Hello, VMNs. We hope everyone enjoyed the recent holiday weekend. Now that you’ve attended or orchestrated your annual fireworks show, you can catch up on the Bi-weekly emails.
This email includes:
Road Show Reminders and weather updates
We have two more 20th Anniversary Road Shows this weekend! July 12 in Hayes, VA at Machicomoco State Park and July 13 in Chantilly at Ellanor C Lawrence Park. See this invite for more details. See below for weather cancellation info.
NOTE for JULY 12: If you plan on attending the Road Show at Machicomoco SP on July 12, you do not need to pay the entrance fee. At the entry gate, just tell them you’re with the Master Naturalists!
Weather Info: Currently, the weather forecast says there may be thunderstorms during the afternoons this weekend. Yes, it is summertime in Virginia! Here is the plan if we need to cancel for weather –
July 12 - If we need to cancel the event due to weather, we will send an email to all VMNs by 9:30am on Saturday. If we do not send an email, then the event is a GO!
July 13 - The Road Show in Chantilly will happen regardless of weather because we will be indoors at the Stewardship Education Center.
Conference Updates - Share Fair at Statewide Conference, due date for table request
In our last Biweekly email, we sent the info below about the Share Fair at the Statewide Conference. We need to add that chapters must reserve a table with the State Office by August 15, 2025.
Share Fair Info:
We invite all 30 VMN chapters to participate in the Chapter Share Fair – Treemendous 20th Anniversary Edition! Our goal is to have each chapter share information at the VMN Statewide Conference about one meaningful project they have accomplished. This is not meant to be a general outreach table like you would use with the public. The audience in this case is other VMN volunteers and representatives of the VMN sponsoring agencies. We have space for one display per chapter, but anyone in the chapter may be involved in creating it. We will recognize the top displays with awards. Additional details are in this document.
Continuing Education Opportunities
July VMN CE Webinar - Soil Health for a Thriving Virginia
**We are a little later than usual advertising this monthly CE Webinar! Please come if you are able!**
Date: Monday, July 14, 12:00-1:00 pm
Description: In the presentation Soil Health for a Thriving Virginia, we will begin by introducing the Virginia Soil Health Coalition—who they are and what they do. Next, we'll explore what soil health really means and why it matters. We’ll put soil health into perspective to highlight its importance, discuss key indicators used to assess soil health, and share simple demonstrations that bring these concepts to life. We'll conclude with an overview of the four core principles of soil health management, emphasizing that while soil health can seem overwhelming, understanding these foundational principles makes it manageable—and impactful.
Presenter: Summer Thomas grew up on her family’s dairy and grain farm, where a love for agriculture was rooted early through farm life, 4-H, and FFA. She studied Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, serving as a promotional ambassador for watermelon growers, an Extension Scholar, and working on the UD farm. Her passion for teaching led her to pursue a Ph.D. in Crop and Soil Sciences at Virginia Tech. After graduating in 2021, she supported two Climate-Smart Agriculture grants and taught Forage Crop Ecology. Today, Summer is excited to serve as the Education and Outreach Specialist for the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, connecting her love for agriculture with farmer engagement and education.
Registration: Pre-registration required.
Recording: This webinar will be recorded and posted to the VMN CE Webinar page.
Online Course: Community Science for Monarch Conservation
Description: Community Science for Monarch Conservation is a free, self-paced online course from the Monarch Joint Venture designed to inspire and equip people to contribute to monarch butterfly conservation through community science. Hosted on the Monarch NECTAR Hub, this engaging 2 hour course features videos and downloadable resources from several community science organizations from across North America to guide participants in observing and reporting monarchs across all life stages. Offered by Monarch Joint Venture’s Monarch NECTAR Hub.
Enroll online.
VMN Snapshot
To help communicate and celebrate all that our VMN volunteers are accomplishing, we share occasional summaries of VMN volunteer service. Here are some statistics for April 1-June 30, 2025.
A Few Description and Impact Highlights:
“Walked a section of trail [at the Leopold’s Preserve] removing downed debris from recent rains making the area safer to hike”
“Did stream testing at two sites and recorded data on website. Met new neighbor near one site and discussed what I was doing and why! She was interested and pleased!”
“Spat counting, dumping shells in river to help to establish oyster habitat, general grunt work. Hopefully improved oyster habitat and reproduction at site near Gwynns island, replenishing and restoring oyster beds.”
“Assisted with 9th grade field trip to Paramore Island. Helped students appreciate and learn about barrier islands and their impacts on shore life. Exposed students to the use of equipment to measure salinity, plant diversity,as well as the process of observation and recording data.”
“Facilitating huge spotted lantern fly removal event this weekend”
“Collected "after" sample that can be compared with sample collected in March prior to gasoline spill in Difficult Run to see if the spill may have had any impact on stream quality”
“#Treemendous20th. Surveyed west section of Silver Lake Regional Park for evidence of beech leaf disease.”
Being a VMN - how to replace Recert pins
Have you lost a Recert pin over the years? Would you like to replace it? The VMN State Office has extras of all the past Recert pins and is happy to provide a replacement when needed. All you need to do is email Tiffany ([email protected]) anytime and include the following:
This email includes:
- Road Show Reminders and weather updates
- Conference Updates - Share Fair Info with due date
- Continuing Education Opportunities
- VMN Snapshot
- Being a VMN - how to replace recert pins
Road Show Reminders and weather updates
We have two more 20th Anniversary Road Shows this weekend! July 12 in Hayes, VA at Machicomoco State Park and July 13 in Chantilly at Ellanor C Lawrence Park. See this invite for more details. See below for weather cancellation info.
