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Throughout 2015, we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Virginia Master Naturalist program.  We’ve released an infographic to communicate all that our volunteers have done over the past decade, we launched our first ever annual campaign, and now we bring to you something a little different – the Virginia Master Naturalist Program’s 10th Anniversary Trivia Contest!

How much do you really know about the Virginia Master Naturalist program?  Maybe you know some basics, such as who our sponsoring agencies are and where our chapters are located.  How about the finer details, like which species have been featured on the recertification pins or the name of our newest chapter?  Test your knowledge by participating in our trivia contest.  The questions are listed below, but you’ll need to go to the trivia contest survey page to submit your answers.

The contest rules include:

• Responses must be entered, along with requested contact information, into the online survey form by Wednesday, September 30.
• On October 1, we will compile the entries that have 100% correct answers.  We then will randomly select 3 entries from this group to receive limited edition Virginia Master Naturalist logo items.  More info on those coming soon!
• Other correct respondents will be recognized on the VMN blog on or shortly after October 1.  We will also post the correct responses there.
• Legitimate sources for finding the answers include your fellow VMN volunteers, program partners and sponsors, social media, VMN publications and website, or your own memory.  You may not ask program staff (Alycia, Michelle, or Tiffany) for the answers.
• VMN program staff and current or former Steering and Executive Committee members are not eligible for the prizes, but they can still be recognized on the blog if they participate.

The Questions:
1.     We now have annual statewide or regional conferences for the VMN program.  They are a time to come together to celebrate accomplishments of our volunteers, explore a new area of the state, and participate in continuing education.  In what city and in which year was the first VMN statewide conference held?  

2.     At the beginning of the program, we started new chapters in batches.  How many chapters were started in the first wave or cohort of VMN chapters? 

3.     We are fortunate to have many Virginia state agencies supporting our program.  List each of the seven state agency sponsors of the VMN program by name and indicate which one has joined most recently.

4.     We have been using the same logo since close to the beginning of the program.  What is the scientific name of the organism featured in the VMN program logo?

5.     VMN volunteers who re-certify by completing 40 hours of volunteering and 8 hours of continuing education each year now receive special pins with Virginia species.  What five species have been featured on VMN recertification pins?  List them by common name.

6.     Choosing a chapter name can sometimes be hard!  Which VMN chapter changed its name a year or two after getting started?  Identify both its former and its current name.

7.     Our program has grown quickly!  How many VMN volunteers had been trained between the beginning of the program and the end of 2014?

8.     Representatives from our sponsoring agencies provide input into the program through two committees.  Name three current members of the VMN Executive Committee.

9.     In 2013 and 2014, we conducted a needs assessment and strategic planning process for the program to guide us through our next five years.  Name one goal identified for the VMN program to achieve by 2020 in its strategic plan.

10.  We’re still reaching new parts of the state!  What is the name of the newest VMN chapter?

Submit your answers and enter the contest at http://tinyurl.com/qzvy5wx!

We are excited to announce the addition of the seventh sponsor to the VMN program: the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Center for Coastal Resources Management!  See below for the official press release.

Virginia Master Naturalist program welcomes new sponsoring agency

BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug. 3, 2015 – The Virginia Master Naturalist program (http://www.virginiamasternaturalist.org) — a statewide volunteer training and service program providing education, outreach, and service to better manage natural resources and natural areas in Virginia — welcomes the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Center for Coastal Resources Management (http://ccrm.vims.edu) as its newest sponsoring agency.

Based in Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment (http://cnre.vt.edu), the Virginia Master Naturalist program started in 2005 with financial support from five sponsoring agencies: Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Virginia Museum of Natural History, and the state departments of Conservation and Recreation, Game and Inland Fisheries, and Forestry. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality was added as a sponsoring agency in 2010. Program volunteers actively were engaged in that department’s Citizen Water Quality Monitoring Program, a collaboration that has strengthened over time.

“We are excited to have the Center for Coastal Resources Management join our growing network of sponsoring agencies and partnering organizations around the state,” said Alycia Crall (http://frec.vt.edu/people/crall/index.html), statewide coordinator for the Virginia Master Naturalist program. “With a rapidly growing program, we continue to look for ways to diversify our funding support. The center’s contribution will further support that growth and advance the mission of our program, as well as that of the center throughout the commonwealth.”

The Center for Coastal Resources Management develops and supports integrated and adaptive management of coastal zone resources. To fulfill this mission, the center undertakes research, provides advisory service, and conducts outreach education, including Master Naturalist training courses for coastal and estuarine ecology and management in collaboration with other Virginia Institute of Marine Science departments.

“Supporting the Virginia Master Naturalist program is a logical extension of our outreach efforts,” added Center Director Carl Hershner Jr. “There is a growing need for educated citizens to support various local and state government initiatives aimed at restoring the Chesapeake Bay and adapting to climate change. These volunteers are well positioned to serve the commonwealth in these roles, and we look forward to helping make that happen.”

