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​I first met George Braxton last December, just a few weeks after he was hired into the new role of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR).  Since then, we have been serving together on the advisory committee for the DWR Wildlife Viewing Plan, a new management plan that will guide the agency in engaging wildlife viewers and promoting their needs.  Recently, we sat down (via Zoom) to talk about his role in the agency and DWR’s goals related to diversity and inclusion.
–Michelle Prysby

The Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer role came about when Ryan Brown, the new DWR director, highlighted diversity as a focus for the agency.  In addition, Governor Ralph Northam appointed Dr. Janice Underwood as Virginia’s Chief Diversity Officer, the first cabinet-level position of this kind not only in the Commonwealth, but in the nation.  Dr. Underwood is working to build a strategic plan for inclusion across more than 100 state agencies.  In his role at DWR, Braxton will lead the development and implementation of objectives for diversity and inclusion specific to DWR. 
 
Braxton sees his role as focusing both inward, on diversity within the agency, and outward, on broadening the agency’s constituency.  “The agency has a history of not being the most diverse organization.  People hire those they identify with.”  The goals for internal diversity are to have a diverse workforce that reflects Virginia, to have an inclusive environment in which people of different backgrounds feel they can reach their potential, and to have an equitable organization in which people have the tools and access they need to succeed.  A first step has been to empanel an ‘inclusive excellence council’ made up of people throughout DWR.  The council will be creating a strategic plan that is focused on the experience for the employee and works toward aligning the agency’s culture with its goals.
 
Looking outward, Braxton wants to expand the agency’s audience.  “Hunters, anglers, boaters, recreational shooters, and wildlife viewers—that’s our universe of people.  Previously, we have not had a strategic approach to reaching out to underrepresented groups.”  He is looking to partner with outdoor affinity groups like OutdoorAfro, Latino Outdoors, and Women Outdoors to find opportunities to help them move their agenda forward while also helping to connect them to DWR.
 
“There are some fairly daunting challenges,” says Braxton.  Expanding the agency’s “universe of people” means recruiting more people of color, women, and other underrepresented populations into all the wildlife recreation activities.  “In Virginia, much of our ethnically and racially diverse populations live in urban areas, and hunters aren’t usually third generation inner city people.”  There are also barriers of economics and access to equipment.
 
Braxton is hopeful that the external and internal efforts will work in tandem.  “We are introducing new populations to these activities like hunting and boating.  For example, from a gender perspective, women are the fastest growing population in the outdoor sports, but they are not well-represented in the Conservation Police Officer force, so the next step might be to create opportunities for that career move.”  Likewise, wildlife viewing is something that people can do even in urban areas, so efforts to help people grow their wildlife viewing interest into a hobby and then a career may aid efforts to diversify the agency’s workforce.
 
When asked about the role of volunteers like Virginia Master Naturalists in the agency’s efforts, Braxton says that volunteers can help provide more “touch points” with a wide variety of people.  He is very interested in finding ways for us to support each other with diversity and inclusion efforts.  “We do have a platform for communications, but it reaches our current constituency.  I definitely want volunteers to know we are really reliant on organizations like the Virginia Master Naturalist program to reach everyone else.  We are reliant on everyone to articulate the interest we have in making sure underrepresented groups take advantage of what Virginia has to offer in terms of the outdoors.”
 
Want to get more information on wildlife in Virginia and the conservation and education work of DWR?  Subscribe to the Notes from the Field email list.
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Adolph White was a naturalist long before he knew what one was. 
 
“I was basically a loner as a child and spent a lot of time touring through the woods and enjoying the birds, squirrels and other living things. Nature was my partner because I was a budding artist,” said White.
 
He could step out into a wild world that was “like a friend I depended on,” said White, who grew up in the Spring Grove community of Surry County, where his parents of six, Roosevelt and Ethel White, were sharecroppers. 
 
“Walking in the fields or forest, I’d commit what I saw to memory. I’d take notes, or quickly sketch a scene, then run home and improve on my drawing.” White would ponder the patterns in leaves, snow drifts, clouds and stars. 
 
