Hello, VMNs. We hope everyone was able to enjoy their holiday weekend. Only three more weekends until the VMN Conference! Between now and then, you can always catch up on the Bi-weekly emails.
This email includes:
Conference Updates
Four weeks until the 2023 VMN Conference. The countdown has begun!
Registration will close on September 11. If you haven’t already, please register by then!
Acorn Collecting - Coming Soon!
It’s acorn collecting time! The Virginia Department of Forestry is gathering the final necessary information, such as the species list, for 2023. We’ll send it out to all of you in a separate email as soon as it is available - almost certainly later this week. Meanwhile, here’s a great article about how valuable your seed collecting work has been for DOF reforestation projects.
Continuing Education Opportunities
Interpretation Class for VMN Volunteers, October 21
Title: From Passion to Interpretation- How to Create an Interpretive Program
Description: Everyone has a subject they are passionate about, but not everyone is comfortable sharing that passion with others. How do you refine all that information into an easy to present program or talk? How do you get other people to care about it as much as you do? This class will help you explore those skills. We will explore the tools that state park interpretive staff use to create and present programs to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. During the class we will:
Location: Powhatan State Park, 4616 Powhatan State Park Rd., Powhatan, VA 23139
Cost: Free
What to bring:
Registration: https://forms.office.com/g/e3bemay4LW
Instructor bio: Sammy Zambon is the Eastern Visitor Experience Specialist for Virginia State Parks. He is a Certified Interpretive Trainer with the National Association for Interpretation and has over 20 years experience training interpreters and developing programs. He was an advisor for the Central Rappahannock Chapter of the VMN program when they founded. He continues to teach interpretation and mammalogy for chapters across VA.
Questions? Please contact Sammy Zambon, 804-624-7064, sammy.zambon@dcr.virginia.gov
Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program Upcoming Events
Virginia Natural History Society Meeting
Description: Radford University is hosting the annual meeting of the Virginia Natural History Society on Saturday September 23, from 10-4. They welcome participation and presentations by Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers.
Cost: Conference fees (student: $ 10; regular VNHS member: $15; non-member regular: $25) include a deli lunch buffet and 2 coffee breaks.
More information and registration: https://virginianaturalhistorysociety.com/vnhs-general-meeting-2023/
Notes: If you’d like to pay for registration with a check, please make it payable to “Virginia Natural History Society Conference Registration” and mail it to Nancy Moncrief, VMNH, 21 Starling Avenue, Martinsville, Virginia 24112. If you must cancel after submitting payment, you will be refunded the full amount, minus a $5 administration fee, prior to September 18 at 11:59 EDT. VNHS reserves the right to cancel the conference, if necessary, in which case you will be refunded the full amount.
Other Opportunities
Generation NEXT workshops with Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Department of Forestry, which focus on land succession planning, will be held in several locations across Virginia beginning in September. Please see this flyer for more details.
This email includes:
- Conference Updates
- DOF Acorn Collecting
- Continuing Education Opportunities
Conference Updates
Four weeks until the 2023 VMN Conference. The countdown has begun!
Registration will close on September 11. If you haven’t already, please register by then!
Acorn Collecting - Coming Soon!
It’s acorn collecting time! The Virginia Department of Forestry is gathering the final necessary information, such as the species list, for 2023. We’ll send it out to all of you in a separate email as soon as it is available - almost certainly later this week. Meanwhile, here’s a great article about how valuable your seed collecting work has been for DOF reforestation projects.
Continuing Education Opportunities
Interpretation Class for VMN Volunteers, October 21
Title: From Passion to Interpretation- How to Create an Interpretive Program
Description: Everyone has a subject they are passionate about, but not everyone is comfortable sharing that passion with others. How do you refine all that information into an easy to present program or talk? How do you get other people to care about it as much as you do? This class will help you explore those skills. We will explore the tools that state park interpretive staff use to create and present programs to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. During the class we will:
- Identify audiences
- Identify a topic
- Develop goals and objectives
- Explore tangible/intangible/Universal Concepts and how others see your topic
- Develop a draft program theme
- Develop a sketch of an outline for a program tailored to your topic
Location: Powhatan State Park, 4616 Powhatan State Park Rd., Powhatan, VA 23139
Cost: Free
What to bring:
- Bring an object related to your topic (photo, tool, mount, recording). You will use this object as part of developing your program.
- Bring lunch, snacks, and drinks. The group will take a short break for lunch.
- Dress for the weather. The group will be in a picnic shelter near the playground, so it could be windy or damp.
Registration: https://forms.office.com/g/e3bemay4LW
Instructor bio: Sammy Zambon is the Eastern Visitor Experience Specialist for Virginia State Parks. He is a Certified Interpretive Trainer with the National Association for Interpretation and has over 20 years experience training interpreters and developing programs. He was an advisor for the Central Rappahannock Chapter of the VMN program when they founded. He continues to teach interpretation and mammalogy for chapters across VA.
Questions? Please contact Sammy Zambon, 804-624-7064, sammy.zambon@dcr.virginia.gov
Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program Upcoming Events
- VFLEP is now accepting registrations for the Fall Forestry and Wildlife Field Tours, which will take place October 6 (Bland), 11 (Essex and King & Queen), 12 (Mecklenburg), and 20 (Warren). Please see the VFLEP website for itineraries and registration information.
- VFLEP’s Fifteen Minutes in the Forest series returns in September. Join Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension Foresters from across Virginia for a 15 minute video on a timely topic every other Friday at 12:15 on Facebook Live or YouTube Premier. All videos can be viewed on the Virginia Forest Landowner Update YouTube Channel any time (subscribe to be notified when new videos are added). Check out the upcoming schedule of videos, which includes topics such as chiggers, hardwood management, hellbender habitat, and more.
Virginia Natural History Society Meeting
Description: Radford University is hosting the annual meeting of the Virginia Natural History Society on Saturday September 23, from 10-4. They welcome participation and presentations by Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers.
Cost: Conference fees (student: $ 10; regular VNHS member: $15; non-member regular: $25) include a deli lunch buffet and 2 coffee breaks.
More information and registration: https://virginianaturalhistorysociety.com/vnhs-general-meeting-2023/
Notes: If you’d like to pay for registration with a check, please make it payable to “Virginia Natural History Society Conference Registration” and mail it to Nancy Moncrief, VMNH, 21 Starling Avenue, Martinsville, Virginia 24112. If you must cancel after submitting payment, you will be refunded the full amount, minus a $5 administration fee, prior to September 18 at 11:59 EDT. VNHS reserves the right to cancel the conference, if necessary, in which case you will be refunded the full amount.
Other Opportunities
Generation NEXT workshops with Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Department of Forestry, which focus on land succession planning, will be held in several locations across Virginia beginning in September. Please see this flyer for more details.
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