February 2023

Each year, VMN chapter leaders work hard on annual reports that compile their membership and volunteering statistics and describe some of their most impactful projects from the year.  It’s exciting for us to hear about their accomplishments, and it is clear that Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers are continuing to make important impacts in their communities and to benefit Virginia’s waters, woods, and wildlife.

Below, we present some of the 2022 data through a table of quantitative outputs and an impact statement that will be submitted to Virginia Cooperative Extension and other sponsors.  To learn about more stories of volunteers and their projects, check out our 2022 VMN Program Awards announcement.

​2022 Virginia Master Naturalists contribute to natural resource education, citizen science, and stewardship across the Commonwealth

Relevance

Americans’ interest in nature is growing. There is a large constituency of people, from both urban and rural communities, engaged in non-consumptive uses of natural resources such as wildlife viewing, and studies show this population is growing. Parks and natural areas in Virginia are experiencing record visitation, and people also seek new ways to connect with nature at home. Research also shows, however, that Americans still face a significant gap between their interest in nature and their ability and opportunities to pursue that interest. Individuals need opportunities to be actively involved in exploring, caring for, and observing nature in their local communities. Furthermore, because the most impactful experiences in nature are deeply social, opportunities to connect people with nature through social groups are needed.  

At the same time, Virginia is facing difficult natural resource challenges, such as loss of forestland, sea level rise, and pollution of our waterways. State and local natural resource agencies need help to accomplish their missions, address these natural resource challenges, and reach more sectors of our population. Public engagement is critical to successful conservation and management of Virginia’s woods, wildlife, and waters.

​Response

The Virginia Master Naturalist (VMN) program addresses these needs by supporting a statewide corps of volunteers providing education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities. With 30 chapters across Virginia, the program aims to extend the capacities of both state and local natural resource agencies and organizations to be able achieve their missions in new ways, engage new audiences, and work towards creating a citizenry more informed about and involved in natural resource conservation and management. The program, because of its chapter-based structure, also promotes learning about, exploring, and stewarding natural areas through social groups.  
 
Every year, hundreds of Virginians become new VMN volunteers through training and service. The process for becoming a Certified VMN typically takes 6 to 12 months. One starts by completing a 40-hour basic training course offered by one the local chapters of the program. An additional 8 hours of continuing education and 40 hours of volunteer service are also required to become certified or recertified. Volunteer service hours are recorded in four primary areas: education, stewardship, citizen science, and chapter leadership. At the statewide level, the program is sponsored by seven state agencies, and on the local level, chapters partner with dozens of conservation and education organizations.

​Results

The VMN program currently has 2,400 volunteers who reported service in 2022. These volunteers completed more than 43,000 hours of basic training and continuing education in 2022. They also contributed significant volunteer time in the areas of education, citizen science, stewardship, and chapter administration, amounting to more than $6.5 million in contributions to natural resource conservation in Virginia (based on IndependentSector.org value of a volunteer hour.) Since the program’s inception in 2005, VMN volunteers have contributed more than 1.8 million hours of service with a value of $49 million to the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

In 2022, VMN volunteers contributed more than 53,000 hours of stewardship, valued at $1.6 million, to improve local natural resource conditions on more than 500 sites through invasive plant management in parks, management of habitats for pollinators and other wildlife, maintenance of hundreds of miles of trails, and creation of more than 60 new habitat sites through planting and restoration projects. Volunteers also improved public lands through sustained efforts to clean up litter. For example, VMN volunteers in the Southern Piedmont Chapter organized regularly scheduled public events to pick up litter along area trails and waterways in Mecklenburg County. Along with removing several tons of litter, these events engaged other members of the community, and the VMN volunteers shared information about conservation and stewardship with attendees. The Historic Rivers Chapter conducted cleanups at more than 25 different parks, roads, trails, and shorelines in James City and York counties, and they were recognized for their work with the “Adopt A Trail Group of the Year” award from the Capital Trail Foundation. To increase the impacts of their work, the volunteers collected over 1,000 pounds of soft plastic and used it to earn durable plastic benches made by Trex, which the chapter has dedicated to the memory of three deceased volunteers. Their work has not only removed harmful plastics from the environment, but also honored beloved friends and provided more resting spots for people to enjoy local parks and trails. 

