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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.

We are pleased to announce that we have our first set of new curriculum resources available!  These resources are designed for use with the VMN basic training course, but they are freely available to other volunteer programs and organizations as well.  

The curriculum project came about as a result of the VMN needs assessment and strategic plan, which identified the need for more standardized curriculum resources that could be used flexibly by chapters as a top priority for the program.  Developing these resources has been one focus of the Special Projects Coordinator position (Michelle Prysby).  

Our overarching goals for the project include enhancing learning by enabling chapters to include more hands-on activities in their courses, improving volunteer retention by clearly tying the training content to typical volunteer projects VMNs might do, and meeting the varying training needs of our diverse chapters.  

For each topic, the lengthy curriculum development process includes gathering input from program stakeholders and subject matter experts from across the state, redefining learning objectives to be more specific and more tied to volunteer projects, choosing the best existing readings and other resources to provide to VMN volunteers, developing new resources such as presentations and videos, developing lesson plans for hands-on activities that match the learning objectives, and developing appropriate assessment questions that chapters can use with their volunteers.

Our first topic to be released is “Urban and Developed Systems Ecology and Management“.  We chose this topic because we had funding for the project from the Virginia Department of Forestry’s Urban and Community Forestry grant program.  In addition, we learned from talking with chapters that many of them were not teaching this topic because they thought it did not pertain to their geographic area or because they did not have an instructor or resources for the topic.  We hope that these new resources demonstrate the relevance of this topic across all of Virginia and help volunteers learn more about it.  To find the new learning objectives and resources for this topic, navigate to http://www.virginiamasternaturalist.org/urban-and-developed-systems.html.   

We are developing resources for additional curriculum topics as we receive funding for this project.  Resources for our next set of topics (Forest Ecology and Management, Wetlands Ecology and Management, Coastal and Estuarine Ecology and Management, and Aquatic Ecology and Management) will be completed in mid-autumn.  These topics are being funded by a grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment.

We will be leading a continuing education webinar on September 30 at noon to provide VMN training chairs and committee members and any other interested volunteers with training on exactly what new resources are available and how you can use them.  

Finally, we also would like to announce that a background reading for the topic of American Naturalists is now available.  This manuscript was in the works long before our strategic plan or new curriculum project; we have not yet addressed the American Naturalists topic within our new curriculum resource framework.  The reading, however, remains relevant to the VMN basic training, and we think it will serve as a useful resource for volunteers.  Thanks to the lead author, Amber Parker (Executive Director, Chincoteague Bay Field Station) for sharing her expertise and bringing this manuscript to fruition.

Installing tree or plant identification trails is a common project for VMN chapters.  Thanks to donations from VMN volunteers to our annual campaign, we now have a way to link those projects together and connect them to the VMN program as a whole.  We have established a presence with PlantsMap, a Virginia-based company that produces plant tags with QR codes and an online space to host information about plant identification trails and the individual plants on them.  VMN chapters conducting these kinds of projects can now order PlantsMap tags with the Virginia Master Naturalist logo.  Volunteer donations covered the set-up fee.  Their projects can be linked to the program online, so that one can visit PlantsMap.com and search for all plant collections associated with Virginia Master Naturalists.  

The Headwaters Chapter was one of the first chapters to pilot the use of PlantsMap since we set up the logo option.  For their spring project, the Headwaters basic training class identified trees at Cooks Creek Arboretum, part of the Bridgewater town park system.  Their goal was to provide accurate on-site tree identification and information about these resources to educate and inform the public who utilize this area.  Under the guidance of Adam Downing (Senior Extension Agent with the Virginia Cooperative Extension office), the trainees identified major tree species and installed PlantsMap signage.  Besides name identification, the signs include digital QR codes that lead the user to more information about the species and GPS based identification online.  As the Tree ID Team shared, ”Our hope is that visitors will appreciate knowing what trees they are looking at and something about each of them.”

Several other chapters are now using this plant tagging resource.  We encourage additional chapter projects that choose to use PlantsMap to connect with the Virginia Master Naturalist statewide program’s logo and identity on the site.

