Bi-weekly Email Updates
Bi-weekly Email for April 28
Hello, VMNs. Lots of Continuing Education options for you this week. Take a look and see what new things you might want to learn. When you’re done filling your brain, you can catch up on the Bi-weekly emails.
This email includes:
- Being a VMN – tips and reminders
- Continuing Education Opportunities
- Volunteer Opportunities
- Other News/Requests
Being a VMN Volunteer – A Few Tips and Reminders
- Be familiar with our program policies; review the newest version of the VMN Volunteer Policy Handbook.
- Please record your CE and service hours regularly on Better Impact (as they happen, or at least monthly!), make sure what you are doing is part of an approved activity, and choose the correct activity when you enter your time.
- Remember our Wonderful Water service theme for 2026! When doing service that relates directly to water resources, add #WOW to the Description field when you enter your time.
Continuing Education Opportunities
Pine Mountain Naturalist Rally, presented by the VMN High Knob Chapter
Date: Saturday, May 2
Schedule: Registration begins at 8:00 am. Sessions include nature walks about mushrooms, birds, wildflowers, and butterflies and programs on raptors and forest bathing. All outdoors!
Location: Cumberland Mountain Fur, Fish, and Game Club, 12335 Pottertown Rd., Pound VA
For information: Call or text VMN volunteer Debbie Hale at 276-870-3479 or email VMN volunteer Bonnie Aker at aker.bonnie7@yahoo.com
1st Annual Value of a View Roundtable
Date: Wednesday May 13th
Location: Grand Salon at James Madison’s Montpelier, 11350 Constitution Highway, Montpelier Station, VA 22957
Description: This gathering will bring together partners and stakeholders committed to preserving the Commonwealth’s scenic landscapes. As pressures on our most treasured landscapes continue to grow, how do we protect the places we value most? This panel will explore practical strategies for identifying scenic assets, clearly illustrating potential impacts, and effectively mitigating change. This inaugural conversation is designed to build a shared understanding of how we identify, recognize, and protect Virginia’s most treasured views.
Fee and Info: This is a ticketed event ($35). More information on the Scenic Virginia website or by emailing info@scenicvirginia.org.
VMN CE Webinar Series – May Double Header!
We will have two VMN CE Webinars in May, both focused on specific volunteer activities. As always, the VMN CE webinars will be recorded and posted to our website.
May 19, 9:00-10:00 am: Butternut Hunt – Learn about butternut trees and the new volunteer activity to document and collect samples from them around the state. Presented by researchers at the University of Virginia’s Blandy Experimental Farm and State Arboretum.
May 21, 12:00-1:00 pm: Clifton Institute Native Seed Collection – Learn about this ongoing project to launch a native plant seed industry in Virginia and how volunteers may assist. Presented by Rachel Martin at the Clifton Institute.
Project Learning Tree Explore Your Environment + Project WILD combined Educator Workshop organized by Virginia Cooperative Extension
Date/Time: 27 May 2026, 11:45 – 5:45
Description: Pack a lunch, dress to be outdoors, & join others for a great day at Schoolfield Elementary School in Danville. Don’t forget bug spray, sun protection, & a water bottle! After this professional development, you will receive a certificate of completion, an Explore Your Environment PLT K-8 guide, a Project WILD K-12 guide, & have the confidence & skills to use outdoor activities with K-12 students.
Registration: Registration and additional information online. Registration deadline is May 8. Registration is $11 which covers the Project Learning Tree professional development fee. Project WILD workshops are free due to support from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
*Note that registration for this event closes on May 8th so our facilitators can prepare. You must register by May 8th.
Positive Youth Development Training Now Available on Better Impact
Virginia Cooperative Extension has a new training available to all volunteers on Better Impact. This training equips volunteers with essential skills for working effectively and safely with youth in 4-H and other programs. Participants will learn about their duty of care responsibilities, explore resources that align with school standards, and understand developmental stages to tailor activities appropriately. This training is not mandatory for all VMN volunteers, but we encourage volunteers to complete it if you do programming for youth. It may count towards CE hours, but please ask your chapter leaders how to record that time.