​Volunteers also contributed more than 75,000 hours of time, valued at $2.3 million, to more than 100 nature-based citizen science, community science, and crowdsourcing studies. For example, VMN volunteers in Arlington launched a local phenology project to monitor seasonal changes in native plants and investigate how habitat influences plant development. Their data also are part of a national database used to learn about climate change impacts. Volunteers in nearly every VMN chapter conducted biological and chemical monitoring of Virginia’s streams and rivers, resulting in data used by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and other partners to identify potential stream health issues and alert communities to health risks posed by bacterial contamination. VMN chapters also adopted 32 of 65 loops on the Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail, conducting quarterly visits at hundreds of sites to report on site conditions and wildlife observations. Their data helped the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources promote publicly-accessible places to watch wildlife in communities all over Virginia and to document species that visitors are likely to observe at those sites.

​In addition, volunteers made more than 288,473 direct contacts through educational programs in their communities that totaled 42,300 hours of service, valued at $1.3 million. In one new program launched in partnership with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, VMN volunteers helped educate members of the public about changes they can make to reduce conflicts with black bears. They made more than 8,500 contacts with their “Living With Bears” booths at the Virginia State Fair, GoFest in Roanoke, and several local community events. Based on the questions and comments received, it was clear that their message was impactful. Volunteers also made specific efforts to connect with underrepresented audiences. For example, VMN volunteers in the Middle Peninsula Chapter partnered with local bird club and NAACP chapters to host a bird walk for Black Birders Week. Volunteers in the Rivanna Chapter collaborated with partners to train young people in one of Charlottesville’s most diverse urban neighborhoods to become Green Ambassadors, promoting tree plantings to reduce urban heat island effects. Fairfax Chapter volunteers reached out to Spanish-speaking audiences with information about stream health and other nature topics at events in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods and during Latino Conservation Week. 

​On top of their contributions to these many conservation projects, VMN volunteers also contributed 40,000 hours of time, valued at $1.2 million, leading and managing our local chapters. The unique structure of the VMN program relies on volunteers to lead the day-to-day local operations of the program, including recruiting new volunteers, organizing training courses, developing local projects and partnerships, and tracking volunteer activities. Several hundred VMN volunteers provide this local leadership, without which the program would not exist. In 2022, these leaders organized 27 basic training courses, graduating more than 400 new VMN volunteers. They worked to re-organize those courses to be more engaging, accessible, and effective, which has resulted in more than 87% of 2022 basic training course graduates already contributing some volunteer service.

Virginia Master Naturalist Volunteers Digitize Watchlist Data

Virginia Master Naturalists recently completed a special project with the Virginia Department of Conservation’s Natural Heritage division. Natural Heritage Zoology Lab Manager Olivia Latham contributed this report about the effort.

From Fall 2020 to Summer 2022, volunteers from the Master Naturalist Program transcribed over 800 pages of paper records from Virginia Natural Heritage’s Watchlist species log into a digital Excel spreadsheet. These records encompass about 20 years of data collection and have now been sent to the Natural Heritage data management team for input into the Biotics database. Biotics is a spatial data management system that is used to track the locations, condition, and conservation status of Virginia’s rare, threatened, and endangered species, significant caves, and exemplary natural communities. Once uploaded, these species records will be mapped allowing Virginia’s vulnerable plant and animal species to be monitored more accurately and shared with conservation partners. 

Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers worked in pairs to transcribe records and double-check each other’s work. They faced challenges of translating Natural Heritage codes and jargon, interpreting cryptic handwriting, and working around missing data. They also provided feedback to make the transcribing process more efficient. We are incredibly grateful to the volunteers’ hard work and contributions to protecting Virginia’s natural resources. 

Well done to VMN volunteers Kathy Fell, Lise Maring, Carol Sutton-Abaire, Mike Zaweski, Anne-Marie Stacey, and Pat Klima! (VMN Director Michelle Prysby also contributed some transcriptions at the beginning, but quickly realized that other volunteers would do a superior job.) Together, these volunteers contributed 505 hours to the effort, equating to $15,557 using the current value of a volunteer hour in Virginia from IndependentSector.org. 

New Resources from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Center for Coastal Resources Management

Here are some terrific new resources from CCRM! 

