Welcome, Southern Piedmont Chapter!

Looking at the map of Virginia Master Naturalist chapter locations and the list of counties where they are active, one can see a gaping hole over much of Southside Virginia.  The area to the east of the Southwestern Piedmont Chapter and to the south of the Central Piedmont Chapter has not had any VMN activity.  And yet, this area is home to many state lands, natural resources, and outdoor recreation areas such as Occoneechee State Park, Staunton River State Park, Difficult Creek Natural Area Preserve, Dick Cross Wildlife Management Area, several Scenic Rivers, the John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir, and the Tobacco Heritage Trail.  It’s also home to the newly designated Southside Virginia Conservation and Recreation Complex, an area that will be the largest land holding of VDCR, at more than 10,000 acres.  

We are thrilled to be launching a new Virginia Master Naturalist Chapter, the Southern Piedmont Chapter, in this previously underserved area of the state.  Five volunteers have stepped up to become the Chapter Coordinating Committee, and they are advised by Taylor Clarke, Extension agent in Mecklenburg County.  One of the volunteers brings with her some years of experience as a VMN volunteer in the Merrimac Farm Chapter in Prince William County, and the others are brand new to our program.  We recently held a New Chapter Coordinators Training for the group in South Hill, VA, and current VMN volunteers in several other chapters have generously agreed to serve as mentors as they build this new chapter.

The team has been building community interest in natural resources and in the VMN program through the Southside Online Naturalist Group (SONG), a public group that has engaged people in learning about nature over social media and through nature walks and educational programs in the area.  Over the coming months, they will be planning their first VMN basic training course, recruiting their first cohort of trainees, learning to use our Better Impact volunteer management system, and doing other chapter organizational activities.  

If you are a prospective VMN volunteer in Southside, a seasoned volunteer from another chapter who can provide advice and assistance, or a representative of a potential partner for this new chapter, we invite you to reach out to them at southside.naturalists@gmail.com.  We look for great things to come from the Southern Piedmont Chapter, and we thank Taylor Clarke and all the volunteers of the Coordinating Committee (Scott Wright, Earl Wright, Victoria Sondecker, Becky Giovannetti, and Terri Mewborn) for their dedicated work towards creating it.