Today, we launched "Creating Exceptional Leadership for Natural Resource Conservation", a short-term crowdfunding campaign to benefit the Virginia Master Naturalist program, its chapters, and its volunteers.  Give today and join our dedicated group of Virginia Master Naturalist program supporters.

https://crowdfund.vt.edu/vmn

About Us
The Virginia Master Naturalist (VMN) program is a corps of 29 local chapters with more than 1,800 trained volunteers engaged in natural resource education, citizen science, and stewardship. 

Essentially all our program activities at the local level are conducted by volunteers, from recruiting new participants and providing training to organizing service projects and tracking volunteer hours.  The volunteer chapter leaders in each region of the state are the linchpins of the VMN program and are critical to the success achievement of our conservation mission. 

Our Need
Having these 300+ volunteer leaders run all local aspects of a large, statewide program such as ours is challenging.  As our chapters grow and evolve, we find there is an increasing need to train and support those local leaders so that we have a strong supply of volunteers who are confident and prepared to take on the leadership roles.  High-quality local leaders increase the overall impact of our chapters, so that they can recruit and retain more volunteers, accomplish more impactful service projects, and ultimately make more significant contributions to natural resource conservation in the Commonwealth.

The Impacts You Can Make With Your Gift
The purpose of our project is to provide training and resources to increase the capacity of our local volunteer leaders.  We will hold four regional Leadership Days at which we will provide training on effective management of VMN chapters, strategies for decision-making and conflict resolution, and plans for creating and organizing impactful service projects.  In addition, we will create online resources (e.g., webinars, manuals, templates) that our volunteer leaders, especially those new to their roles, will use.

In the short term, our project will increase volunteers’ willingness to take on and stay in leadership roles, and it will increase their efficacy in those roles.  In the long term, our project will result in more robust Virginia Master Naturalist chapters that are better at recruiting, retaining, and managing volunteers and partnerships so that they have more positive impacts on Virginia’s woods, wildlife, and waters.

About the Contest

This year, we held our fifth Virginia Master Naturalist photo contest, and the first in digital format.  Digital Photography is where it is at today and a very important tool for VMNs. Our hope was that this new format would encourage and make it easier for chapters to enter the contest and also offer an opportunity for a few digital lessons to be learned. And, we felt it would have a much smaller ecological footprint than frames, mats, packing and printing!

This year's contest categories were "Virginia Flora, Fauna, and Other Species", "Virginia Landscapes and Habitats", and "Virginia Master Naturalists in Action".  We received 48 entries from 16 different VMN chapters across the state.  Each chapter could submit only one photo per category, and chapters were allowed to design their own processes for choosing which photos to send.  Many chapters hold their own internal photo contest, often having members vote to choose the submissions.

The 2017 contest was coordinated by Marie Majarov, who is a talented nature writer and photographer herself, as well as a member of our VMN-Shenandoah Chapter.  Marie did an excellent job bringing everyone into the digital age, creating a guide for saving and labeling digital photos properly and offering one-on-one help along the way to anyone who needed it.  She also assembled an impressive team of judges.  

The contest winners were announced on September 15, 2017 at our statewide conference.  Winners received lovely certificates (again, thanks to Marie Majarov), as well as bragging rights and the opportunity for many more folks to see their fantastic photos.  Marie and the judges all congratulated everyone who submitted photos, whether just to the local chapter contests or to the statewide contests as well.  The judges mentioned that in many cases, the decisions were hard!

Contest Judges

Sally Mills, Editor Virginia Wildlife Magazine
Sally is rounding out ten years as the editor of Virginia Wildlife magazine and overseeing the other print publications for the Department of Game & Inland Fisheries. In that capacity, she works with some of Virginia’s finest writers and wildlife photographers.  Prior to that, she worked with the Virginia Sea Grant Program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, another one of our sponsors! There she directed communication efforts for the Advisory Services Program. She wrote, edited, and designed the quarterly Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin.  In her spare time, Sally enjoys kayaking, hiking, fishing, photography, music, beekeeping and fly-fishing

Lynda Richardson, Art Director Virginia Wildlife Magazine
Lynda Richardson, Art Director for DGIF’s Virginia Wildlife Magazine creates the beautiful layouts that grace the magazine pages. She is also a nationally renowned freelance wildlife & environmental photojournalist with over 30 year’s experience. Lynda has been published in numerous prestigious magazines such as the Smithsonian magazine, National and International Wildlife magazines, The Nature Conservancy and National Geographic. Her photography has enabled Lynda to travel the globe to multiple countries in Africa, Central and South America, as well as to Cuba, Mexico, Poland, Belarus, and throughout the United States.  She has sold thousands of images worldwide.