NOTE for JULY 12: If you plan on attending the Road Show at Machicomoco SP on July 12, you do not need to pay the entrance fee. At the entry gate, just tell them you’re with the Master Naturalists!
Weather Info: Currently, the weather forecast says there may be thunderstorms during the afternoons this weekend. Yes, it is summertime in Virginia! Here is the plan if we need to cancel for weather –
July 12 - If we need to cancel the event due to weather, we will send an email to all VMNs by 9:30am on Saturday. If we do not send an email, then the event is a GO!
July 13 - The Road Show in Chantilly will happen regardless of weather because we will be indoors at the Stewardship Education Center.
Conference Updates - Share Fair at Statewide Conference, due date for table request
In our last Biweekly email, we sent the info below about the Share Fair at the Statewide Conference. We need to add that chapters must reserve a table with the State Office by August 15, 2025.
Share Fair Info:
We invite all 30 VMN chapters to participate in the Chapter Share Fair – Treemendous 20th Anniversary Edition! Our goal is to have each chapter share information at the VMN Statewide Conference about one meaningful project they have accomplished. This is not meant to be a general outreach table like you would use with the public. The audience in this case is other VMN volunteers and representatives of the VMN sponsoring agencies. We have space for one display per chapter, but anyone in the chapter may be involved in creating it. We will recognize the top displays with awards. Additional details are in this document.
Continuing Education Opportunities
July VMN CE Webinar - Soil Health for a Thriving Virginia
**We are a little later than usual advertising this monthly CE Webinar! Please come if you are able!**
Date: Monday, July 14, 12:00-1:00 pm
Description: In the presentation Soil Health for a Thriving Virginia, we will begin by introducing the Virginia Soil Health Coalition—who they are and what they do. Next, we'll explore what soil health really means and why it matters. We’ll put soil health into perspective to highlight its importance, discuss key indicators used to assess soil health, and share simple demonstrations that bring these concepts to life. We'll conclude with an overview of the four core principles of soil health management, emphasizing that while soil health can seem overwhelming, understanding these foundational principles makes it manageable—and impactful.
Presenter: Summer Thomas grew up on her family’s dairy and grain farm, where a love for agriculture was rooted early through farm life, 4-H, and FFA. She studied Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, serving as a promotional ambassador for watermelon growers, an Extension Scholar, and working on the UD farm. Her passion for teaching led her to pursue a Ph.D. in Crop and Soil Sciences at Virginia Tech. After graduating in 2021, she supported two Climate-Smart Agriculture grants and taught Forage Crop Ecology. Today, Summer is excited to serve as the Education and Outreach Specialist for the Virginia Soil Health Coalition, connecting her love for agriculture with farmer engagement and education.
Registration: Pre-registration required.
Recording: This webinar will be recorded and posted to the VMN CE Webinar page.
Online Course: Community Science for Monarch Conservation
Description: Community Science for Monarch Conservation is a free, self-paced online course from the Monarch Joint Venture designed to inspire and equip people to contribute to monarch butterfly conservation through community science. Hosted on the Monarch NECTAR Hub, this engaging 2 hour course features videos and downloadable resources from several community science organizations from across North America to guide participants in observing and reporting monarchs across all life stages. Offered by Monarch Joint Venture’s Monarch NECTAR Hub.
Enroll online.
VMN Snapshot
To help communicate and celebrate all that our VMN volunteers are accomplishing, we share occasional summaries of VMN volunteer service. Here are some statistics for April 1-June 30, 2025.
- Volunteers who have reported service for April-June 2025: 2,171 volunteers (approximately 63% of all currently enrolled volunteers)
- Total service hours reported: 62,071 hours
- Service Hours by Type:
- Education/outreach - 14,984 hours by 1,044 volunteers
- Citizen science - 20,973 hours by 1,319 volunteers
- Stewardship - 17,460 hours by 1,123 volunteers
- Chapter leadership/administration - 8,654 hours by 871 volunteers
- #Treemendous20th update - In the first half of the year, 119 volunteers have reported 1,014 hours of service associated with our 20th anniversary theme of trees/forests. We have a long way to go to get all our volunteers to contribute to a tree or forest project! We especially encourage participation in our three new DOF citizen science projects. If you do any tree/forest related service, remember to include “#Treemendous20th” in the description field in Better Impact when you report your hours.
- Direct educational contacts reported: 147,966 contacts
- Continuing education hours reported: 5,820 hours by 1,414 volunteers
A Few Description and Impact Highlights:
“Walked a section of trail [at the Leopold’s Preserve] removing downed debris from recent rains making the area safer to hike”
“Did stream testing at two sites and recorded data on website. Met new neighbor near one site and discussed what I was doing and why! She was interested and pleased!”
“Spat counting, dumping shells in river to help to establish oyster habitat, general grunt work. Hopefully improved oyster habitat and reproduction at site near Gwynns island, replenishing and restoring oyster beds.”
“Assisted with 9th grade field trip to Paramore Island. Helped students appreciate and learn about barrier islands and their impacts on shore life. Exposed students to the use of equipment to measure salinity, plant diversity,as well as the process of observation and recording data.”
“Facilitating huge spotted lantern fly removal event this weekend”
“Collected "after" sample that can be compared with sample collected in March prior to gasoline spill in Difficult Run to see if the spill may have had any impact on stream quality”
“#Treemendous20th. Surveyed west section of Silver Lake Regional Park for evidence of beech leaf disease.”
Being a VMN - how to replace Recert pins
Have you lost a Recert pin over the years? Would you like to replace it? The VMN State Office has extras of all the past Recert pins and is happy to provide a replacement when needed. All you need to do is email Tiffany ([email protected]) anytime and include the following:
- Your first and last name
- Chapter
- Which pin(s) you need replaced
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