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By Julie Buchanan, Senior Public Relations and Marketing Specialist, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

The Virginia Outdoors Plan is the state’s comprehensive plan for land conservation, outdoor recreation and open space. The document helps all levels of government and the private sector meet needs pertaining to those matters. The plan is required for Virginia to participate in the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund program. In addition, it provides guidance for the protection of lands through the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation.

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation is working with Virginia’s planning district commissions and regional councils to review outdoor recreation and land conservation initiatives related to the Virginia Outdoors Plan. Meetings will be held in each region from August through November, and Virginia Master Naturalists are encouraged to attend.
 
Meeting attendees will be asked to provide input on:

• Regional outdoor recreation and land conservation projects
• Economics and tourism, health, play and youth outdoors.
• Scenic resource protection and recognition and dark skies.
• Government ownership of recreation lands.

 
The annual meetings provide stakeholders an opportunity to inform local decision makers. Information on the Virginia Treasures initiative will available to enable localities and regions to highlight recent achievements in land conservation and outdoor recreation.  

Aug. 23
2 p.m.
Accomack-Northampton Planning District Commission
23372 Front St.
Accomac, VA 23301
 
Aug. 30
10 a.m.
Northern Neck Enterprise Center
483 Main St.
Warsaw, VA 22572
 
Aug. 31
10 a.m.
Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission
125 Bowden St.
Saluda, VA 23149
 
Sept. 6
10:30 a.m.
Tabb Library in York County
100 Long Green Blvd.
Yorktown, VA  23693
 
Sept. 7
10 a.m.
Northern Virginia Regional Commission
3060 Williams Drive, Suite 510
Fairfax, VA 22031
 
Sept. 8
1:30 p.m.
Hampton Roads Planning District Commission
723 Woodlake Drive
Chesapeake, VA 23320
 
Sept. 26
10 a.m.
West Piedmont Planning District Commission
1100 Madison St.
Martinsville, VA 24115
 
Sept. 27
10 a.m.
New River Valley Regional Commission
6580 Valley Center Drive
Radford, VA 24141
 
Sept. 27
2:45 p.m.
Cumberland Plateau Planning District Commission
224 Clydesway Drive
Lebanon, VA 24266
 
Sept. 28
10 a.m.
Mount Rogers Planning District Commission
1021 Terrace Drive
Marion, VA 24354
 
Sept. 29
9:30 a.m.
Lenowisco Planning District Commission
372 Technology Trail Lane
Duffield, VA 24244
 
Sept. 30
Time and location to be announced
Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission
 
Oct. 4
10 a.m.
Southside Planning District Commission
200 S. Mecklenburg Ave.
South Hill, VA 23970
 
Oct. 6
1:30 p.m.
Richmond Regional Planning District Commission
9211 Forest Hill Ave., Suite 200
Richmond, VA 23235
 
Oct. 12
Noon
Crater Planning District Commission
1964 Wakefield St.
Petersburg, VA 23805
 
Oct. 13
2 p.m.
George Washington Regional Commission
406 Princess Anne St.
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
 
Oct. 18
10 a.m.
Region 2000 Local Government Council
828 Main St., 12th Floor
Lynchburg, VA 24504
 
Oct. 18
3 p.m.
Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission
313 Luck Ave. SW
Roanoke, VA 24010
 
Oct. 25
2 p.m.
Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library
1303 W. Third St.
Farmville, VA 23901

Oct. 26
2 p.m.
Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission
401 E. Water St.
Charlottesville, VA 22902-1505
 
Oct. 27
10 a.m.
Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission
400-E Kendrick Lane
Front Royal, VA 22630
 
Nov. 17
10 a.m.
Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission
420 Southridge Parkway
Culpeper, VA 22701
 
 
For information about meetings, contact Janit Llewellyn Allen at 804-786-0887 or janit.llewellyn@dcr.virginia.gov.