He felt calm hearing cicadas sing in the pines. Intrigued at a snake disappearing in grass, he wrote a little story about that, but found his teacher was not as delighted.

And today?
 
“Adolph is interested in everything pertaining to nature,” said Barbara Eck of Glen Allen, who has watched birds and explored the outdoors with him nearly weekly for about 15 years.
 
White, 77, reflected on his passion for the environment in summer phone chats, without a clue that friends he’s made along trails and watersides were about to honor him.
 
The retired Richmond teacher was given a Friend of Nature Award for his “dedication to and care of” the purple martins at North Richmond’s Joseph Bryan Park, and using his “creativity to teach folks of all ages about these charming birds and so much more.” It cheers his “lifelong love of earth’s wonders” and calls him a “true inspiration.”
 
This surprise awaited White when he joined the shade-tree social half of Richmond Audubon’s monthly bird walk at Bryan Park on Sunday, Aug. 2. It came with thanks from Audubon, the Falls of the James Group Sierra Club and Friends of Bryan Park.
 
“This is a heart-warming situation for me,” White responded, raising the framed award high for 10 relatives and 20 friends to see. A hawk print scarf had hidden it.
 
The sit-together was billed to White as a “happy travels party” for the park’s southbound martins, so he smiled skyward and said, “Bon voyage, purple martins! I will protect you next year… Nothing messes with my birds!”
 
Guests were amused to see his cute iPad animation of a martin leaving a house. ​

It was the late Jimmy Fitzgerald of Providence Forge who oversaw installation of the first of the trio of multi-room nest houses in time for spring 2009 birds. Fitzgerald had plenty of martin gourds and houses of his own to tend and encouraged White to take the park’s martins under his wing.
 
“Jimmy and I formed a perfect friendship,” said White. They met one summer evening in 2008 in Shockoe Bottom under a sky full of swirling martins. Fitzgerald said the birds were “staging” — gathering to fortify on insects before leaving by summer’s end on a 5,000-mile flight to Brazil’s Amazon Basin. 
 
Fitzgerald invited White to see his 160-martin operation on the Chickahominy River. White began to help him there and research martins like crazy. Soon, White was sharing information with martin spectators, who came nightly to the 17th Street Farmers’ Market for six summers to see 25,000 or so birds sculpt huge tornadoes and roller coasters.
 
Battalions of martins then swooped just yards overhead to claim branches in a line of leafy Bradford pear trees at dusk.
 
Richmond officials wanted to cut the old trees, in which the birds were first noticed roosting en masse in 2007. But bird lovers in 2008 organized the Gone to the Birds Festival that brought revenue to the city and diners to the Bottom through 2013.
 
White helped at the Purple Martin Conservation Association festival booth, and children flocked to him to hear about the migration.
 
He was even among early-risers hosing the poopy sidewalks all season after the hungry birds left the trees in the mornings to forage. 
 
White recalled the crowd’s stir as Richmond’s rare peregrine falcons appeared at dusk. When a falcon caught a martin in air, the martins already tucked in the trees switched from a busy chatter to a “warning chorus that sounded like running water.” Redtail hawks going into the trees to get carry-out dinner caused a louder rush.
 
Such exciting nights and festivals ended when martins didn’t cluster downtown in 2014.
 
Before the gala at Bryan Park Aug. 2, only two or three chatty martins remained. 
Typically, White sees the birds leave this pond site a few at a time until all are gone by July 31. These join a big group in the region preparing for the pilgrimage to Brazil. With family raising done, all can be leisurely, flying 300 miles a day. Their final destinations for fall in South America vary. They rush coming north to nab the best mates, nest sites and food. Masses can be seen on weather radar each way. 
 
White said, “Just think, martins raised at our park this year are making their first trip!”  
 
Friends of Bryan Park president and Master Naturalist John Zuegner thanked White for providing park visitors the opportunity to see the special birds raise families up close for 11 years. ​

White made sure the houses don’t feed hawks, especially a grabby local Cooper’s hawk. He attached “wire porches” through which large winged predators cannot reach the house openings.
 