Karen Duhring, the center’s outreach and training coordinator, will represent the agency on the Virginia Master Naturalist program’s steering and executive committees. “The annual Virginia Institute of Marine Science training classes for Master Naturalists have been well received and are a pleasure for us to conduct,” she said. “Expanding our relationship as a sponsoring agency will allow us to connect the program to more continuing education courses and opportunities. We are also willing to assist any chapter interested in developing citizen science programs related to coastal and wetland issues.”

The College of Natural Resources and Environment (http://www.cnre.vt.edu/) at Virginia Tech, which consistently ranks among the top three programs of its kind in the nation, advances the science of sustainability. Programs prepare the future generation of leaders to address the complex natural resources issues facing the planet. World-class faculty lead transformational research that complements the student learning experience and impacts citizens and communities across the globe on sustainability issues, especially as they pertain to water, climate, fisheries, wildlife, forestry, sustainable biomaterials, ecosystems, and geography. As a land-grant university, Virginia Tech serves the Commonwealth of Virginia in teaching, research, and Virginia Cooperative Extension (http://www.ext.vt.edu/).

Related Links

• Celebrating a decade of Virginia Master Naturalists (http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2015/04/040915-cnre-masternaturalist10.html)
• Master Naturalist program grant to enhance training curriculum (http://www.cnre.vt.edu/magazine/articles/college-news/201502/master-naturalist-program-grant-to-enhance-training-curriculum.html)
• Virginia Master Naturalists serve as stewards, teachers, and citizen scientists (http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/impact/2014-11-24-master/naturalists.html)

This story can be found on the Virginia Tech News website: 
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2015/08/080315-cnre-masternaturalistagency.html 

By Ann Regn, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

At the State Fair of Virginia, September 25 – October 4, VMN sponsors and other state agencies are cooperating on a professionally-designed, multi-building exhibit called Living on the Water: Experience the Chesapeake Bay. Master Naturalists may sign up to guide State Fair visitors through displays about the ecology and resource management of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

Employees from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Forestry, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the Department of Historic Resources, the Marine Resources Commission, the Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the Virginia Museum of Natural History will also be volunteering at many of the stations in the exhibit, but need VMN volunteers’ help to share even more expertise and enthusiasm with visitors. There will be numerous stations that may be of interest to Master Naturalists, including topics such as native plants, watershed management, oyster ecology, conservation education, historic resources, and the Chesapeake Bay Agreement.

If there is a specific topic on which you would like to educate others, or if there is a topic that you want to avoid, please leave a comment. Effort will be made to accommodate your interests. Prior to the Fair you will have an opportunity to view a webinar and will receive talking points and background information for your station; therefore, previous experience with each topic is not required. Each volunteer will receive a parking pass, an entry ticket and earn 7 hours of volunteer hours (4.5 hours for work at the fair and 2.5 hours for prep and reporting). Please consider signing up for a shift at the State Fair—the Bay will thank you!

To sign up for a volunteer slot, go to http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0449aea62ea3f85-state and sign up before September 8.

Article by Kathy Fell, VMN-Southwestern Piedmont Chapter

If you look behind the Martinsville Branch of the Blue Ridge Regional Library, you will find a new habitat demonstration garden where there used to be a lawn.  Martinsville Branch Manager, Jim Woods, is looking forward to using the garden as a teaching tool to “make our patrons and guests aware of the wonder just outside the big bay window in the Family Fun Zone …and encourage inquiry about the plants and animals seen living in our backyard.”  This new “Secret Garden” is a collaboration between the local Library, the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalist Program and the Habitat Partners© Program of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF). 

The garden includes about two dozen species of colorful native plants such as milkweeds, bee balm, and asters.  Species were selected to provide continuous bloom from spring to fall and include all colors of the rainbow.  These types of plants attract and provide food for important pollinators such as butterflies, moths and bees.  The insects, in turn, will attract many birds that rely on this source of protein to feed their young.

The idea for the garden dates back to September 2012 at the Virginia Master Naturalist state conference.  The Library grounds were used as a possible habitat improvement site for a class taught by Carol Heiser, Education Manager and Habitat Education Coordinator at VDGIF.  A Chapter member, Jim Tobin, attended that class.  This year, he approached the library with a few others from the Chapter to see if we might implement some of the ideas. 

VDGIF provided training and technical assistance to the Master Naturalists in the early stages of the project.  The garden, designed by Chapter member Kathy Fell, replaces all the grass with a pollinator garden and discovery trail.  Storm water run-off and erosion were issues on the site.  The central and lower areas of the garden are graded to mimic the function of a rain garden.  A true rain garden is sized according to the volume of rain calculated to run off a site during a storm event and is constructed using a special soil mix that helps to quickly absorb the rainwater within a few days.  The space at the library was not large enough to accommodate a fully engineered rain garden.  Instead, the design includes smaller water retention areas at both the top and the lower part of the garden, to be planted with wet-loving native plant species.