Ed Felker - Virginia Landscapes and Habitats Category
Ed Felker is a graphic designer, photographer, write and outdoorsman. His writing and photography have been featured in Virginia Sportsman magazine, Virginia Wildlife magazine and other fine publications. Ed can most often be found outdoors near his studio overlooking the Potomac River, usually with a camera, often with a fly rod, always with a dog, enjoying the beauty and humor in the world around him. He writes about that works at his blog, Dispatches from the Potomac. Ed is a member of the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association. His Blog is not to be missed... outstanding photography and writing!

Robert Thomas - Virginia Landscapes and Habitats Category
Robert Thomas is a professional photographer and educator. He began his career during the Golden Age of slide film when Kodachrome was ASA 10 and High Speed Ektachrome was ASA 64, cameras were mechanical, and exposure was manual. Robert now has evolved to become a digital photography expert! He is an avid outdoorsman and is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association, a Board member of the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association and is the Director of Communications for the Fly Fishers of Virginia. He lives in Richmond, VA with is wife Joan and dog Liza.

Tim Farmer - Virginia Master Naturalists in Action Category
A graduate of Western Kentucky Univerwity with a degree in photojournalism, Tim worked as a writer, photographer, and editor for newspapers in Kentucky and Virginia over a span of 15 years. Tim has been a contributing editor to Canoe & Kayak magazine for 10 years and had numerous articles and photos published in various magazines and newspapers, including USA Today and The Washington Post. Since 1997 Tim has been the Public Relations Coordinator for the State Arboretum of Virginia at UVA's Historic Blandy Experimental Farm in Boyce, VA, "The Commonwealth's Public Garden," where he has had the opportunity to combine "my love of the outdoors with my writing, editing, and photography experience.' He still finds time for adventures and a few freelance assignments from time to time. Tim also tells us that "I guess I was born with ink in my blood, since both my parents were journalists early in their careers and my mom was one of the first female photographers for the then-new network of newspapers called The Associated Press. I started my first newspaper in sixth grade, a 2-page flyer full of school gossip and bad jokes that I sold for 2 cents per copy. I used the proceeds to buy a pet skunk."

 And, the Winners!
All the winning photos are viewable below.  Click on the gallery thumbnails for each photo to see the titles, photographers, and placement.

Virginia Flora, Fauna, and Other Species

• First Place: Inge Curtis, Historic Rivers Chapter, “Oystercatcher on Grandview Beach”
• Second Place: Matt Bright, Arlington Regional Chapter, “Morning Dew” Strophostyles umbellata
• Third Place: Lisa Gurney, Eastern Shore Chapter, “White-tail deer, Odocoileus virginianus, Assateague”
• Honorable Mention: Bill Gorewich, Pocahontas Chapter, “Conflict” Sialis sialis & Cardinalidae

 
Virginia Landscapes and Habitats

• First Place: Emily Luebke, Rivanna Chapter, “Sweet Summer Night,” Raven’s Roost, Blue Ridge Parkway 
• Second Place: Kevin Divins, Pocahontas Chapter, “Forest, Mt. Rogers”
• Third Place: John Bunch, Historic Southside Chapter, “Approaching Sunset on the Blackwater”
• Honorable Mention: Judy Illmensee, Eastern Shore Chapter, “Rainbow” Oyster VA

 
Virginia Master Naturalists in Action

• First Place: Rich Brager, Blue Ridge Foothills & Lakes Chapter, “Awakenings” Rivanna River
• Second Place: Josh Schnell, Arlington Regional Chapter, “Snappershot,” Chelydra serpentina
• Third Place: Rosemarie Nielsen, Merrimac Farm “Inquiring Minds”
• Honorable Mention: Hannah Bement, Shenandoah Chapter, “Viewing a Wood Frog Egg Mass”
• Honorable Mention: Noel Boaz, Southwestern Piedmont Chapter, “Be Very Quiet I’m Hunting Chapter Secretaries, VA Museum of Natural History”

New 4-H All Star
​
Ida Swenson (VMN-Rivanna Chapter) was inducted as a 4-H All Star on June 21 in Blacksburg, VA.    Ida was nominated by Kim Mayo, 4-H Extension Agent for Fluvanna County, for her work as a long time club leader, new Envirothon coach, and consistent volunteer educator in the Fluvanna County Schools.   

Land Lover Award
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Sandee Bailey (VMN-Riverine Chapter) received the Land Lover award from Keep Henrico Beautiful for the landscaping she has done on her residential property. 