Sometimes, friends said, White looks like he is dancing to scare away house sparrows, nuisance birds brought to the United States from Europe in the mid-1800s, that will squash martin eggs, kill chicks and build their own nests on top of the carnage.
 
He repaired baffles that keep snakes from climbing the poles when his family brought him to the colony in July.  ​

White has given up driving and can’t get to the park as often as he could when he lived 15 minutes away, but birders vow to help watch the colony. 
 
Martins typically return to the park on March 15, if warmth brings ample insects to eat, he said. Martin caretakers must clean the houses and open the doors on time.  ​

​The VMN State Program office recognizes volunteers who complete 250, 500, 1,000, 2,500, 5,000, and 10,000 hours of service.  These are cumulative volunteer hours starting when a volunteer joins the program.  Many of our chapters recognize additional interim milestones and achievements.  

Below, we have listed the volunteers who have achieved these milestones between August 2019 and December 2019 (based on reports received by our office as of January 31.)  Some of these volunteers have demonstrated long-term dedication through many years with the program.  Others have joined the program more recently, but they have done extraordinary levels of service in a short time frame.  We are honored to have all of them sharing their time and talents as Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers, and we are pleased to recognize their efforts in this newsletter and with special milestone pins.  Their names are listed alphabetically within each chapter.

In addition, although we cannot list them all here, we are thrilled to recognize the 1,483 Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers who certified or re-certified for 2019, meaning they completed 40 hours of volunteer service and 8 hours of continuing education. Congratulations, everyone!

Thank you to Tiffany Brown, VMN project assistant, for compiling these lists!

The 5,000 Hour Circle Grows with the Addition of Ida Swenson

Completing 5,000 hours of Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer service is no easy task.  To date, only ten volunteers have achieved this distinction.  

By the end of 2019, Ida Swenson joined this exclusive VMN club.  Ida is one of the founding members of Rivanna Master Naturalist Chapter and an active participant in multiple capacities.  Cindy Westley, Past President of the chapter, writes, “Her knowledge of nature and science is wide-ranging.  As a former middle school teacher, she is very comfortable teaching children of all ages using abstract concepts and hands-on resources.  Kids immediately relate to her because she teaches on their level, where they live, but with a sense of how to keep the learning experience on track.   She is imaginative and interesting and, well, she is cool. Whether it’s working a table at a public science event or community festival or teaching Master Naturalist trainees in the introductory course, Ida is always able to capture the attention and imagination of her audience. She is knowledgeable, dedicated, reliable and really enjoys herself.  The RMN and VMN are fortunate to have her as a member and leader.”

Ida joins Marian Childress (Tidwater), Shirley Devan (Historic Rivers), John Ford (New River Valley), Cheryl Jacobson (Historic Rivers), Les Lawrence (Historic Rivers), Susan Powell (Historic Rivers), Jack Price (Old Rag), Jim Scibek (Central Rappahannock), and Robert Toner (Eastern Shore) as part of this 5,000 hour circle of amazing volunteers!

Rivanna Chapter Advisor is the VAEE Outstanding Educator

Page Hutchinson, chapter advisor for the VMN-Rivanna Chapter, was awarded the Outstanding Educator award by the Virginia Association for Environmental Education. She was recognized for her long history of EE work and her many accomplishments over the years as she coordinated Project Wet and Project Learning Tree, several watershed education institutes and professional development academies, three VAEE state conferences, and more.  Page is currently the State Coordinator for Project Learning Tree with the Virginia Department of Forestry.

Riverine Master Naturalists Give the VCU Rice Rivers Center a Makeover

​The VCU Rice Rivers Center, Virginia Commonwealth University’s environmental research field station on the James River, needed help. The goal? To transform the weedy, overgrown, neglected garden and landscape areas surrounding the education center into native plant havens for pollinators and other wildlife.  The Rice Center’s former Director, newly recruited to teach the Riverine training course on birds, reached out for help.  They would fund all of the costs for the plantings if the Riverines could commit to devising and implementing the plan. Since The Rice Center has been a great ally to the Master Naturalists, hosting work on oyster shell recycling as well as field trips for trainees, it was a great match.