On June 14, 2016, Nancy Barnhart, a member of the VMN-Historic Rivers Chapter, received “The George and Helen Hartzog Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service, Individual” from the National Park Service for 2015.  “Nancy is an accomplished and outstanding ambassador for the Colonial National Historical Park and an amazing and gifted steward of its resources.  Nancy has leveraged the Find Your Park spirit that invites people to see that a park can be more then a place.  It can be a feeling of inspiration.  It can be sense of community.  A park can be so many things to many different communities and many different people and Nancy lives that every day!” 
 
In addition to weekly volunteering at the Visitor Information Desk, some of Nancy’s many accomplishments at the Park include: developing a handbook entitled “Birds to Watch for at Jamestown Island” (133 pages of color photographs identifying nearly every bird that either migrates through or is a year-round resident of Jamestown Island);  weekly monitoring and monthly reporting Wildlife Mapping data to assist the park in documenting the absence or presence of species; participating in the Marsh Bird Monitoring project and the Yorktown Battlefield Upland Bird project to document birds breeding and using the Park; and developing and providing a public lecture on the life history of the Eastern Bluebird and how to increase their population in Virginia.

VMN volunteer Alan Ford (VMN-Fairfax Chapter) is the 2016 Cox Conserves Hero for Virginia.  From the Cox Conservation Heroes site: “Alan Ford is passionate about the environment and local habitats. He educates the public about native and invasive plants and the importance of watershed management. Ford has volunteered thousands of hours across multiple environmental organizations to protect and restore the environment. His nonprofit of choice is Potowmack Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society.
 
Cox Conserves Heroes is an awards program created by Cox Enterprises and The Trust for Public Land (TPL) that honors volunteers who create, preserve or enhance the shared outdoor places in our communities. The program takes place in multiple Cox locations across the nation. Nearly $500,000 has been donated to local nonprofits and more than 140 volunteers have been honored through the Cox Conserves Heroes program.”

Catherine Fleischman (VMN-Central Piedmont Chapter) was awarded both Teacher of the Year by the Cumberland County School District and Environmental Educator of the Year by the Peter Pransisco Soil and Water Conservation District.  In both cases, Catherine’s VMN volunteer projects were an important part of the “community involvement” part of the nomination.

​Dr. Don Kelso has been an active and respected member of the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists since the chapter’s founding in 2008.  Amongst many contributions, Don has been a leader in the Save Our Streams (SOS) project.  Don was awarded the Melvin S. Johnston award at the annual SMLA Town Hall meeting by SMLA President, Mr. Pete Lewis.  The following are Pete’s words about Don: “At SMLA’s Annual Town Hall Meeting, this year on March 29th, I had the distinct pleasure of presenting Don Kelso with our prestigious Melvin S. Johnston Award. He has been a tireless advocate of SML water quality for many years. He became involved with Save Our Streams in 2008 and since 2009 has been the main SOS trainer. His never-ending enthusiasm, high energy, and patience in addressing and teaching about water quality issues are echoed by those he works with. Don also developed the protocol that is now used to summarize yearly SOS data from the VA SOS database. This enables us to look at water quality trends in the streams we monitor. He is an active member of the SMLA Lake Council, providing thoughtful and valuable input on key watershed issues addressed by SMLA.”Don has been very active in the Blue Ridge, Foothills and Lakes Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists.  He not only provides training to new budding Master Naturalists, he leads field trips as well as leading projects such as the Gills Creek mapping project in the Booker T. Washington National Monument.  He inspires other Master Naturalists to excel.  Dr. Don is a truly remarkable individual who gives of himself continually – he is very deserving of the Melvin Johnston award.

Claudia Lee, Beverly Ruegsegger, Andy Wilson, Scott Wilson and Lynn Wehner of the VMN-Historic Southside Chapter have built, mounted and monitored 7 fishing line recycling bins in Suffolk and Smithfield, resulting in over 15 ounces of fishing line being kept out of local waterways and sent in for recycling. Additionally, the project was shared at the Adopt-a-spot breakfast in Franklin, and that city is looking in to placing fishing line recycling bins at its fishing hot spots. This project was registered and received recognition in the Stewardship Virginia program this spring.