A Born Naturalist

Clyde Marsteller, a long-time VMN volunteer in the Historic Rivers and Peninsula Chapters, writes about his naturalist activities on a blog, found at https://clydeccedm.wordpress.com.  The blog includes current reflections on nature observations and volunteer activities, anecdotes of influential outdoor experiences he had in childhood and throughout his life, and nature poetry.  One of Clyde's major contributions as a VMN volunteer was his "Zoo in My Shopping Bags" program, in which he used live animals to help youth and adults connect to nature.  With help from others in his chapters, the program reached more than 13,000 people!

Many of our other VMN volunteers likely have nature-based blogs, too.  Share them with us, and we will compile a list.

New Milestone Achievements
​
The VMN program recognizes volunteers who complete 250, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, 7500, and 10000 hours of service.  These are cumulative volunteer hours starting when a volunteer joins the program.  To offer some perspective, a volunteer who does the 40 hours of service annually to maintain status as a Certified Virginia Master Naturalist would take 6-7 years to achieve the 250 hour milestone and 125 years to achieve the 5000 hour milestone!  

Below, we have listed the volunteers who have achieved these milestones between January and July 2017 (based on reports received by our chapters as of July 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.

Since the 1970s, the Virginia Outdoors Survey (VOS) has been conducted as a random survey of Virginia residents. The survey assesses the popularity and needs for outdoor recreation facilities across the commonwealth. For the first time, the 2017 survey is open to the general public. The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation invites you and anyone you wish to share the link with to take the 2017 Virginia Outdoors Survey. 

The online survey will close at 5 p.m. on Aug. 24.

You may click here: 2017 Virginia Outdoors Survey, or go to: https://csr.coopercenter.org/DCR2017CS

More to Do and Learn in Northwestern Virginia

Can't make it to the Virginia Master Naturalist Statewide Conference and Volunteer Training, or perhaps just wanting other great learning opportunities in that area of the state?  Check out these other fall conferences from our partners.

Virginia Native Plant Society Tri-State Conference - September 29-October 1, 2017, Shepherdstown, WV (with some field trips in Virginia)
Virginia Environmental Education Conference - October 10-12, 2017, Northern Virginia 4-H Center in Front Royal, VA.

Text by Dr. John G. Jelesko, Virginia Tech faculty
​Images by Andrew Huang, Virginia Tech student

     Summer is in full swing, and so is the risk of poison ivy rash.  For the majority of adults (about 80%) direct contact with any part of poison ivy plant results in allergenic contact dermatitis (commonly called poison ivy rash).  The natural product produced by poison ivy/oak/and sumac  that is responsible for causing allergenic dermatitis is called urushiol.  The symptoms can range from minor reddening and itching, to extensive swelling with oozing puss filled blisters (yuck!).  Perhaps the worst part is the incessant itching!  Moreover, in 2006 and 2007 two scientific studies demonstrated that increasing atmospheric CO2 levels result in poison ivy grew faster, made more biomass, and produced more allergenic forms of urushiol.  Expect to see more (and more noxious) poison ivy in your future! 

     There is currently no prophylactic treatment to prevent poison ivy rash before exposure to the plant.  That means identification and avoidance is your best “medicine” for preventing poison ivy rash.  To this end, the my laboratory at Virginia Tech is developing a public education and engagement social media campaign called The ITCHY Project.  This stands for Investigating Toxicodendron Change and Habitat for Years, hence the acronym ITCHY. We recently developed a video called “The Familiar Stranger” focusing on poison ivy identification to help the public accurately identify poison ivy. You can see “The Familiar Stranger” on The ITCHY Project Facebook page (www.facebook.com/theitchyproject).  Here are some takeaways about identifying this “familiar stranger”.

​Diagnostic 2: Leaflet margin shape(s):  In most cases, poison ivy leaflets show some degree of lobing or notching of the leaflet edges (leaf margins).  The terminal leaflet typically shows symmetrical lobes on both sides, whereas the lateral leaflets will show asymmetric lobing with deeper lobes on the outer leaflet margin than the inner margin (giving it a “mitten shape”).  

​Diagnostic 3: No spines, thorns, nor twining.  Wild raspberry/blackberry  also have conspicuous spines/thorns on the  stems.  Another common poison ivy look-alike is hog peanut that has somewhat more diminutive smooth margined “leaves of three (leaflets)”.  However, hog peanut branches climb by twining around other plant branches or stems.  Poison ivy can also climb as a vine, but it NEVER does so by wrapping around a branch or stem (twining).  Instead, poison ivy vines/lianas climb by putting out aerial roots on the stem that cling to the bark of its host tree, or wedge itself into cracks in the bark of trees (or rocks for that matter) to gain purchase.

​I wish all the VA Master Naturalists a wonderful summer in the outdoors, enabled with new skills in poison ivy plant identification and avoidance.  As for me, I will be seeking out poison ivy as much as possible as part of my research focus on this ever-fascinating “Familiar Stranger”.