Each quarter in our Laurels post, we highlight accomplishments of our VMN volunteers, including awards received, noteworthy project impacts, and creative ideas.  Our chapters submit these items for inclusion.  If we missed a Laurel from your chapter, please contact Michelle Prysby, mprysby@vt.edu, so that we can include it next time!

Reducing Litter in the Community
VMN volunteer Claudia Lee (Historic Southside Chapter) planned a program to reduce litter by increasing recycling of fishing line.  Her program recently was awarded a $200 grant from the Suffolk Clean Community Commission to put in the recycling bins. 

A Parade of Fishes
The New River Valley Master Naturalists carried out a creative plan to raise awareness in their community about biodiversity in freshwater streams.  Over the course of six months, they designed and built a float for Blacksburg’s Fourth of July parade, titled “In a Stream Near You.”  The premier feature of the float was a 10-foot Bluehead Chub, a mound-building freshwater fish native to Virginia.  “Chubby” was joined by a variety of minnows, which also make use of the nest mounds that the chub builds.  The float was featured in the Roanoke Times, won an award for the best representation of the parade’s theme (This Land is Your Land), and surely built community awareness of these aquatic resources!  Take a look at their creative (and biologically accurate) float elements in the gallery below, with photos courtesy of New River Valley Master Naturalist volunteer Bill Sydor.

Signs of Progress
The Old Rag Chapter wrote with an update on their Town of Washington project, an inspiring restoration that has turned an empty lot filled with invasive and trash into a thriving habitat for pollinators, wetland species, and more.  Three years ago, a butterfly count at the site revealed only three butterflies.  This summer, VMN volunteer Jack Price reports, “”I thought it would be nice to let the group know that we must be doing something right at out Town of Washington nature trail project.  Today, during our workday, I found a monarch caterpillar feeding on the Butterflyweed at the project.   In a little over 3 years, the area has gone from being a trash dump full of invasive plants, to a habitat that hosts a variety of birds and butterflies, now including monarchs.” 

Capturing Award-Winning Wildlife Photos
Pat Temples (VMN volunteer, Old Rag Chapter) is once again a winner in multiple categories in the annual Virginia Wildlife Photography contest.  Her award-winning photographs are featured in the July/August 2015 issue of Virginia Wildlife.  

Honoring Margie Dexter
The Pocahontas Chapter has created a new memorial scholarship for their VMN basic training course.  The Margaret “Margie” Dexter VMN Training Scholarship was established by the Pocahontas Chapter Board of Directors and its membership with plans to award it annually to an individual whose personal or professional experience and interests exemplifies a spirit of dedication to the mission and values of the Virginia Master Naturalist program.  What a beautiful way to honor the memory of Margie (a long-time Pocahontas Master Naturalist) and her many contributions to the chapter!

An Allen & Allen Hometown Hero
VMN volunteer Walter Hussey (Rivanna Chapter) was recognized as one of just 50 Hometown Heroes from across the Commonwealth.  The Allen & Allen Hometown Heroes award recognizes Virginians who are responsible for generating positive change in the community or in the lives of others.  Walter has been the major leader and organizer of the restoration of more than 50 acres of parkland in Fluvanna’s Pleasant Grove park.  Not only has he led the creation of pollinator and quail habitats at the site, he has personally planted more than 850 trees.  Wow!

Joe Penfold Memorial Award for the Virginia Master Naturalist Program     
Marie Majarov (VMN volunteer, Shenandoah Chapter) is a member of the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association, a professional writers group that encompasses the mid-Atlantic states.  Every spring they hold an Excellence-in-Craft competition for works published during the previous year. One of their special awards, the Joe Penfold Memorial Award, is given to an outdoor organization for grassroots conservation efforts based on a member’s publication. Marie nominated the Virginia Master Naturalist program based on her article in Virginia Wildlife magazine…and the VMN won!

Joe Penfold, for whom the award is named, is a very important conservationist of the 20th century.  He is not well-known but ranking in importance with names like Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson. Take a moment to learn more about him!

On behalf of the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association, Marie presented VMN program leaders with a plaque in May at a volunteer training workshop near Front Royal, VA.  We are so honored to receive this award and so appreciative of the efforts of both Marie and her VMN chapter.