Bi-weekly Email Updates

Bi-weekly Email for April 14

Hello, VMNs. Spring, and a whole lot of pollen, are in the air. The birds in my yard seem to chatter nonstop about spring and my kids can’t stop talking about the last day of school. Everyone’s in a good mood! When you get a quiet moment, catch up on the Bi-weekly emails.

This email includes:

1. National Volunteer Week
2. 2026 version of the VMN Volunteer Policy Handbook published
3. 2026 Conference Reminder
4. Request for Photos
5. Continuing Education Opportunities
6. Volunteer Service Opportunity

National Volunteer Week

National Volunteer Week is coming up April 19-25. Thank you to all our VMN volunteers for all you do! Watch for some National Volunteer Week posts on our social media. Take a moment to thank the other VMN volunteers in your chapter next week!

Text description of graphic: Virginia Master Naturalists, 2025 in Review. The Virginia Master Naturalist program is a statewide corps of trained volunteers providing education, science and stewardship to benefit natural resource conservation in their communities. In 2025, 3,649 volunteers contributed 262,955 service hours valued at $9.05M, stewarded 948 sites, supported 60+ scientific studies, made 521,069 educational contacts, and maintained 500 partnerships with local organizations. As part of their many activities in 2025, VMN volunteers supported national, state, and local parks (example: Banshee Reeks Master Naturalists created a native fern garden at Sweet Run State Park). They increased access to nature for people of all abilities (example: VMN volunteers surveyed Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail sites like Historic Smithfield for accessibility). They protected water resources through riparian stewardship (example: Historic Rivers Master Naturalist volunteers completed a riparian buffer and native plant demonstration garden at Brickyard Landing.)

2026 Version of VMN Volunteer Policy Handbook Published and New Pesticide Use Policy

As we do every April, the VMN State Office has published an updated VMN Volunteer Policy Handbook (VPH). The most current version of the VPH can always be found on the Policies and Procedures page of the VMN website and in the Files section of MyImpactPage.com (Better Impact).

As part of that update, we have a new VCE policy about pesticide use by volunteers to reflect new legislation just signed into law this month. Volunteers are now exempt from required licensing if using herbicides on state land, with some stipulations. Previously the exemption only applied to locality land. 

2026 Conference reminder

The 2026 VMN Statewide Conference will be September 18-20, 2026 at the Westin Washington Dulles Airport hotel in Herndon, VA. Be sure you’ve marked your calendars! The program is coming together as we speak and the Fairfax and Banshee Reeks chapters are excited to host their fellow VMNs and show them around! 

Request for Photos

Earth Day is April 22nd and we would love to showcase the different environments we have in Virginia. Please email, Abi, VMN Intern at abim22@vt.edu with pictures of the landscape around you in Virginia. Photos can include places you have volunteered with VMN, areas you enjoy visiting, anything that showcases nature in your area. These images will be used on our Instagram and Facebook. Thank you!

Continuing Education Opportunities

Virginia Project Learning Tree professional development events

Date: multiple trainings being held in Summer 2026 to celebrate PLT’s 50^th anniversary

Description: Dress to be outdoors and join us for a great day at any of the following locations: Blandy Experimental Farm on July 16^th, Mathews State Forest on July 23^rd, or the Suffolk Cultural Arts Center on July 30^th.  At the completion of any of these trainings, you will receive a certificate of completion, an Explore Your Environment PLT guide, & have the confidence & skills to use PLT activities with K-8 students. PLT training also counts for six continuing education units.

This professional development event is part of an ee360+ grant-funded series. Lunch will be provided and the cost for participants for the training, the guide, lunch & snacks is $10. 

Presenter: All PLT professional developments are facilitated by a PLT-certified facilitator. These training courses are all being facilitated or co-facilitated by Ellen Powell, Conservation Education Coordinator at the Virginia Department of Forestry.

Registration: The above opportunities & more are available on the VA PLT registration page: https://project-learning-tree.odoo.com/ 

Blue Ridge PRISM Walks & Workdays April 14-30

Blue Ridge PRISM has many invasive plant identification walks and stewardship workdays coming up in April. See the Blue Ridge PRISM calendar for details. 

Invasive Plant ID Walks

14 April, 10-12:00, Hoover Ridge Park, Madison

16 April, 10-10:45 am — Rappahannock County Park, Washington

Conservation Steward Workdays

14 April, 10–11:30 am — State Arboretum, Boyce

15 April, 10–11:30 am — Eastham Park, Front Royal

16 April, 9–11 am — Ridgeview Park, Waynesboro

17 April, 10 am–noon — E. J. Carrier Arboretum, Harrisonburg

18 April, 9 am–noon — Banshee Reeks, Leesburg

23 April, 9–11 am — Piney River Trailhead of Blue Ridge Railway, Piney River

24 April, 10 am–noon — Greene County Park, Ruckersville

28 April, 10–11:30 am — Crockett Park, Warrenton

28 April, TBD — Hoover Ridge Park, Madison

Volunteer Opportunity

Butternut Hunt – A New Volunteer Activity with Researchers from the University of Virginia

Butternut (Juglans cinerea) is a native tree whose population has declined by over 70% in the last half a century due to the butternut canker disease. Researchers want to know where remaining butternuts are located in Virginia, their health and size, and whether they are pure butternut or hybrid with Japanese walnut. The main priority is locating as many wild butternuts as possible. To achieve this, they are collaborating with citizen scientists across Virginia to locate wild butternut trees, help collect leaf samples for genetic sequencing, and assess their health by submitting photos. Interested volunteers should (1) read this project overview, (2) attend the Zoom training on May 19 at 9:00 am or watch the video afterwards, and (3) talk to their chapter’s activities/service chair about getting the activity approved. We have sent an activity proposal form and other information directly to those chairs. 