Nearly 6 months after the idea was first floated, the project received approval.  A 2018 Riverine training class graduate, who owns Garden Gate Nursery native plants, worked closely with the project leader to develop the plans. All plant materials selected were native to Charles City County, where the Rice Center sits, with the exception of a few long-blooming non-invasive annual flowering plants of particular benefit to pollinators (e.g. Zinnia, Cosmos) Plants were selected based on wildlife value, season of bloom and ability to thrive with little coddling. 

And then, the coronavirus. Group work sessions were pared down to a handful, or fewer, volunteers, all committed both to the project and to the need for social distancing. The dedicated band of Riverines cleared brush, trimmed overgrown shrubs, dug endless holes in unfriendly soil, planted, seeded and watered. Mason Bee boxes, built by some of the chapter members, were added as well.

The next phase, just launched, will be documenting bloom times, noting any use by pollinators, and keeping the plantings alive (which has been made more difficult by a voracious local groundhog). Adjustments will be made along the way, but the foundation is set for this to be a showcase, both for The Rice Center and for the Riverine Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalists. 

Check out the slide show below to see the volunteers in action!
–Text and photos submitted by Sandee Bailey, VMN-Riverine Chapter

The Shenandoah Saw-whet is Now Available
​
The Shenandoah Chapter has launched a new newsletter, the Shenandoah Saw-whet, available on their website.  It is named for the Saw-whet owl, a species of greatest conservation need in the Shenandoah Valley.  An especially nice feature of the newsletter is the “Flora and Fauna Calendar”, which lists seasonally occurring natural history events, like great blue herons nesting at a local rookery and bluebells in flower at the nearby state park.
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–Submitted by Tim Koppenhaver, Outreach Chair in the VMN-Shenandoah Chapter

Roanoke Valley Master Naturalist Volunteer Collaborates with Virginia State Parks

VMN volunteer Glen Mitchell in the Roanoke Valley Chapter does occasional photo blogging for Virginia State Parks.  His latest submission has some delightful photos of river otters he and his wife encountered during a recent paddling trip at Fairy Stone State Park.
–Submitted by George Devlin, Chapter Advisor, VMN-Roanoke Valley Chapter and VDEQ

Arlington Regional Master Naturalist Volunteers Recognized for Urban Forestry and Native Plant Work 
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Nora Palmatier Recognized for Urban Forestry Commission Work​
From Arlington County Board member, Matt de Ferranti’s speech recognizing Nora Palmatier on her retirement from the Urban Forestry Commission, February 25, 2020:

. . . 
During the 13 years that Nora has served actively on the Urban Forestry Commission, which included several years as its Chair, she has also been a long-standing member, leader and former Chair of the Tree Stewards of Arlington/Alexandria which has inspired and taught many Arlington residents about the need and proper care of trees. Along with fellow [Arlington Regional] Master Naturalist (ARMN) Caroline Haynes, Nora participated in developing the “Choking Hazard” campaign that reached out to Arlingtonians about the destructive effects of English ivy on trees.
In 200, Nora was in the first graduating class of ARMN. She served as the Urban Forestry Commission representative on the 4 Mile Run Valley planning process.
She has served as a member and past Chair of the Northern Virginia Urban Forest Roundtable.
Nora . . . [worked] across disciplines, and with a wide range of residents to improve the urban tree canopy of Arlington County.
. . . 
Her strong commitment to education, outreach and volunteerism is contagious, as she leads by example and motivates others to learn more, to get involved, and to “spread the word” on the benefits that trees provide. . . .

Toni Genberg’s Native Plant Landscaping Featured
ARMN’s Toni Genberg was featured in YES! Magazine’s Feb 7, 2020 article, “How to Turn Your Yard Into an Ecological Oasis”). The piece highlighted Toni’s amazing yard of native plants featuring several of her photos, and how she was inspired to transform her space after a talk by Doug Tallamy, a professor of entomology at the University of Delaware. The article stressed how critical native species are to local wildlife and that even a few natives could significantly help local wildlife anywhere—even in densely-populated areas.

​
–Submitted by Kasha Helget, VMN-Arlington Regional Chapter