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We are thrilled to recognize the 2020 achievements of our VMN volunteers and chapters.  Those achievements are especially laudable in light of all the challenges of 2020!  Each of these volunteers and chapters were recognized at our 2020 End-of-Year event.  You can view the video online.  

New VMN Volunteer Award: Stanley Barlow, VMN Historic Southside Chapter
This award recognizes a new volunteer who completed basic training in 2020 and has been highly engaged, despite the difficult circumstances of the year.  Stanley started the basic training course with the Historic Southside Chapter in January 2020.  Stanley focused his volunteer service at Windsor Castle Park, a public part in Smithfield, VA.  Among his activities was maintaining a newly planted longleaf pine demonstration plot at the park, providing extensive labor and materials to protect the trees from deer and weeds.  In total, Stanley contributed more than 150 hours of service in 2020, even though it was just his first year of being a VMN volunteer.  He also completed 9 hours of continuing education, and therefore achieved recognition as a Certified Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer.

VMN Chapter Advisor Award: Joe Ferdinandsen, VMN Merrimac Farm Chapter and Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources
This award recognizes a Chapter Advisor who has made significant and noteworthy contributions to a VMN chapter.  Joe is a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) Supervisor for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, overseeing five WMAs, including his chapter’s home base of Merrimac Farm WMA.  Joe keeps the chapter informed about activities at Merrimac Farm and provides guidance on the projects the volunteers do there, and provides advice on the chapter’s basic training curriculum.  His chapter describes him as “just plain easy to work with, and a real tribute to the professionalism of Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources.”

VMN Chapter Project in a Pandemic Award: Habitat Heroes education program, VMN Holston Rivers Chapter
This award recognizes a project that has made significant and noteworthy positive impacts for natural resource education, citizen science, and/or stewardship this year, particularly in light of the pandemic.  Our focus is on projects for which the VMN chapter played a significant, unique role in creation, implementation, and leadership.

With Smyth County Schools not in session on Wednesdays due to the pandemic, there was an opportunity to provide an environmental education opportunity for area youth.  “Habitat Heroes” met weekly for six weeks at Hungry Mother State Park.  Each week was a different nature theme, with hands-on experiences, journaling, crafts, presentations, and exploration.  The overarching theme revolved around reminding kids that the wonders of nature are in peril because of a loss of habitat: but we have the power to be habitat heroes by creating and protecting natural habitat areas.  The Holston Rivers Chapter of VMN partnered with Hungry Mother State Park, and VMN volunteers assisted with teaching, supervision, preparation of slide shows, organization, creation of educational games, and general interaction.  The program was open to the unexpected joys and lessons of being outside – and away from computers – for a while.  Every week, all the kids and adults struck a hero’s pose and shouted “Habitat Heroooooes!” And after 6 weeks, it’s fair to say that the adults agreed with the kids that it was sad for their time together to come to an end.

VMN Chapter Connection and Co
mmunication Award: Old Rag Chapter
This award recognizes a chapter that worked hard to successfully keep chapter members connected this year.  

The Old Rag Master Naturalist Chapter expanded outreach to both members and the community through a variety efforts, notably a substantial renovation of their website, a revised and updated newsletter emailed to members and non-members, Zoom meetings, promotion of projects that comply with pandemic constraints, and revision of its Basic Training program.  Their expanded communications included weekly nature quizzes, a new website column about the chapter’s sponsors and partners, monthly interviews with members making noteworthy contributions to the the VMN mission, and more.

VMN Basic Training Adaptation Award: Rivanna Chapter
This award recognizes a chapter that worked hard to successfully adapt their 2020 basic training course to the changing COVID circumstances while still meeting VMN training guidelines.