To take the training: In Better Impact, go to the My Profile menu, and click the Training link. The Positive Youth Development training will appear in the list of trainings available. Watch the video (40 minutes) and answer the question provided, and Better Impact will record your training completion and give you the Positive Youth Development qualification.
Trees to Products Program for Educators
Virginia Cooperative Extension in collaboration with the Southwest Virginia Chapter of the Society of American Foresters and other members of the forest industry is offering an environmental education opportunity for teachers (including non-formal educators like VMNs) from July 6-9. The Trees to Products program is designed to correlate with the Virginia Standards of Learning for grades K – 12. It awards 30 hours of professional development credits for participants, along with Project Learning Tree certification.
“We are pleased to offer this program for teachers again this year,” said Bill Worrell, Extension agent for forestry and natural resources in Southwest Virginia. “This is an excellent opportunity for teachers to get an in-the-field tour of sustainable forest-management techniques, as well as professional development credits, at a very low cost.”
Teachers will tour key forest-industry sites to learn about sustainable forest management. They will also learn about how forests provide wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities, and the importance of forests in view-shed and water-quality efforts. Participants will see how trees are converted into a variety of everyday products. In addition, teachers will receive Project Learning Tree® certification at the completion of the course. Project Learning Tree is a multidisciplinary environmental education program of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative for educators of students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12.
Participants pay a $25 registration fee for the four-day conference. The costs of all meals, transportation, and lodging are provided by the sponsors, with the exception of transportation to the conference headquarters in Wise, Va.
Register at https://forms.gle/t1a7J3pd7HmgBnAr5 by June 25.
For more information contact Bill Worrell at (276) 889-8056 or bworrell@vt.edu.
Volunteer Opportunities
City Nature Challenge – iNaturalist Identification Period
The City Nature Challenge is an annual bioblitz focused mainly on urban metro areas (though not exclusively) and it is a friendly competition amongst participating areas. April 24-April 27 was the observing period, and April 28-May 10 is the additional time added to identify what was found and posted to iNaturalist. You can help make identifications on iNaturalist for any of the locations in Virginia listed below, not just the place you live. This is a good opportunity for volunteers looking for activities they can do from home. As always, please check with your chapter leaders for service activity approvals and directions on how to report in Better Impact. We’ve included a handful of the current, unofficial tallies below!
SW Virginia: 1,153 observations of 544 species by 73 observers.
Roanoke: 1,095 observations of 352 species by 58 observers.
Richmond Metro: 2,328 observations of 908 species by 279 observers.
Charlottesville Region: 4,028 observations of 1,139 species by 238 observers.
Alleghany Highlands/Shenandoah Mountains: 682 observations of 398 species by 77 observers.
Virginia Pinelands: 1,367 observations of 543 species by 108 observers.
Washington D.C. Metro Area (including NOVA): 44,364 observations of 3,176 species by 2,060 observers.
Eastern Shore: 1,848 observations of 786 species by 47 observers.
Other News/Requests
Operation Hognose
If you see an Eastern Hog-nosed snake in Virginia, report it! The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and the Virginia Herpetological Society are teaming up to gather data on this species, which is listed as a Tier III Species of Conservation Need in the 2025 Virginia Wildlife Action Plan. For more information and the link to the reporting form, visit the Virginia Herpetological Society website.
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:
- National Volunteer Week
- 2026 version of the VMN Volunteer Policy Handbook published
- 2026 Conference Reminder
- Request for Photos
- Continuing Education Opportunities
- 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 50th anniversary
Description: Dress to be outdoors and join us for a great day at any of the following locations: Blandy Experimental Farm on July 16th, Mathews State Forest on July 23rd, or the Suffolk Cultural Arts Center on July 30th. 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.
Connect with Us
For general inquiries about the Virginia Master Naturalist program, please contact:
masternaturalist@vt.edu540-231-0790