two people planting plants in a forested area

The Numbers Are In: 2015 Program Statistics

Virginia Master Naturalists not only do impressive work, they have fun doing it! Lisa Bright and Alan Ford laugh as they separate Carex plants as part of the habitat restoration…

five people posed with award plaques

Laurels – Fall 2015

ANROSP 2015 award winners from naturalist programs in North Carolina, Virginia, Utah, and California. Photo by Alycia Crall. The Virginia Master Naturalist program won the 2015 award for “Outstanding Educational…

Giving Monarchs a Boost in Virginia

Tagged monarch butterfly. Photo by David Mellor. The peak monarch butterfly migration recently reached northern Mexico, just 500 miles from their final winter destination in the transvolcanic mountain range of…

person in green, grassy field

Facilitating Science and Conservation Through Collaboration

Collaborative Science is the product of a research grant entitled ‘Sustaining ecological communities through citizen science and online collaboration.’ This research is supported by the National Science Foundation and is…

huge fish made from fabric and other materials

Laurels, Summer 2015

Each quarter in our Laurels post, we highlight accomplishments of our VMN volunteers, including awards received, noteworthy project impacts, and creative ideas.  Our chapters submit these items for inclusion.  If…

newly planted garden outside a building

A Secret Garden by Southwestern Piedmont Master Naturalists

New “Secret Garden” installed by Virginia Master Naturalists at the Martinsville Branch of the Blue Ridge Regional Library. Photo by Kathy Fell Article by Kathy Fell, VMN-Southwestern Piedmont Chapter If…

flyer about a pollinator workshop

VMN Chapters Abuzz with Pollinator Projects

Flyer from pollinator workshop put on by Rivanna Chapter volunteers. By Karen L. Mulder (VMN trainee, Rivanna Chapter, class of 2015)     Heading into Spring, our area hosted several events…

volunteers and children posed together at a picnic shelter

You Go, Virginia Master Naturalists!: Highlights from 2014

This article was written by Virginia Master Naturalist volunteers for their chapter annual reports, and then compiled and edited by Susan Austin Roth (Arlington Regional Chapter.)          Master Naturalists…

monarch butterfly in a person's hand, with a small adhesive sticker on the wing

Laurels – Spring 2015

A monarch tag recovered in Mexico, a new trail built, and new awards and grants received are among the laurels we share this quarter. This monarch was tagged by Marie…

three feral hogs on a sandy landscape under trees

Hog Wild

Feral hogs from the Back Bay population in southern Virginia Beach. Photo by David Bishop, USFWS. By Susan Austin Roth     Call them hogs, pigs, swine, razorbacks or Russian boars,…