Judi Booker (VMN-Fairfax) received the Community Service Award from her civic association, Holmes Run Acres.  The award states “For bringing your insight and expertise, in your capacity as a naturalist, to our entire HRA community, including Luria Park and Woodburn Elementary School.  You share your enthusiasm for native plants, for invasive plant abatement, for rain barrels, for watershed awareness, for spring peepers, for bullfrogs, and for the many migratory birds that pass through our neighborhood.  This has made us open our eyes even more to the delightful nature we call home, and to the actions we can take to preserve and enhance it.”

By Monica S. Hoel and Tanya Hall, VMN-Holston Rivers Chapter

​On the weekend of April 23-24,2016, Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Virginia, celebrated the 80th anniversary of its founding with a 24-hour event called a BioBlitz. State park personnel teamed up with the Holston Rivers Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalist (VMN) to engage area agency specialists and community volunteers to take a complete survey of all living organisms within the area defined as Hungry Mother State Park (HMSP).  The event was part of a larger statewide BioBlitz organized by the Virginia Geographic Alliance and Virginia State Parks.  Some funding for the event came from a Virginia Master Naturalist mini-grant to the Holston Rivers Chapter to support the event as a chapter “focus project.”

Tanya Hall, Chief Ranger at HMSP and a graduate of the Virginia Master Naturalist training class, expressed great pride in the completion of this joint venture. “The results of the biological survey were impressive, and we even found evidence of a few species of plants and animals we hadn’t previously known about.”

Shauna Russell, president of the Holston Rivers VMN chapter, said the project was a perfect way to enlist the talents of local VMN volunteers while also supporting an important partner. “Our local VMN members volunteer all the time at Hungry Mother, but this was a bigger project than usual! It was great to have the chance for VMN to be vitally involved in this historic event.”

One important outcome of the BioBlitz was the finding of the Mountain Redbelly Dace (a small fish) in a small tributary.  Mountain Redbelly Dace are not native to the Holston River drainage and are competitors of the Tennessee Dace, which occur in Hungry Mother Creek above the reservoir.  The most likely reason Mountain Redbelly Dace has established in the stream is because of anglers releasing their baitfish.  Fortunately, sampling in Hungry Mother Creek about the reservoir did not reveal any Mountain Redbelly Dace there.  Plans are being made to remove the Mountain Redbelly Dace from Hungry Mother State Park by a partnership with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Virginia Highlands Community College.  There is a high possibility that without the BioBlitz, resource managers would not have known about the presence of the Mountain Redbelly Dace until it was too late.

The BioBlitz also had important outcomes for the Holston Rivers VMN Chapter.  Various VMN graduates from years past became involved once again, and numerous new recruits experienced their first time volunteering in citizen science.  Many of these individuals stated they want to do this again next year and that they would like to come to Hungry Mother State Park and volunteer throughout the year.  Project leaders think it not only inspired people, but that it also showed individuals what they are capable of.  This project increased their confidence in their skill and knowledge of the natural world and now they know they do have something to offer no matter how big or how small.

​What is black and white and rare all over?  Certainly not your common backyard dwelling striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis. No, it is the striped skunk’s uncommon and lesser known ‘cousin’, the eastern spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius).  Rarely seen and elusive by nature, the spotted skunk may be one of the most intriguing yet understudied small carnivores found in Virginia. Once a fairly common furbearer, yearly harvest of this species exceeded 100,000 individuals in the United States for the fur-trade.  However, severe population declines since the 1940’s have reduced populations to about 1% of their historic numbers. The exact reasons for these declines are still uncertain but it is speculated that habitat loss or change, increased competition with other carnivores, and the spread of wildlife diseases have played a large role. Little is known about the ecology of spotted skunks, however they are listed as ‘threatened’, ‘endangered’, or ‘in need of management’ in many of the states throughout its range in the Southeast, Appalachians and parts of the Midwest.

