Virginia Master Naturalist Golden Circle Volunteers

VMN volunteers who complete 5,000 hours of volunteer service become part of the Virginia Master Naturalist program’s Golden Circle.  Golden Circle volunteers have demonstrated incredible dedication to service that benefit’s Virginia’s natural resources and to the VMN program as a whole.

Volunteers in the Golden Circle are: 

• given a gold base pin to use with milestone rocker bars;
• invited to attend the VMN Statewide Conference for a discounted fee;
• listed and recognized here on the Golden Circle page of the VMN website;
• invited, when opportunities arise, to provide input on some decisions and initiatives of the VMN state program office.

We thank this extraordinary group of volunteers for all of their work as natural resource educators, citizen scientists, and stewards.  Most of these individuals also have served in leadership positions in their chapters, thus also giving their time to keeping the VMN program thriving in their local communities.  Each volunteer is listed below, along with some highlights of their volunteer service activities.  These highlights are just a small selection of their hours; each of them has contributed to more projects than can be listed here!
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Virginia Master Naturalist Golden Circle Volunteers

• Marian Childress (deceased, formerly of Tidewater Chapter)
  Marian dedicated thousands of hours over many years to monitoring sea turtle nests and helping the Virginia Aquarium's Stranding Team respond to marine mammal and sea turtle strandings in the Virginia Beach area.
• Shirley Devan (Historic Rivers Chapter)
  Shirley has been a dedicated board member of her chapter for many years, while also leading and participating in a wide array of bird and butterfly monitoring projects.
• Kathy Fell (Southwestern Piedmont Chapter)
  Kathy teaches others about creating wildlife habitats, monitors water quality in local streams, and volunteers regularly in the Research and Collections department of the Virginia Museum of Natural History.  She also has been a significant leader in her chapter.
• John Ford (New River Valley Chapter)
  John volunteered weekly at the Massey Herbarium at Virginia Tech for years, and he has helped coordinate the continuing education and volunteer projects committees of his chapter.
• Daina Henry (Peninsula Chapter)
  Daina spearheaded her chapter's Water Quality Testing Project, participates in stream cleanups and trail maintenance, and conducts education and outreach programs.  She has served on many chapter committees and in various leadership roles. ​
• Cheryl Jacobson (Historic Rivers Chapter)
  Cheryl has been a dedicated Wildlife Mapper for years.  She also participates in all kinds of bird projects, include OspreyWatch, bluebird monitoring, and Project FeederWatch.
• Les Lawrence (Historic Rivers Chapter)
  Les monitors precipitation for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, contributes to the WildlifeMapping project, and has provided environmental education for youth in James City County. 
• Susan Powell (Historic Rivers Chapter)
  Susan monitors bats, butterflies, and birds.  She also teaches others about birds and bird identification, and has helped promote and safety and create risk management procedures in her chapter.
• Jack Price (Old Rag Chapter)
  Jack helps provide education and information to Shenandoah National Park visitors.  He teaches others about trees, birds, native plants, and more.  
• Jim Scibek (Central Rappahannock Chapter)
  Jim has been an invaluable leader in his chapter and has helped coordinate basic training for hundreds of new VMN volunteers.  He also has provided environmental education for youth at Earth Day and Farm Field Day events.
• Ida Swenson (Rivanna Chapter)
  Ida has taught hundreds of youth and adults about watersheds, wildlife, and other nature topics.  She also monitors her local waters with StreamWatch, coordinates outreach activities for her chapter, and helps organize the basic training course for new volunteers.
• Robert Toner (Eastern Shore Chapter)
  Bob monitors bird populations through a variety of citizen science projects and provides stewardship at Nature Conservancy and National Wildlife Refuge sites on the Eastern Shore.

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