The Rivanna Chapter had already held six sessions of their basic training course when they had to stop meeting in person.  Without missing a week, they seamlessly transitioned to Zoom-based classes and self-guided field experiences with written reflections by the trainees.  The training committee composed and reviewed many extra questionaires and assessments for the trainees.  They held tutorials to get instructors, trainees, and other chapter members up to speed on hosting and participating in Zoom meetings.  Creativity, flexibility, and responsiveness characterized the collaboration that resulted in the graduation of 23 trainees, despite the challenges.  Based on evaluation feedback from the trainees, the training committee felt confident in planning a 2021 basic training course with online classroom sessions and in-person field opportunities in small groups. 

VMN Volunteer of the Year Award: Robin Duska, Fairfax Chapter
This award recognizes a volunteer who has made outstanding contributions to natural resource education, citizen science, stewardship, and/or chapter administration.  Criteria we consider include the impacts the volunteer has made on natural resource conservation and education, demonstrated leadership by the volunteer, and impacts the volunteer has made on the local chapter and its volunteers, with a focus on the last 1-2 years of service. 

Robin Duska is a leader in promoting the creation and conservation of wildlife habitat and in educating the community about the importance of habitat.  She served as co-director of the Audubon at Home program, and as an AAH ambassador, certified 400 acres of Reston, VA’s natural areas as Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuaries.  She has co-edited the Reston Association State of the Environment Report since its inception and helped create the Reston Biophilic Pledge. Her educational activities have also included leading bird walks, creating educational materials about habitat and threats to birds, and organizing webinars on topics such as preventing bird-window collisions.

Additional Nominees for the 2020 VMN Volunteer of the Year Award

Thank you to all who took the time to nominate these outstanding volunteers, and thank you to all of the nominees for the great work that they do!  Reading through the nominations, it was clear that these volunteers have made a conservation difference, but also touched the lives of many individuals in a positive way.

For additional inspiring stories of volunteer activities, see our post on 2020 Impactful Projects.

Central Piedmont Chapter Volunteer Ty Smith Contributes Unique Herp Observations

​–Submitted by JoAnn Jones, VMN Central Piedmont Chapter

What’s the first thing you think about when you hear the term “road cruising”? For Ty Smith, of Central Piedmont VMN, “road-cruising” is a nighttime activity that often yields many sightings of herps! Ty’s passion for amphibians and reptiles keeps him cruising the Central Piedmont and beyond, always on the lookout for creatures with scutes, scales, and moist skins.  He is often accompanied by Evan Spears, another member of the Central Piedmont Chapter.

In 2020, Ty took his road cruising to a new level as he began his own personal Herp BIG YEAR! This took place mostly in Virginia, although he did manage to get out of the state several times, when work and pandemic conditions allowed. Ty documented each sighting on iNaturalist, and by the end of the year, had amassed an unprecedented 123 herp species in Virginia, including a number of rarities! This gave him the distinction of being in the #1 spot of iNat’s Virginia leaderboard for herp species in 2020. Included in that number are all 28 native species of Virginia frogs and toads, as well as an invasive Cuban Tree Frog (found at the Lowe’s in Farmville). Ty recounted that his most challenging find was the Leatherback Turtle. He was able to ID and photograph the turtle while on a pelagic trip off the coast of Virginia Beach.

Ty is our resident herp expert in the field, and is always ready and willing to share his knowledge with our membership and the general public. He can be officially termed the Herpetology Good Will Ambassador!

Check out Ty’s observations online at:
​https://www.inaturalist.org/people/tysmith
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ty-smith-s-herp-big-year-2020

Northern Neck Chapter Volunteers Kevin Howe and Betsy Washington Offer a Virtual Tour of DCR Natural Area Preserve
 