What is a spotted skunk?
At first glance a spotted skunk can easily be mistaken as a “funny-looking” striped skunk with their striking black and white coloration and unmistakable odor. However, if you are lucky enough to get a long look at this creature it quickly becomes obvious that what you are looking at is not a run-of-the mill “polecat” in rural parlance. Their distinct 4 to 6 broken white bands, weasel-like size and shape, quick and agile movements, and ability to climb trees like a squirrel with big stink distinguishes them from the larger, lackadaisical striped skunk.

Spotted skunks are small but fierce predators. Maxing out at approximately one to two pounds, this species feeds on a variety of prey including insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, bats, and small rodents as well as soft mast. Unlike striped skunks, its feet are specialized for climbing rather than digging which allows them to search for food in trees and use tree cavities for dens. However, spotted skunks are no strangers to the ground and will regularly den in underground burrows, rocky crevices and hollow logs or tree stumps.  What little is known about them comes mostly from the Deep South where spotted skunks seem to be associated with habitats with thick ground cover such as newly regenerating forests, oldfields, vine-choked bottomland hardwood swamps and sub-tropical prairies with saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) thickets.

In Virginia, the spotted skunk can be found in the Appalachians spanning from Frederick County to the top of Whitetop Mountain in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area in Grayson County as well as occasionally in the Piedmont just east of the Blue Ridge. They are currently listed as “vulnerable” in Virginia and have been largely absent from the landscape over the last few decades.

Spotted skunks in research.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has partnered with the Virginia Tech Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation and the U.S. Geological Survey, Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit to learn more about spotted skunks in the Old Dominion. The goals of this research are to determine the current range of this species in Virginia and to identify its habitat preferences. In 2014 our team began a baited camera trap study in the central and southern Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia. From January through April over the last three years, we have deployed remote sensing trail cameras baited with road-killed deer in over 100 locations throughout the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, on state lands and on cooperating private lands. Spotted skunks were “caught” on camera at 22 of these locations. We compared occupied and unoccupied sites to a variety of landscape and habitat features including forest type and age, percent canopy cover, elevation, distance to roads and waterways, and distance to agricultural and residential areas.

Surprisingly, spotted skunks showed a preference for both low elevation, early- to mid-successional forests as well as high elevation, mature to old growth forests.  Though functionally and ecologically different, young and old growth forests are both characterized as having complex forest structure. High woody stem densities in younger forests and mature mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) thickets found in old growth forests provide spotted skunks with protective cover from aerial predators, such as great horned owls (Bubo virginianus), while foraging and rearing young. These findings, along with several recent reports of spotted skunks at low elevations east of the Blue Ridge, have demonstrated the need to expand our study eastward to identify the current boundaries of this species’ range in Virginia.

In addition to camera trapping, our team has trapp
ed and radio collared spotted skunks to determine individual home range size and to better understand movement patterns, den selection, reproduction and the genetic relationships within and among skunk populations. Our goal is to use this information to develop effective conservation assessments and management plans for this captivating yet little known species.

How can the Master Naturalist get involved?
Because so little is known about the distribution of eastern spotted skunks, our study relies heavily on reported sightings, trail camera photos, and reports of spotted skunk road-kills by the public to locate potential trap sites. Master Naturalists can help by spreading the word about eastern spotted skunks and contacting Emily Thorne, Virginia Tech graduate student and head researcher on the Virginia Eastern Spotted Skunk Project, at edthorne@vt.edu with information about confirmed sightings. Valuable information includes date and time sighting occurred, exact location (GPS location if possible), name and contact information of the landowner, and photo(s) if available.

We will be holding a Continuing Education webinar for VMN volunteers on September 28 that will focus on spotted skunks and how VMNs can contribute to this research.  Watch our Continuing Education page for details.