• Coastal Living Guides: These guides link scientific research to actions that people living and visiting the coastal zone can take to respond to changes in their environment. Topics include marine debris, flooding risk, sea-level rise, and shoreline management.
• Virginia Coastal Resources Tool: This tool was developed from the Center’s inventories of shoreline and marsh resources. Users can look up locations for tidal marshes, scenarios for sea level rise in different locations, an inventory of shoreline structures, and more.
• CrabTrap App Project: This effort to involve community members in removing derelict crab traps is expanding. The CCRM site has more information about the effort and how to participate. 

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Virginia Master Naturalist 2022 awards for:

• VMN New Volunteer of the Year
• VMN Chapter Advisor of the Year
• VMN Chapter Leader of the Year
• VMN Most Impactful Projects of the Year (2)
• VMN Volunteer of the Year
• VMN Diversity and Inclusion Award

We invite you to watch the video (about 16 minutes) to learn all about these outstanding volunteers, chapters, and projects!

You also can watch the video at video.vt.edu.  

VMN New Volunteer of the Year
 
Clyde Wilson joined the program in 2022 as a member of the inaugural class of our new Southern Piedmont Chapter. He’s already contributed nearly 800 hours of service! From the beginning, Clyde jumped into multiple service projects, took on leadership roles, and was always the first to volunteer for dirty jobs. His work on the Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail Adopt-a-Trail project has helped get the trail information updated to ensure a positive and safe visitor experience and to re-engage the local site owners in caring for their sites.

VMN Chapter Advisor of the Year
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Karen Duhring, is a marine scientist with the Center for Coastal Resources Management at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and is the advisor for our Middle Peninsula Chapter. Karen’s chapter members describe her as a superb advisor, astute questioner, solution provider, selfless giver, and inspiring motivator. ​In the nominators’ words: “We believe our chapter is so successful in engaging members and reaching out to the community because we have someone supporting our efforts who embodies her own advice: Be present. Be patient. Be real. Be engaged.” 

VMN Chapter Leader of the Year

​Bill Boeh has served on the board of the Peninsula Chapter since 2017, first as treasurer and more recently as secretary. In the last two years, Bill led initiatives to update both the chapter bylaws and the operating handbook. He gathered input from other chapter leaders and oversaw the process of revising the documents, reviewing them, getting them approved at all levels. His nominators write, “Very few people have made the impact Bill has in support of efficient and effective Chapter operations.  He has made this impact through very detailed and meticulous work in the areas of requirements, operation and financial accounting. 

VMN Most Impactful Project Award – 1

​The Historic Southside Chapter’s Stormwater Retention Project at Windsor Castle Park was chosen for this award because of its positive impacts for both water quality and natural resource education, as well as its unique partnerships. The primary goal of the project was to provide a demonstration to inform the public of the benefits of retaining stormwater from impervious surfaces. But, what really made the project happen was a unique collaboration with the Isle of Wight NAACP, which maintains a community vegetable garden at the site. Having a purposeful use for the retained water was the key to selling the project to the Smithfield Town Council. Numerous chapter members, along with NAACP volunteers, helped with the installation. The chapter will soon finish interpretive signage, brochures, and website updates as educational resources to pair with the demonstration.

VMN Most Impactful Project Award – 2

​The Historic Rivers Chapter’s community outreach-education project aimed to focus on two key areas: first, enriching, enhancing, and extending community outreach-education to have a greater natural influence on individuals and families, and second, encouraging individuals and families to pursue further interest in the natural environment upon returning home. Technology was one strategy designed to attract event visitors of all ages to their outreach booth. Curious visitors scanned QR codes for iNaturalist, GLOBE Observer, Clean Virginia Waterways, and several other naturalist project sites and online tools.  The chapter’s enriched outreach extended to small and medium sized events, evidenced by increased requests for presentations and workshops from local partnering county and city institutions, civic organizations, and residential homeowners’ clubs. Their outreach work helped springboard more in-depth programming that engaged people of all ages in actively learning about nature through activities like bluebird box building, bat echolocation detection, and beginner binocular lessons. 

VMN Volunteer of the Year Nominees

​We recognize all the Volunteer of the Year nominees, because we think being nominated by one of your fellow volunteers is really special!

