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​Virginia Department of Forestry: Longleaf Pine Ecosystem Restoration
 
By Jim Schroering, VDOF

In the 1600’s, longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) covered approximately 90,000,000 acres of land from eastern Texas to southeast Virginia, and it was probably the most common tree species of Virginia’s Coastal Plain.  Maintained by fire, the longleaf pine ecosystem is unique and biologically diverse.  Today, due to conversion to other pines, land clearing, lack of prescribed fires and urbanization, there are only approximately 3,000 acres of longleaf pine remaining in Virginia.  On those acres, there are fewer than 200 mature, cone producing trees.
 
The Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) has partnered with other conservation agencies, including The Nature Conservancy, the VA Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the VA Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF), the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Old Dominion University, Meadowview Biological Center and private landowners, in a concerted effort to reestablish longleaf pine in its native Virginia range.
 
Research has shown that longleaf pine grown from native Virginia seed sources thrive best in our state.  To that end, DOF and DCR recently completed pine cone collections at South Quay Natural Area Preserve in Suffolk. These cones will be shipped to a nursery in North Carolina where the cones will be processed. The seed will be dried, planted in containers and eventually shipped back to Virginia for planting in 2017.  Seedlings from cones collected in 2015 will soon arrive back in Virginia to be planted this year in Suffolk, Sussex, Isle of Wight and Southampton counties.
 
In 2005, DOF established a longleaf pine seed orchard in New Kent County. Eventually, cones from those trees will be collected and those seeds will be planted at Garland Gray nursery in Sussex County. Grafting of scion wood from mature longleaf pine trees onto the orchard stock may speed up the process of cone production. DOF hopes eventually to raise 1,000,000 longleaf pine seedlings each year at Garland Gray, enough to plant 2,000 acres of native, Virginia trees.
 
As the longleaf restoration program develops, there may be volunteer opportunities for Master Naturalists to assist in pine cone collection, grafting, weeding and outreach. Many of the program partners hold tours and field days on their properties, so you can be a part of history by participating, learning and volunteering in one of the most important ecosystem restoration projects in North America. Here are some websites that may be of interest: DOF Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForestryVA/; DCR’s Natural Heritage Program: http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/; and The Nature Conservancy’s Virginia website:
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/virginia/.

Virginia Office of Environmental Education Eliminated

By J. Michael Foreman, Director, Virginia Office of Environmental Education, VDCR

Some of our Virginia Master Naturalists have been involved with the Virginia Office of Environmental Education (VOEE), attended the statewide environmental education conferences that they organize, or participated in one of the regional environmental education teams with which they partner.  Therefore, we want to share with you that the Office of Environmental Education is being eliminated as a budget reduction measure.   

The closing date is December 1.  

While this is an informational piece to all of you, it is also an appeal for continued progress. We must not lose the ground we have gained. Our staff here has been successful moving environmental education forward in the Commonwealth. Our national analysis 2 years ago showed successful states had the following combination of programs and policies. First, they had state support. Second, a not for profit entity to create opportunities, advocate for issues and provide professional development. Third, there existed some sort of certification to provide a consistent basis for teaching content and pedagogy. Inherent is the collaborative relationship with each state’s Department of Education. Virginia was on its way toward those success metrics. Also, please remember the OEE is listed in the Code of Virginia under Section 10.1.
 
Many of the pieces of this progress will fall away as we are eliminated. Programmatic areas/topics such as Virginia Naturally, Adopt-a-Stream, professional development and training, our Collective Impact Reporting function, support of the newly-formed Virginia Association for Environmental Education (VAEE) and continued participation/support of the Virginia Resource Use Education Council (VRUEC), our march toward a credible and nationally-leading EE Professional Development Certification Program to name a few will probably not be supported in the same way as it has been. We will have the list of what is being kept and worked on by the Agency by the December 1st date.
 
Here is our appeal. The EE profession needs you to consider stepping up individually, as an academic institution, as an organization to incorporate these programs or pieces of programs. We are sure there are differing priorities among our stakeholder base. While we may not agree on every aspect and how to move forward, to have our Office go away and the rest of us not consider what is left and moving forward would be disheartening. Additionally, this would not help our Commonwealth’s citizens be better stewards of the environment we all cherish.