–Submitted by Camille Grabbe, VMN Northern Neck Chapter
​
            For several years, the Northern Neck Master Naturalists have partnered with the Native Plant Society to offer a New Year’s Day hike for the general public through a local nature preserve, Hickory Hollow.  The walks were led and narrated by members of these two groups.  Of course, Covid protocols in 2020 forced a change to the plans.  Options were discussed:  perhaps having multiple walks, with folks registering for specified times, so group size could be limited; maybe someone could hike the trails with a drone, recording and narrating as he walked and sharing that via Zoom; or just giving up on the tradition for this past New Year’s Day.  Betsy and Kevin, retired biologists and enthusiastic VMN volunteers, had an even better idea.  The two of them walked the trails in Hickory Hollow in early January, taking photographs of interesting plants and animals along the way.  They created a PowerPoint presentation, titled “Winter Flora and Fauna of Hickory Hollow,” which would be shared via Zoom.  The local weekly newspaper published two articles about it, and Betsy and Kevin narrated their presentation at a general meeting for Virginia Master Naturalists to which the public was also invited.  Over 40 people attended the Zoom event, equally split between VMN volunteers and the public, and the feedback from everyone was glowing.  Hickory Hollow saw more traffic than normal in the weeks that followed, as everyone was eager to see for themselves, in person, the natural world that Betsy and Kevin had so enthusiastically shared through their outstanding photos and their lively interpretation.  The presentation continues to inspire others, as both the local Audubon Society and the Northern Neck Master Naturalists have the recording posted on their websites.

Recognizing a Chapter Leader Who Always Steps Up: John Narney, Northern Neck Chapter

-Submitted by Camille Grabbe, VMN Northern Neck Chapter​

John has been a member of the Northern Neck Master Naturalists since 2010.  His wife had completed BTC the year before, and the chapter was in need of more trainees for the 2010 BTC, so she recruited John.  This is, perhaps, the first indication of his volunteer attitude.  John completed BTC and immediately immersed himself in the projects of the chapter.  He became the Outreach Booth coordinator and served in that role for ten years, carting the materials and setting up at numerous places throughout the Northern Neck.  He also began his tenure as newsletter editor at this time and continued in that role for at least 6 years.  Like most naturalists, by 2011 he had discovered his real passion:  bluebirds!  He began coo
rdinating three trails in the northern area of our chapter.  He recruited, trained, and scheduled volunteers, put together their binders and needed equipment, maintained the trails, built and cleaned the boxes, gave public presentations on bluebirds, and prepared the bluebird data for the annual report.  
Our chapter, having been formed in 2007, was still in its “toddlerhood” with less than three dozen members when John joined.  Often members needed to take on several roles in order to get everything done.  John coordinated the first few “VMN Photo Contests” for the chapter–prior to the days of digital photography!  He has been a trail monitor for the DGIF (now DWR) Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail since that program began, trail monitor at the Voorhees Preserve (a Nature Conservancy property) for four or five years, and completed the MEWE (Meaningful Educational Watershed Experience) training, traveling across Virginia to attend the sessions.
  
By 2012, John had become a Board member.  Since that time, he has served on the Board in numerous roles, including newsletter editor, projects chair (seven years), chapter email coordinator (nine years), membership chair (two years,) and VMN contact point (two years).  In eleven years as a Master Naturalist, he has logged almost 1,000 volunteer hours and has held 36 terms in a leadership role in the chapter.  Although “retiring” from the Board this year, John was gracious enough to stay on as the VMN contact in order to help with the chapter’s transition to the new volunteer system, “Better Impact.”  

When there was a need, John was always one to step up and say “Okay, I will do that.”  We are grateful to John for immersing himself in numerous chapter activities in order for it to develop into the vital and dynamic chapter that it is now.  Those of us who are “newer” members may not always realize what it has taken in the past to be where we are today.  John is noteworthy for his dedication, commitment, and service to the chapter and to the mission of the Virginia Master Naturalists.

Rivanna Master Naturalist Doug Rogers Puts His Drone Piloting Skills to Work for Conservation
–Submitted by Karen Mulder, VMN Rivanna Chapter

During 2020, Citizen Science projects garnered the most volunteer hours, due to many education and stewardship projects being postponed. This highlight focuses on a specialized talent a volunteer used this year to bring data to several organizations. RMN Doug Rogers used his unique ability of being a certified drone pilot to participate in several projects, collecting data for the Rivanna Conservation Alliance (RCA), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and other non-profit organizations. In addition, many Master Naturalists enjoyed his photos and videos through his posts on the RMN Facebook site.

