mprysby

Do you love nature?  Are you curious about the natural world around you?  Do you want to make a difference for Virginia’s environment?  Become a Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer!  Many of our chapters are now recruiting for fall training courses.  

• Arlington Regional Chapter (applications due August 15), https://armn.org/apply/
• Banshee Reeks (accepting applications now, class starts in September), http://www.vmnbansheereeks.org/join/
• Central Piedmont Chapter (accepting applications now),  http://www.virginiamasternaturalist.org/centralpiedmont.html
• Central Rappahannock (accepting applications now, class starts August 7), http://masternaturalistcrc.blogspot.com
• Eastern Shore Chapter (applications due August 21), contact chapter representatives at mimistitt@gmail.com and barboh5@gmail.com
• Fairfax Chapter (applications due August 15),  www.vmnfairfax.org
• High Knob Chapter (now accepting applications), Contact the Chapter President at va.mn.gilliam@gmail.com and the Chapter Advisor at pmeeks@vt.edu.
• Historic Rivers Chapter (applications due August 15),  http://www.historicrivers.org
• Northern Neck Chapter (applications were due July 15 but they may still have openings), http://www.northernneckmasternaturalists.org/2017_Training_Class.html
• Southwestern Piedmont Chapter (accepting applications now, class starts August 15),  http://www.vmnh.net/virginia-master-naturalist-program

Registration for our annual statewide conference is open to all Virginia Master Naturalist members on Monday, July 17 at noon.  An email with the registration link will go out at noon from the Volunteer Management, and we will also post the registration link at that time on the conference website.  We hope VMN volunteers from across the state will be able to join us in September in Front Royal!

The Virginia Master Naturalist program’s state office is now accepting nominations for six statewide awards: Volunteer of the Year, Project of the Year (with four subcategories), and Advisor of the Year.  These awards will be judged by the VMN statewide office team and at least one VMN Steering Committee member.  We will announce and distribute the awards at our annual conference, Friday evening, September 15. 
 
To submit a nomination, please send the information requested for that particular award to Michelle Prysby, mprysby@vt.edu.  Nominations are due by August 7 at 5 pm.

​You can read about last year’s winners and nominees here!
 
Volunteer of the Year
This award is intended to recognize a volunteer who has made outstanding contributions to natural resource education, citizen science, and/or stewardship.  There is no minimum requirement for amount of hours or length of service for a volunteer to receive this award.
In your nominations, please include the following:

• Name, email address, and VMN chapter affiliation of nominator
• Name, email address, and VMN chapter affiliation of the nominee
• Description of why the nominee should receive the award, limited to 400 words.  You may choose to include a description of the individual’s service, specific examples of positive impacts made, aspects that make the individual stand out from other volunteers, and quotes from other volunteers or local partners.
• You may include examples from the individual’s entire length of service, but please place your primary focus on the last 1-2 years.

 
Project of the Year
Subcategories: Education/Outreach, Citizen Science, Stewardship, Administrative
This award is intended to recognize a chapter or individual volunteer’s project that has made significant and noteworthy positive impacts for natural resource education, citizen science, and/or stewardship within the last 1-2 years.  Nominated projects should be projects created and led by a VMN volunteer or chapter, but they may be in partnership with other entities.  We will give awards in each of four subcategories:

• Education/Outreach – Volunteer service in which VMN volunteers educate the public, such as interpretive programs at parks
• Citizen Science – Service projects involving data collection, monitoring, biological inventories, etc.
• Stewardship – Service projects to improve habitat or improve the ability of the public to access natural resources through trails, etc.
• Administrative – Projects to improve the functioning of a VMN chapter, such as re-vamping of the basic training course, mentorship programs, efforts to streamline chapter processes, etc.

 
In your nominations, please include the following:

• Name, email address, and VMN chapter affiliation of the nominator
• Name, email address, and VMN chapter affiliation for the primary VMN volunteer contact for the project
• The primary award subcategory for which you are nominating the project: Education/Outreach, Citizen Science, Stewardship, or Administrative.  The project may include aspects of multiple subcategories and you may describe these aspects in your nomination statement, but you should indicate the primary subcategory under which you want to nominate the project.
• Description of why the project should receive the award, limited to 400 words.  Please include a description of the project goals, activities completed, and impacts and outcomes for natural resources in your community and/or for your chapter.  Include the roles and contributions of VMN volunteers to the project.  Identify any significant partners for the project. 

 
Chapter Advisor of the Year
This award is intended to recognize a chapter advisor who has made significant and noteworthy contributions to a VMN chapter within the last 1-2 years. 
In your nominations, please include the following:

• Name, email address, and VMN chapter affiliation of the nominator
• Name, email address, and VMN chapter affiliation of the chapter advisor
• Description of why the chapter advisor should receive the award, limited to 400 words.  Please include specific examples of how the chapter advisor has helped the chapter run effectively, make positive impacts in the community, or otherwise achieve its goals.

​Please help us recognize the outstanding people and work of your chapters!

SAVE THE DATE! The Virginia Master Naturalist Conference will be from Sept. 15 to 17 this year!

Our 2017 VMN Statewide Conference and Training is just 5 months away, and members of the VMN-Shenandoah Chapter and VMN program staff have been busy planning the program, lining up instructors, making arrangements with the venue, and handling all the logistics to make this our biggest and best conference yet.  This is an exclusive event, open only to VMN volunteers! 

The Venue
We’ll be taking over the Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center in Front Royal, VA, where we will make use of up to 8 classroom and meeting spaces, grounds with a trail that connects to the Appalachian Trail, a large dining hall, and lodging.  The center is on top of a hill with excellent views of a beautiful part of the state.

The Program
We have approximately 40 sessions for attendees to choose from.  Here are some of the topics you can learn about:

• Black Bear Conservation with Seth Thompson of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
• Overcoming the Fear of Flora: Learning to Use the Flora of Virginia with native plant experts Marion Lobstein and Sally Anderson
• Protection and Monitoring of High Elevation Plant Species with Wendy Cass of the National Park Service
• Wood Turtle Life History, Movement Ecology, and Conservation with Jonathan Drescher-Lehman of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

In addition, we will offer field trips to the Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve, Shenandoah River State Park, the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, multiple sites in Shenandoah National Park, and other locations in the local area.

On top of all that, if you want to come early, we will have 5 different pre-conference sessions on Friday, including a program at Blandy Experimental Farm and State Arboretum.

The Traditions
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 in a new digital format .  (Note that there are limited entries per chapter; some chapters have an internal competition ahead of time 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.  

The Registration Process
A brief agenda is now posted on the conference website.  The full program will be posted in May so that you can look at the choice of sessions and pick your favorites (and back-ups, because sessions fill quickly!)  The main registration will open in mid-July.  Registration details will be sent through the Volunteer Management System once they are posted, so watch your email for that information.

We hope to see you in September!