant impacts on natural resource conservation than can be accomplished by volunteers working individually. For example, in 2015, the Headwaters Chapter installed a series of five pollinator waystations spread across Rockingham and Augusta counties.  The project included researching where and what to plant and developing interpretive signage for each of the sites, as well as the actual planting.  More than 20 VMN-Headwaters Chapter volunteers were involved. 
 
In our VMN 2015-2020 strategic plan, supporting chapters through mini-grants to help them conduct projects is one of the listed priorities.  Thanks to a generous grant from an anonymous donor, plus matching funds from the many VMN volunteers who donated to our annual campaign, we are able to meet this goal in 2016.  We put out a call to chapters for mini-grant proposals specifically to support chapter focus projects.  Our intention is to support not only positive outcomes for natural resources, but also positive outcomes for chapters, such as increased volunteer retention and engagement, and development of new partnerships.
 
We have funded focus projects for nine different chapters:

• Central Blue Ridge Chapter – Developing and installing an interpretive trail for a new Nelson County park
• Fairfax Chapter – Establishing long-term monitoring of three DGIF Birding and Wildlife Trail loops
• Historic Southside Chapter – Developing a native pollinator garden in Isle of Wight County
• Holston Rivers Chapter – Conducting a BioBlitz at Hungry Mother State Park
• James River Chapter – Conducting a wildlife survey at Belmead
• Northern Neck Chapter – Increasing diversity through enhanced outreach programming
• Peninsula Chapter – Conducting a biological inventory of Lucas Creek
• Riverine Chapter – Developing educational materials for parks in the VDGIF Henrico Birding and Wildlife Trail Loop
• Roanoke Valley Chapter – Installing a riparian buffer in a Roanoke County park

 
The funds have just been dispersed and most projects are just getting started, but one is already well underway.  Volunteers in the Roanoke Valley Chapter worked together to improve a stream much in need of protection.  The stream had turf nearly up to the edge of the water and evidence of erosion, but now has a newly-planted riparian buffer with native trees and shrubs. The mini-grant helped the chapter purchase all the plants as well as the necessary tree tubes and other materials to ensure that they thrive.  To expand the impacts of their work, they also engaged local high school students in the project.  Their next step will be developing interpretive signage to help park visitors know what the plantings are all about and why they are important for stream conservation.

​The VMN state office and a team of volunteers from the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter have been working hard over the last several months to plan the 2016 VMN Statewide Volunteer Conference and Training.  It is still almost four months away, but we are finalizing all the sessions and presenters, pinning down details at the venue, and preparing the conference website.
 
Registration will open in June, so we want to give you a preview of the conference now to whet your appetite for the natural resources smorgasbord that we will have for you! 
 
Venue
The Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake is a wonderful venue for our needs.  Attendees will be able to choose from several styles of lodging rooms, all at affordable prices.  There are many classrooms for breakout sessions, including a computer lab with tablets that we’ll make use of for training on some citizen science-related technologies.  The grounds include trails and lake access that will be incorporated into some of the sessions. 
 
On-site sessions
We have thirty (!) on-site concurrent sessions from which VMN volunteers may choose.  Interested in plants?  Attend a session on replacing turf with natives or on identifying sedges.  Are herps your thing?  Track box turtles, become trained for the Frog Watch USA project, or learn how snakes kill and eat their prey.  Want to build skills for educating others?  Get ideas for interactive and easy outreach activities for festivals and events or learn the best way to communicate about climate change.  Instructors for these sessions include highly rated local presenters as well as state agency personnel and other presenters from across the state.
 
Off-site sessions
Many of the on-site sessions will make use of the outdoors since we have the 4-H Center campus available to us, but we will have field trips as well.  Among them are hikes to two different DCR Natural Area Preserves, a fungi foray at Claytor Nature Study Center, and a BioBlitz at Booker T. Washington National Monument.  We will also have pre-conference field trips at Booker T. Washington National Monument and at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.
 
