Continuing Education

CE Webinar Series

To be certified and maintain certification every year as a Virginia Master Naturalist, volunteers are required to complete 8 hours of continuing education. To assist volunteers needing to meet this requirement, the state program offers continuing education through our annual statewide conference and an online webinar series.  To attend a webinar, please click on the registration button below the webinar description.  You can also access previous webinars by streaming a recording online, following the links provided at the bottom of the page.  

In addition to these monthly CE webinars, we have offered an occasional, irregularly scheduled High Five From Nature webinar series.

NEXT WEBINAR:

The ecology and restoration of urban forested natural areas

Date: October 22, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00 pm

Description: Small forests embedded across developed landscapes are susceptible to adjacent and regional anthropogenic activities and are ideal for studying the combined effects of global environmental change on ecosystems. Dr. Trammell will present research conducted on urban forests of the Mid-Atlantic highlighting plant and soil communities and research on adaptive management practices for resilient and sustainable urban forests. The talk will highlight a co-produced research project between urban forest practitioners, university researchers, and US Forest Service scientists with the goal of building resilient urban forests for climate change.

Presenter: Dr. Tara L.E. Trammell is the John Bartram Associate Professor of Urban Forestry in the Plant and Soil Sciences Department at the University of Delaware. She has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Mathematics. For over 20 years, she has conducted research in the field of urban ecology. She is a co-lead scientist for the Urban Silviculture Network, a long-term urban forest ecology network (the FRAME; FoRest Among Managed Ecosystems), and the American Residential Macrosystem project.

Register for Ecology and Restoration of Urban Forested Natural Areas

View Earlier Webinars from the 2025 Series

Chapter Leadership Demystified
Presenters: Michelle Prysby (VMN Program Director, Virginia Tech/Virginia Cooperative Extension), Tiffany Brown (VMN Program Assistant, Virginia Tech/Virginia Cooperative Extension), Pam Faulkner (VMN, Riverine Chapter), Cassandra Lopez (VMN, Fairfax Chapter), Brian Scott (VMN, Tidewater Chapter)
Watch the video

Spanish for Naturalists
Presenters: Jack Person (VMN, Arlington Regional Chapter), Wendy Cohen (VMN, Fairfax Chapter), Josefina Doumbia (VMN, Fairfax Chapter), Lesley Newman (VMN, Headwaters Chapter), Kate Pugh (Western Albemarle High School teacher)
Watch the video
Coming soon: We have a handout with Spanish translations for naturalist vocabulary that we’re putting the finishing touches on and will post here by mid-October!

Soil Health for a Thriving Virginia
Presenter: Summer Thomas and Mary Sketch Bryant, Virginia Soil Health Coalition and Virginia Cooperative Extension
Recorded: 14 July 2025
​Watch the video

Bonus webinar: Beech Leaf Disease Survey Training
Presenter: Lori Chamberlin, Forest Health Manager, Virginia Department of Forestry
Recorded: 17 June 2025
Watch the video

VMN Educators Bureau Flash Talks
Presenters (all VMN volunteers, shown in order of appearance): BeeHurricane Thompson, Tanya Finch, Nora Cox, Rod Walker, Edie Juno, Robert “Bob” Dunstan, Robin Duska, David Lauthers, Michael Walker 
Recorded: 12 June 2025
Watch the video

Bonus webinar: Birdability Project Re-launch and Kickoff Webinar – Together on the Trail: Accessible Birding and the Birdability Map
Presenter: Cat Fribley, Birdability
Recorded: 10 June 2025
Watch the video

Butterfly population trends in America north of Mexico and their most likely drivers
Presenter: Leslie Ries, Associate Professor, Georgetown University
​Recorded: 5 May 2025
​Watch the video

Balancing Nature in a Growing City
Presenter: Dr. Trakela Wright-Hicks, Virginia Cooperative Extension Urban Forestry Specialist, Virginia State University
Recorded: 10 April 2025
Watch the video

Gray Fox in Virginia
Presenter: Victoria Monette, PhD student, Virginia Tech Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Recorded: 26 March 2025
Watch the video

Ecological forecasting to anticipate the future of forests and freshwaters​
Presenter: Quinn Thomas, Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation
Recorded: 24 February 2025
Watch the video

VMN Treemendous 20th Anniversary Kickoff and Program Awards
Presenters: Michelle Prysby, Tiffany Brown, and Lori Chamberlin (VDOF)
Recorded: 23 January 2025
Watch the Treemendous 20th Anniversary Kickoff video
Watch the awards announcement video