Bi-weekly Email for March 31

Hello, VMNs. Things are heating up and spring is taking hold. So much so that I have to mow the lawn this week! When you’re done with your spring-induced chores, you can catch up on the Bi-weekly emails.

This email includes:

1. VMN Snapshot
2. Impact Highlights
3. 2026 Service Theme: Wonderful Water (#WOW)
4. Continuing Education Opportunities

VMN Snapshot

To help communicate and celebrate all that our VMN volunteers are accomplishing, we share quarterly summaries of VMN volunteer service. Here are some statistics for January 1-March 31, 2026.

Volunteers who have reported service for January-March 2025: 2,344 volunteers (63% of all currently enrolled volunteers)

Total service hours reported: 47,874 hours

Service Hours by Activity Report Group:

• Chapter Administration 12,964 hours by 1,416 volunteers
• Citizen Science 17,345 hours by 1,199 volunteers
• Continuing Education 9,065 hours by 1,770 volunteers
• Education and Outreach 7,885 hours by 727 volunteers
• Stewardship 11,106 hours by 996 volunteers

Impact Highlights

“#WOW I have been monitoring this same stream location in a busy suburban area almost every month for 7 years. Providing this continuity and being tied into big CMC network as well as Ch Co water testing provides important information to water professionals. Also, doing this at a Community College campus gives us the chance to occasionally interact with students who watch us gather information.”

“3300 trees given away and was able to educate people about proper mulching and planting”

“Created meadows and wooded habitats for the enjoyment of visitors. Eliminated the invasive species callery pear trees in an area in the park.”

2026 Service Theme: Wonderful Water (#WOW)

This year, we are celebrating Virginia’s water resources with a volunteer service theme of Wonderful Water! We’re asking all VMN volunteers to try to do at least one service activity directly related to water. You can see examples of what counts and learn more on our website. Remember to include #WOW (just like that!) in the Description field when you enter your hours on Better Impact for any service that is directly related to water resources, such as water quality monitoring, shoreline cleanups, and Project Wet.

In Quarter 1 of 2026, 87 volunteers reported 468 hours of #WOW service. Great job!

Learn more about water: Wondering how much water you use? And what you could do to conserve water? The https://watercalculator.org/ is a handy tool for calculating your “water footprint”. It also has resources for educators and tips for reducing water usage. 

#WOW service activity highlight: Clean the Bay Day

Clean the Bay Day with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is coming on May 2! People from all over the Bay watershed gather to do cleanups of shorelines and waterways. VMN volunteers can help by registering for and attending an event near them. Even better, VMN volunteers can be Zone Captains who oversee the site and volunteers! More information and registration information is at https://www.cbf.org/clean-the-bay-day/. 

Not in the Bay watershed? Clean Virginia Waterways organizes other cleanup events statewide. https://www.cleanvirginiawaterways.org/lead-a-cleanup

Continuing Education Opportunities

VMN Continuing Education Webinar Series: The Claudius Project: Poisonous Mushrooms in Virginia

Presenter: John Dent (VMN volunteer, Rivanna Chapter)

Date: April 14, 12:00 pm

Pre-registration required

Recording: As always, the recording will be available on the VMN Continuing Education Webinar Series page. 

Virginia Natural Heritage Program 40th Anniversary Events

The Virginia Natural Heritage Program is celebrating its 40th anniversary! They are offering special events throughout the year, including guided hikes, presentations, and service opportunities. For starters, here are just a few of the many events coming up:

• River cane restoration work day at The Cedars (Lee County), April 4
• Flowers and fossils walk at the Museum of the Middle Appalachians and Redrock Mountain Preserve (Saltville), April 11
• Great Blue Heron rookery visit at Crow’s Nest Preserve (Stafford County), April 11
• Twayblade tour at Twin Hickory Park (Glen Allen), April 11

…and many more. Please see the Virginia Natural Heritage Program 40th Anniversary Event webpage for more details and the full list (which is growing as they add events throughout the year.)

Virginia Native Orchids Webinar with The Nature Conservancy (TNC)

Join TNC and a DCR Natural Heritage Steward to learn about native orchids. 

Date: April 21, 12:00-1:00 pm

Virtual

Free, pre-registration required

Native Plant Webinar Series from the Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals

Register now for the Native Plant Webinar Series happening every Tuesday in April, 12:00 – 1:00 PM Eastern. This series is hosted by ANREP’s National Extension Native Plant Initiative. Topics will be geared toward natural resource extension professionals and those in related fields with an interest in native plants in the landscape, seed collection and processing, and the role of seed banks for local ecotypes. The webinars are open to both ANREP members and non-members. Feel free to share the registration link with conservation professionals outside of Extension. 

Dates and Topics

Native Plants: Teaching Tips and Tools for Adoption – Tuesday, April 7

Native Plants: Local Ecotypes and the Role of Seed Banks – Tuesday, April 14

Native Plants: Small Scale Seed Collection and Storage – Tuesday, April 21

Native Plants: Community Collaboration for Seed Conservation – Tuesday, April 28

Details and registration at https://anrep.org/nenpi.php