Practically speaking, our annual EE conference scheduled for mid-November will proceed as planned. 
 
Again, our deepest thanks for your work efforts and sharing through these years. We’ll see everyone soon.

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality: Monitoring and Improving Water Quality

​Restoring or improving water quality in Virginia’s rivers and streams is one of the agency’s top priorities. This is accomplished through water quality monitoring, assessments of the water quality data to identify impaired waters, and a number of regulatory and non-regulatory, incentive-based approaches to restore water quality. Success occurs when impaired waters have been restored or exhibit great improvements because of the implementation of pollution controls. A map and summary of some 20 success stories illustrating a long-term commitment to partnerships among local, state, federal and private stakeholders in Virginia is now available to view.
 
Improvements to water quality are also made possible through the Virginia Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund.  The Fund provides low-interest loans to local governments for needed improvements at publicly-owned wastewater treatment facilities and/or collection systems. The Fund now includes agricultural best management practices, Brownfield renewals, living shorelines, land conservation, stormwater and other water quality improvement projects. The State Water Control Board will be meeting in December to determine the final project list of loan recipients for water projects.  Here is the draft Project Priority List for funding.   DEQ, on behalf of the State Water Control Board (SWCB) administers the program and the Virginia Resources Authority serves as the financial manager.
 
The annual 2016 water monitoring plan is now available to view. The plan summarizes the water quality monitoring activities conducted at more than 1,000 sites each calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December and contains detailed information on DEQ’s monitoring activities including the station locations, specific conditions, frequency of monitoring and costs. A station list by county identifies the specific sample site of each station including important data helpful when using U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps or state watershed boundary maps. DEQ’s efforts are supplemented through the work of citizen monitors, including a number of VMN chapters. 

​Connecting with the Public at GO Fest
The VMN-Roanoke Chapter participated in the local Go Outside Festival Oct 14-16.  The Go Outside Festival, presented by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is an annual event to encourage healthy, active outside recreation. By combining the things outdoor enthusiasts love – camping, music, gear, races, and demos, and a beautiful outdoor setting – GO Fest is a celebration of everything outdoors. With more than 16 Chapter members covering shifts throughout the weekend, we shared our passion for the natural world and our knowledge with hundreds of folks. We demonstrated our education and outreach functions, as well as our citizen science contributions with live macro invertebrate lessons, and signed people up for not only our own classes, but stream monitoring as well.

New VMNs in Prince William County
​VMN Merrimac Farm Chapter just concluded our 2016 session of 11 enthusiastic candidates. At the VMN statewide conference, one of our newest graduates, Tucker Caldwell, photographer extraordinaire, won 3rd place in the Virginia Flora and Fauna contest.

Awards and a BioBlitz for the Peninsula Chapter
The VMN Peninsula Chapter has several laurels to share this quarter.  Volunteers Brad Halcums and Pam Courtney were honored for their volunteer hours and contributions to the Virginia Living Museum, a significant local partner for the chapter.
Chapter president Daina Henry was recognized as an outstanding volunteer at the James River Association’s River Raft Up.
In August, the Peninsula Chapter conducted a BioBlitz of Lucas Creek in Newport News.  Ten VMN volunteers catalogued flora and fauna, collected water samples, and tested salinity.  This resulted in a comprehensive map of the creek, and possible pollution areas to be further investigated.  The event is now being considered by other James River Association monitoring groups for their local creeks.

​Paw Path Pollinator Gardens
On Oct 1st, about 20 people from the Martinsville Garden Club, Garden Study Club, Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists spent the morning at the Smith River Sports complex, planting the Paw Path Pollinator Gardens.  C.D. Prillaman, a local landscaper, volunteered to bring a power auger, which made quick work of the over 300 holes required.  Native wildflowers, native trees and native shrubs were planted in the four new beds, flanking the entrance and exit to the Paw Path and in the woods along the dog walking trail.  Gateway Streetscape, from Martinsville, volunteered to water the plants and arrived in a large water truck.  The Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) installed a new split rail fence at the entrance, The DGIF Habitat Partners sign was installed at the entrance. Members from the two garden clubs are developing a long term maintenance procedure and will identify local organizations to keep the gardens looking nice. 
 