• ​Tim Anderson, Central Rappahannock Chapter
• Douglas Britt, Fairfax Chapter
• Rebecca Harriett, Shenandoah Chapter
• Carol Kauffmann, Middle Peninsula Chapter
• Janine Lawton, Merrimac Farm Chapter
• Kaycee Lichliter, Shenandoah Chapter
• Meera Rao, Peninsula Chapter
• Roz Stein, Pocahontas Chapter

VMN Volunteer of the Year

​Rebecca Harriett of the Shenandoah Chapter. Rebecca has completed nearly 800 hours of service, despite only being in the program a few years, and during the pandemic, too. ​Not long after her own training in the 2019 training class of the Shenandoah Chapter, Rebecca volunteered to be the new Education Committee Chair, and she successfully held a fall 2021 training course alongside the outgoing chair, despite challenges from the pandemic. She then set to work planning a 2022 Spring class, and simultaneously agreed to step up to the Vice-President position for 2022. To say Rebecca was one of the busiest members of the chapter is an understatement. But, Rebecca’s volunteer service is quite wide-ranging and goes well beyond her chapter leadership role. She engages with the public twice a month as a volunteer staffer at a Shenandoah National Park visitor center, helps with outreach events and trail maintenance at Sky Meadows State Park, and monitors bluebird boxes at multiple sites. And, she continues to expand her naturalist knowledge through a diversity of continuing education. 

VMN Diversity and Inclusion Award

​The Rivanna Chapter’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group has worked enthusiastically to develop new connections and relationships within the Charlottesville and adjacent communities, and to initiate several successful programs with new partners. Recognizing that partnerships need to be based on authentic relationships and that any work RMN does in conjunction with community groups must be grounded in the needs and desires of that group, the Rivanna Chapter’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group members have developed a network of relationships with diverse groups throughout the area, such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs, Adaptive Parks and Rec, UVa Black Faculty and Staff, and others. From these efforts, several programs have been initiated, with more envisioned. The working group offered nature walks on a variety of topics for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge, and this fall, they completed a six-week Nature/Voices from the Land program for kindergarten through second grade members of the Journey Boys and Girls Club. They also participated alongside other community organizations in training Green Ambassadors, teenagers from a historically redlined community, to promote tree canopy expansion. The working group led internal initiatives, too, to identify and help carry forward diversity and inclusion action items for all of the chapter’s committees.

VMN Volunteer Roger Gosden Publishes a New Book for Young Adults

​Our Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers are multi-talented, and many of them have accomplishments outside of their volunteer roles that are quite noteworthy. For example, Roger Gosden (VMN-Historic Rivers Chapter) has published his debut novel for youth ages 10-16. The story was inspired by beekeeping and watching honeybees and wild bees in his backyard. “In the novel,” says Roger, “a boy naturalist is sent to help a monk striving to breed perfect bees in a Devonshire monastery garden where conflicts are mounting under the bucolic surface.” The book is published by Jamestowne Bookworks under the pseudonym Rowan Gordon. For personal and professional reasons, Roger is donating profits from the royalties to a charity to benefit children with cancer.

Virginia Bluebird Society Award Goes To Two Northern Neck Chapter Volunteers

​Contributed by Charlene Talcott, VMN Northern Neck Chapter and State Coordinator for the Virginia Bluebird Society

John and Pam Narney of Colonial Beach were awarded the Barbara Chambers Memorial Award at the Virginia Bluebird Society biennial conference in November. The award is given to County Coordinators who go the extra mile to organize, inspire and further bluebird conservation in their counties. The Narneys lead, train, and encourage bluebird monitors in Richmond and Westmoreland Counties.

John manages three trails : Westmoreland State Park, Menokin, and Stratford Hall. Menokin was formerly managed by a scout group, but the trail had fallen into disrepair. When the Narneys acquired it, they refurbished the trail and replaced boxes. John then took on the monitoring by himself for 5 years, then recruited and trained volunteer monitors.

The managers at Stratford Hall wanted to refurbish a trail that consisted of forty boxes. They called on Pam and John for help, and they quickly agreed.  Little did they realize at the time how long the process would be. All the boxes had to be rehabbed and relocated to new locations established with the help of volunteers they recruited and trained.

