Do a Treemendous 20th Service Activity in 2025!

Throughout 2025, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Virginia Master Naturalist program. We’ll be having special events and communications to highlight some longstanding volunteers and projects. We also…

yellow, black, and white moth perched on a green leaf

A Multitude of Moths – VMN 2025 Recertification Artwork

Each year, previously certified VMN volunteers who complete another 40 hours of approved volunteer service and 8 hours of approved continuing education earn a unique recertification pin for that year.…

Hurricane Helene and Climate Change

—By Quin Campbell, Virginia Master Naturalist Communications and Volunteer Engagement Intern and Virginia Tech Student ​Hurricanes are becoming increasingly intense, destructive, and frequent, and this trend is only predicted to…

Experiencing Virginia’s Environmental Diversity

Tim Koppenhaver at South River Preserve in the Shenandoah Valley. Image by Tim Koppenhaver. Tim Koppenhaver in a cave at Mill Creek Springs Natural Area Preserve. Photo courtesy of Tim…

Our Very Viny 2024 VMN Recertification Pin

Virginia-creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), drawn by VMN volunteer Rosalind “Ros” Reilly from the James River Chapter. This image was chosen to be the artwork for the 2024 VMN Recertification pin. ​Each…

Vernal Pool Video Receives Five Out Of Five Frogs Rating

–Contributed by Jerry Nissley, VMN-Fairfax Chapter Recently, several members of the Fairfax Chapter (FMN) collaborated with colleagues of Friends of Accotink Creek in Fairfax County to create educational outreach films…

Tales from the Trail

By Meagan Thomas, Watchable Wildlife Biologist, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources If you are one of over two hundred Adopt-a-Trail (AAT) Volunteers, we at the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources…

Celebrating the Virginia Opossum in 2023 with the VMN Recertification Pin

Each year, previously certified VMN volunteers who complete another 40 hours of approved volunteer service and 8 hours of approved continuing education earn a unique recertification pin for that year.  In…

Reflections on the 15-year History of the Riverine Master Naturalists

By Emily Gianfortoni, VMN volunteer, Riverine ChapterRiverine Chapter VMN Establishment and the Early Years of the Chapter Beginnings: In 2006 Colleen Calderwood, Hanover County Cooperative Extension Agent at the time, recruited…

New Partnerships with the NAACP for Natural Resource Education and Conservation

–Contributors: Cynthia Edwards and Henry McBurney (VMN-Historic Southside Chapter), Susan Crockett and Susan Walton (VMN-Middle Peninsula Chapter) Many of our Virginia Master Naturalist chapters are working to engage more diverse…