The concept for the Paw Path Pollinator Gardens started back in January of 2016, with Judy Ware, Conservation Chair for the Martinsville Garden Club.  Judy recruited Kathy Fell, from the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists, to lead the garden design team.  Several members from Martinsville Garden Club and Garden Study Club met with Kathy to learn how to design a pollinator garden.  The team decided on about 50 different species of native wildflowers, native trees and native shrubs, of various heights, to provide a garden with continuous bloom from spring through fall.
 
On April 30th, over 40 volunteers from the Martinsville Garden Club, Garden Study Club, Master Naturalists, Master Gardeners, and two local Girl Scout troops spent the morning preparing the beds.  Kathy provided a demonstration on how to use newspapers and mulch to kill the existing grass and recycle the nutrients into the soil.  Two mountains of mulch and a truck load of recycled newspapers were quickly laid in place.  The team did an excellent job.  There were almost no weeds in the beds when we returned in October to plant the gardens.
 
We are working with a local Eagle Scout candidate and his troop to build some interpretive signs for the gardens. Students from Magna Vista High School built a number of “insect hotels”, designed to attract native pollinators.  

Show Some Pollinator Love with a “Protect Pollinators” License Plate

Shared from the VMN Arlington Regional Chapter’s blog, posted on September 9, 2016

The efforts of VMN Arlington Regional Chapter’s own Samantha Gallagher just keep generating wonderful benefits for pollinators. Samantha has always loved bees and other pollinators, advocating for them from a young age. When she moved to Virginia a few years ago, she learned that the state had a specialty license plate for wildflowers, but not for pollinators. So she decided to do something about it. Using her skills as a graphic artist, Samantha designed a custom plate that features Virginia native pollinators, and in 2010, began the long process to gain approval for a Protect Pollinators license plate.

Once she submitted the proposal to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, the hardest part of the process began: getting 450 people to commit to purchasing the license plate and pay the specialty-plate fee in advance. The effort took four long years, with Samantha attending Earth Day activities, nature festivals, and any event even vaguely connected with pollinators. During that time she also kept in touch with those who pledged to buy the plate with her upbeat reassurances that it would become a reality.

After Samantha gathered the required applications, she still needed a state legislator to sponsor a bill to approve the pollinator plate. She found a perfect ally in someone who had already introduced pro-pollinator legislation: Virginia Senator Creigh Deeds. In January 2014, Deeds introduced the bill “to authorize the issuance of special license plates for supporters of pollinator conservation bearing the legend: PROTECT POLLINATORS.” On April 6, 2014, the bill became law.
While this was a wonderful accomplishment, it isn’t the end of the story.

In the summer of 2014, Nicole Hamilton of Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy had a brilliant idea. She had watched with despair as medians filled with milkweed and other wildflowers were mowed time and time again. She wondered: Can we simply change the mowing schedule to allow this valuable resource to continue growing for migrating Monarchs? And, ideally, use medians along Virginia’s highways to plant more milkweed and other native flowering pollinator plants as well? She contacted the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) regarding changes to the mowing schedule for existing patches of milkweed and scheduled a meeting with VDOT’s vegetation management. She invited Samantha to attend the initial meeting as well; while Nicole could speak about the Monarchs, Samantha could speak about our native bees.

VDOT was excited about the opportunity, but there was an issue of funding for digging up existing fescue in medians and creating new plantings. The pollinator license plates were discussed as a potential fundraiser for what would eventually become VDOT’s Pollinator Habitat Program. This program provides for naturalized areas planted with native  pollinator species along state-maintained roadways and also creates meadows and gardens with informative signage at park-and-rides and rest areas. [http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/pollinator_habitat_program.asp]

To make changes to the existing legislation, Samantha contacted local Senator George Barker, who agreed to sponsor an amendment to ensure that the revenue from the pollinator plate would be used strictly for the Pollinator Habitat Program. In July 2016, with more than 5,000 plates now on the road, the pollinator plates officially began generating revenue for the new program.
​
To learn how to get your own Protect Pollinators license plate and find out more about why this effort is so important, visit Samantha’s pollinator plate website at: http://www.pollinatorplates.com/. To read the full story of Samantha’s efforts to make the pollinator plate a reality, see Tom Sherman’s article, “The Bees, Creigh Deeds, and the DMV,” in The Zebra: http://thezebra.org/the-bees-creigh-deeds-and-the-dmv/.
​

This year marked the fourth annual photo contest held at the Virginia Master Naturalist statewide conference.  This contest acknowledges the wonderful talent that exists in our membership, as well as the important role that photography can play in teaching and learning about natural resources.  Each chapter was allowed to submit one photo to each of three categories: Virginia Flora, Fauna, and Other Species; Virginia Landscapes and Habitats, and Virginia Master Naturalists in Action.  Many chapters had internal competitions to select their winners. 