Back By Popular Demand
Our program is old enough to now have some traditions, and we’ll be bringing back your favorites to the conference as well.  Expect the Friday night “Chapter Share Fair” where you can show off the great things your chapter is doing and gather ideas from others.  The VMN photo contest will return — rules are already posted at https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/custom.aspx?EventID=1831018&_i=sCWrb7lOOoE%3d.  (Note that there are limited entries per chapter; some chapters have an internal competition to choose their entries.)   We will also have program awards, so watch for information about nominations which will be sent out in the coming weeks.  This and registration details will be available through the Volunteer Management System once they are posted.
 
We hope to learn, celebrate, and swap ideas with you in August on the shores of Smith Mountain Lake! 

Best Wishes to a VMN Steering Committee Member

We would like to congratulation Carol Zokaites on her retirement, which she will begin May 1! Carol has been a long-standing member of the VMN Steering Committee, as one of the representatives from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.  VMN members may know Carol best from her role coordinating Project Underground, an environmental education program and curriculum focused on karst and caves.  We thank Carol for her service to the program and wish her well in her new life phase!

Connecting with Kids
adapted from an article by Michael Swisher, Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth & Families and Bill Browning, ARMN Volunteer

Tobin (Toby) Smith was recently selected as a Connect with Kids Champion, an award created by the Arlington County Partnership for Children, Youth & Families as a way to recognize people who go above and beyond in building supportive relationships with young people.

Toby is an Arlington Regional Master Naturalist who works with Arlington 4-H and has connected with kids since 1988, using nature and fishing as the hook. Starting with a 4-H Gardening Club for children of refugees from Southeast Asia, Toby then formed a 4-H Fishing Club for ten children ages eight through ten. He worked with that group until they graduated from high school.
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Fishing and gardening activities allowed Toby to teach leadership and environmental stewardship. But as the club members got older, he found that they were often teaching him about friendship and other life lessons. He stays in contact with many of them, who are now raising children of their own. And Toby continues to connect with kids––and connect them to nature––through the 4-H Junior Naturalists clubs.

​Peninsula Chapter Members Recognized

Before a dinner crowd of 400 guests, on April 13, 2016, Pam Courtney and Brad Halcums were recognized as Volunteers of the Year in the Family Category by VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads.  This group represents the public and private sectors in eastern Virginia and supports nonprofit activities.   Pam and Brad achieved this honor through their work at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News which has been a steadfast partner with the Peninsula Chapter since 2008.

In Memoriam

We also use this Laurels column to recognize VMN volunteers who are no longer with us.  Thank you to Marion Jordan and Kasha Helget for sending these beautiful tributes to two volunteers who really made a difference in their community.  

The VMN-Arlington Regional Chapter lost one of its most dedicated members, Martha “Clare” Hayden, on October 13, 2015, following a brave fight with cancer. Clare came to this area from Wisconsin and worked as a translator for the Embassy of Spain, the International Monetary Fund, the Pan American Health Organization, and the World Bank.

Clare was a dedicated champion of nature who worked to restore native habitats. As a resident of Arlington Village, she cofounded their Environmental Resources Committee, which worked to restore the five-acre Oak-Hickory woods along a stream in the village. She also was on the board of the neighborhood association, served on the village’s Grounds Committee, and advanced the use of native plants in the townhouse community.

As a certified Arlington Regional Master Naturalist and Tree Steward, Clare was involved in many restoration projects and was active as a volunteer at Earth Sangha Native Plant Nursery in Springfield. Clare was especially interested in prot
ecting and maintaining the native tree canopy in Arlington County, and her many naturalist friends admired her forceful advocacy and frequent intervention to save endangered trees. Clare also devoted her time and talents to Arlington Independent Media and the DC Books to Prisons program.

The Arlington Regional Chapter  lost another dedicated member, Jerry Schrepple, on March 15, 2016.  Jerry had been an active volunteer since graduating with the Spring 2009 ARMN Basic Training class. Jerry contributed to so many habitat restoration projects, including invasive removal and plantings in local parks, seed collection, cleaning, and nursery work with Earth Sangha, and stream-water monitoring. He was known for his expertise in building bird houses and he happily shared that knowledge through hands-on workshops. Jerry championed the restoration of the site next to the bike path by Bon Air Park in Arlington. This “Take Back the Trail” project resulted in the transformation of a previously neglected site covered with invasives into a meadow that now features native plants which are visible to all who use that section of the bike path.