Doug had 50 hours split between C-Rivanna Conservation Alliance Citizen Science and the
C-RMN Citizen Science Umbrella Project.  For RCA, Doug was able to get elusive landowner permissions in order to photograph the confluence of several rivers. It was interesting to see in real time the different sediment load contributions as the rivers joined together. Also for RCA, Doug photographed a series of ponds at their Scheier Natural Area. This data was helpful in planning a pond restoration program.

​For TNC Doug took shots of the marsh at the Cumberland Marsh Preserve – sunrise, low water and high water shots. TNC also requested photos of a new 1,50-acre parcel that had just been donated to TNC in Highland County. TNC needed several shots of different pieces of the property, and they specifically wanted shots of a stand of Red Spruce trees on a very distant and high (3,700′) ridge, which was not easily reached by vehicle, but Doug got it all done. Doug will do additional work with TNC as he has signed up for the training to do aerial mapping of TNC properties using their software. Part of the future work will involve documenting controlled burns.  Doug also took photos for the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, a 501(c)3 Virginia non-profit, and a video for the Hanging Rock Hawk Watch, another 501(c)3 non-profit in Gap Mills, WV.

This unique skill brings another tool to citizen science data collection. Doug truly has the skill and passion for this work. Asked what motivates him, Doug stated “I love the natural world, its interconnected ecosystems and all of the wildlife that make a living out there – with a special fondness for birds. As a child, I lived on a subsistence farm in King George County, VA and learned to have a reverence for the air, the water and the land. Our very lives depended on it at a very personal level. Being a grandfather, I hope to leave some of that wonder of nature that I feel, to my grandchildren and all who come after me. I want to make a difference. And I love photography, especially when I can show the wonders of the natural world to others in ways that enhance their understanding and encourage them to help preserve natural places.

We invited Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers to share a photo to illustrate their connection to nature in 2020, the year of the global pandemic.  Here we share their images and reflections.  Most of the photos were taken in volunteers’ backyards or at local parks, demonstrating how the wonders of nature can be observed all around us.  

Thank you to everyone who shared a photo!  We think we included them all, but if we missed yours due to a technical error, we apologize.

Captions are not provided for this video because there is no speaking.  There is piano music playing in the background.

Submitted by Monica Hoel and Tanya Hall, VMN-Holston Rivers Chapter

The Holston Rivers Chapter of VMN had purchased the rights to do a showing of the Freshwaters Illustrated film, “Hidden Rivers.” The intention was to show it during Abingdon’s famous Virginia Highlands Festival in August, but the festival, like everything else in 2020, got cancelled. 

After much hand-wringing, the chapter’s sponsor, Tanya Hall (Chief Ranger for Visitor Experience at Hungry Mother State Park) suggested talking to the owner of the drive-in movie theatre that is about 4 miles from the gates to the state park. The drive-in would allow us to follow COVID-19 protocols in addition to providing a unique and fun location. Park Place Drive-In was happy to be part of the plan, and the results were overwhelming. 

The purpose of showing the film was strictly educational, but the group ended up charging a nominal fee to cover the cost of the venue and technical support (and many patrons made donations to support the project).  There was hope of having 40-50 people in the audience at the Highlands Festival, but, on a moonlit night in October, more than 85 cars (more than 160 patrons) pulled into the Park Place Drive-In to watch this beautiful movie about the rivers and aquatic life in Appalachia.  The group also showed two short films; one on bringing back brook trout to Tennessee streams and one on the Hellbender Salamander. 

To add to the fun, one of the “stars” of Hidden Rivers drove up from Chattanooga to join the fun. Casper Cox is featured in the movie talking about the importance of these rivers, and he has written a book on  river snorkeling.  He sold some books and, of course, posed for some pictures.

All in all, the event landed squarely in the “silver linings” category during these unusual times as members noted that the attendance was far greater than any of them imagined. Those in attendance texted, emailed, and added Facebook comments to thank the chapter for an event that opened their eyes to many issues — and also provided a beautiful evening under the stars.