All entries were displayed at the statewide conference, and guest judges visit to select the award winners.  This year’s guest judges included:

• Karen Dillon – freelance reporter, columnist, and editor for the Laker Weekly
• Catriona Tudor Erler – internationally recognized freelance garden author, photographer, and speaker
• James Erler – specialist in architectural photography, developer of a photo database system for garden photography

And, without further ado, here are the 2016 photo contest winners!  See the bottom of the article for a slide show of many of the winning photos.

Virginia Flora, Fauna, and Other Species
First Place: “A Brighter Day” by Robin Jordan, Roanoke Valley Chapter
Second Place: “Swallowtails in Flight” by John Bunch, Historic Southside Chapter
Third Place: “Velvet Sunset in Big Meadows” by Tucker Caldwell, Merrimac Farm Chapter
Honorable Mention: “Fishing Spider in Tree” by Nancy Joel, Northern Neck Chapter
Honorable Mention: “Tree Swallow” by Mary Foster, Southwestern Piedmont Chapter

Virginia Landscapes and Habitats
First Place: “Ebb and Flow” by Arlene Crabbe-Kilduff, Northern Neck Chapter
Second Place: “King’s Creek” by Sara Lewis, Historic Rivers Chapter
Third Place: “Teaching Marsh” by Daina Henry, Peninsula Chapter
Honorable Mention: “Serenity Sunset” by Emmalee Smith, Pocahontas Chapter
Honorable Mention: “September Morning” by Joe Dupuis, Roanoke Valley Chapter

Virginia Master Naturalists in Action
First Place: “Getting Down and Dirty” by Capt. Debbie Ritter, Eastern Shore Chapter
Second Place: “Vernal Pool Monitoring” by Elisabeth Wilkins, Peninsula Chapter
Third Place: “Wild Thing…You Make My Heart Sing” by Patty Maloney, Historic Rivers Chapter

By Portia Belden, Certified Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer, Historic Rivers Chapter

It’s an amazing feat to produce a blockbuster film that captures the awe and curiosity of viewers, a film that raises questions and promotes discussion, a film that begs for sequels. The Historic Rivers Chapter has accomplished such a cinematic wonder with their Wildlife Camera Trap Project. 

The Historic Rivers Chapter has an on-going collaboration with our local sponsor, York River State Park, as well as the Department of Conservation and Recreation, one which emphasizes conservation of natural resources. We knew that there was a critical need for photographic evidence of the existence, activity, behavior, and habitat of the wildlife within the park. With a first-time director (Dean Shostak), inexperienced (wildlife) camera crews (at least 24 fellow Master Naturalists), untested equipment (unknown detection needs and capabilities) and filming in a vast, biologically diverse location (York River State Park, over 2,500 acres), we began setting cameras in March, 2015, using game trails as location guides. We recorded GPS coordinates and habitat location. Cameras were re-located approximately every 3 weeks. When retrieve
d, each camera typically produced 100-200 images and videos. 

Despite areas difficult to access and the steep learning curve of new technology, our cameras successfully provided photographic evidence of wildlife that has been sighted and anecdotally noted for years at York River State Park—deer, otter, beaver, coyote, fox, and even bobcat; thus not only confirming the existence and territory of these animals but also providing park biologists a means to assess animal health and critical habitat information for future bike path and campsite planning. Park visitors can be guided to observe animals and/or their tracks.  Chapter outreach will include working with the park on public exhibitions/presentation of the images and videos. With the data, we are also proud to be developing a new and very unique spreadsheet which will provide images and territory information for any given species with the click of a mouse.  
Our first year of filming wrapped up in March, 2016. We have discussed adding more cameras and, given our initial success, we hope to expand our efforts to include other Virginia state parks. Our project is a blockbuster indeed!