2018 Virginia Master Naturalist Year in Review

VMN-New River Valley volunteer dons wings to educate community members about pollinators and their habitat at the 2018 Hokie BugFest. Photo contributed by Judy Kirwan, VMN-New River Valley Chapter.

We are busy in the VMN state office reading through the annual reports from our chapters.  Chapter leaders work hard on these reports to compile the membership and volunteering statistics for their chapters and to describe some of their most impactful projects from the year.  It's exciting for us to hear about their accomplishments, and it is clear that Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers are continuing to make important impacts in their communities and to benefit Virginia's waters, woods, and wildlife.

In 2018, 1,994 volunteers reported more than 190,000 hours of service, over 28,000 hours of continuing education, and nearly 145,000 face-to-face exchanges of educational information about natural resources.  The volunteers reported stewardship work at 446 sites across Virginia, including local, state, and national parks, local and state natural areas, trails, schoolyards, and more.  Their service in 2018 is valued at  more than $5 million, based on the value of a volunteer hour in Virginia as calculated by IndependentSector.org.

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Value	2016	2017	​2018
New Basic Training Graduates	382	415	411
VMN Members	2,879	3,039	3,429
Active Volunteers (Reported service that year)	1,743	1,845	1,994
Certified Virginia Master Naturalists	1,206	1,256	1,397
Continuing Education Hours	24,190	27,851	28,032
Service Hours: Education	35,432	38,843	43,308
Service Hours: Citizen Science	43,517	52,420	64,811
Service Hours: Stewardship	29,852	36,516	43,939
Service Hours: Chapter Administration	25,303	28,214	38,245
Total Service Hours	145,996	155,992	190,304
Monetary Value of Service	$3.94 million	$4.21 million	$5.09 million
Sites Improved	323	364	446