The Narneys are also members of the Virginia Master Naturalist Northern Neck Chapter, and are pivotal volunteers at the Virginia Osprey Festival in Colonial Beach.
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The Virginia Bluebird Society was founded in 1996 to promote bluebirds and other cavity nesters. Their goals include promoting bluebird conservation projects, establishing bluebird trails, and developing educational materials and nest boxes for schools, parks, and other public areas. For more information visit www.virginiabluebirds.org.

Volunteer Jill Henderson Helps Young Community Members Learn About Birds

“Backyard Birds with Jill”, led by Jill Henderson (VMN-Holston Rivers Chapter) hosted a learning exhibit for the Meadowview Elementary School community at their annual Fall Festival held at the school on Saturday, November 5. Approximately 250 students, family members, and teachers from the Meadowview community in rural Washington County participated in the interactive display. Students spun the bird wheel and were asked to identify the bird name on the wheel by using The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Backyard Birds Flash Cards.  The activity provided an opportunity to help students learn bird characteristics including size, shape, color pattern, habitat, behavior and range so they can identify the bird when they see them in their own backyard. Using the bird sound app feature on the flash cards, participants were able to hear the bird’s sound to also aid in identification. Each student received a really cool bird sticker for their backpack (or shirt!)  To add to someone’s post-event backyard bird fun, “Backyard Birds with Jill” donated a gift basket for the silent auction that included a bird feeder, 8 pounds of bird seed, and a set of flash cards.

​Planting the Past to Become the Future

Contributed by Beverley Ruegsegger, VMN Historic Southside Chapter

December, 2022 marked a major milestone in the efforts of the Historic Southside Chapter to establish a longleaf pine forest in Smithfield’s Windsor Castle Park. Over 3,500 pine plants were planted in an 8-acre plot by approximately 60 community volunteers including 20 VMN members. The plants were donated by the VA Department of Forestry and VA Department of Conservation and Recreation and planted in scarfed rows in a prominent part of the park. This planting adds to the 700+ longleaf pines that were installed in 2019 and represents a substantial contribution toward drawing the public’s attention to this important Virginia heritage tree. In time the trees of this forest will not only lend their towering beauty to this area, but also provide the unique understory of flora and fauna characteristic of longleaf pine communities. Who knows, maybe a Red-cockaded woodpecker will check it out! 

Along with other participants from various organizations in the community was Mr. Wayne Hall, Chair of Smithfield’s Parks and Recreation Committee. In appreciation he expressed the following on behalf of the town, “My sincere thanks to all Master Naturalists and the other agencies involved for their efforts and guidance in the LL Pine project. Without their cooperation, this project would not have been possible.” 

Go to natureinwindsorcastlepark.com to learn more of this project and other longleaf pine iniatives by the Historic Southside Chapter in Windsor Castle Park.

Historic Rivers Chapter Volunteers Earn a Clean-up Award

Contributed by Judy Jones, Rick Brown, and Connie Reitz, VMN Historic Rivers Chapter

HRC members received a wonderful piece of news in December of 2022. The Capital Trail Foundation chose the Historic Rivers Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalists to receive the Adopt-a-Trail Group of the Year award. The Foundation is an organization responsible for the Virginia Capital Trail, a dedicated, paved pedestrian and bicycle 52-mile trail that connects the Commonwealth’s past and present capitals of Jamestown and Richmond along the Scenic Route 5 corridor. Over 1 million people used this trail in 2021.

This accolade represents the hard work of so many of the Chapter members and is truly a recognition of which we can be proud. The cleanup team, which varies in number and ‘litter-pickers’ each month, is only required to ‘scour’ their mile once a quarter. Instead, coordinator Karen Hines has 6-10 members meet every month at Chickahominy Riverfront Park, wearing gloves, closed-toed shoes, sunscreen, orange vests, and carrying both water and ‘litter grabbers’, ready to clean up the trash on Capital Trail Miles 6-7. 

This activity was first created by HRC stalwart Karen Grass, whom we lost suddenly in 2020. She was an avid biking enthusiast and felt that helping to keep the Capital Trail clear of litter was not only a gift to bikers and hikers but also to the community as a whole. In her honor, we have continued this activity naming it “Karen’s Mile”, and we view this award as a tribute to her leadership and vision as well as to our commitment as a Chapter to carry on her legacy.