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Virginia Master Naturalist
Pocahontas Chapter
Newsletter
February 28, 2015
Important Dates
Board Meetings
A Note from Lesha
Sundays: 4-6 PM
April 12th
Next meetings TBA
Continuing
Education
Bird Banding w/ Julie
Kacmarcik
April 25th
9 am
Rockwood Park Nature
Center
How You Can Share What You Have Learned
Without a doubt, the most-often mentioned reason that people
become interested and involved in the Master Naturalist
program is because they want to learn more about the
environment. We are a curious bunch-our desire to understand
and explore the world around us kept us glued to our chairs
throughout those weekly evening training sessions that put us all
on the path to VMN membership and certification.
According to a survey conducted by the statewide program in
early 2013, 87% of those who responded said that the education
Watchable Wildlife w/ provided through our basic training sessions was most
Jessica Ruthenberg
important. And I can't say enough good things about the content
May 16
of our courses and our instructors-there is no doubt that their
9-Noon
Rockwood Park Nature enthusiasm and expertise are priceless.
Center
However, looking beyond Year One, we see that engagement in
Checkout the State VMN
VMN activity declines to about 50%. (A statistic that is not unique
Website for upcoming
Webinars and recordings to our chapter, by the way, as the statewide survey puts that
number at 47%.) In some ways, I believe this retention of
for past sessions.
2015 Basic Training
Class
Tuesdays - 6-9 PM
Swift Creek Dining Hall
membership activity into Year Two is to be expected, especially
since it seems to be par for the course across Virginia. In another
way, I see the numbers from 50% and above as an opportunity for
challenge, for increased engagement and for further outreach.
I am encouraged by the growing attendance at each of our
chapter's Continuing Education events. Our program on bats
Class/Field Trip onApril
4th - Herps
Field Trip on April 11 Open Spaces
Pocahontas
Chapter
Chapter Officers
President
Lesha Berkel
Treasurer
Joel Dexter
Secretary
Cris Pond
Committee Chairs
Basic Training
Bill Carloni
Continuing Education
Jim McCord
reached nearly 50 members, more than one-third of our total
membership! We can be proud of these programs that meet our
thirst for knowledge and bring us together regularly to share our
common interests.
The work that we do as environmental stewards may seem less
glamorous at first, and we use more muscle than brain to remove
invasive species or clean up trails and waterways. But encounters
with the flora and fauna that reside outside the classroom allow
us to put our skills into practice. We have learned to observe
more closely, use guidebooks and keys for identification, and
factor in unusual occurrences, like weather.
Connecting with our state park, public programs, schools and
groups to lead educational activities is also part of our mission.
Once we learn, we can share that knowledge in ways that are
memorable and fun. I especially encourage you to seek out
opportunities at the Nature Center as an easy way to get started.
Finally, I would love to hear your feedback about what our VMN
chapter can provide to ensure that you have ample opportunity
to remain engaged and to help you develop tools and strategies
that will build our participation from Year One into Year Two and
beyond!
Warm regards,
Lesha
Volunteer Projects
Karen Daniel
Outreach/Program
Planning
Libby Bourne
Membership
Alice Warner
Webmaster
Rich Marino
Communications
Tom Yates
Chapter Advisor
Special Interests and Other Topics
We are such an interesting and diverse group of Naturalist. Our
members lead, support and volunteer over a wide spectrum of
topics and interests. We travel and experience new things and
places. If you are participating in something or have travels you
want to share with your fellow chapter members, please email
your story or info to Tom Yates atyateswt@gmail.com. We will
include your information in future editions of the chapter
newsletter.
Keith Morrison
PSP Bluebird Monitoring - Volunteer Opportunity
Hello current and "future" Bluebird monitors,
Many people have seen Bluebirds in their yards staking out
nesting sites for this year. We hope they will be ok after all this
cold and snowy weather we have been having. Looks like we
may have another late start to the nesting season. We don't
think much will be happening until the last week in March or
early April.
However:
We can always use more Bluebird Trail Monitors after the nesting
starts so if you are interested please send us an e-mail and we'll
sign you up in SignUpGenius. All we expect is that you peruse the
training literature on the chapter website and then join in a
monitoring session for on-the-job training. We check the
schedule and make sure an experienced monitor will be there.
If a monitoring time slot has already been selected and is shown
filled - don't worry. Just come and join the group - more folks are
always welcome. It is a very pleasant way to start the day.
If you received an invite from SignUpGenius you are already
signed up and ready to go.
On the Chapter Website, the Bluebird information is located
under the Volunteer Projects. Everything you need is there. It is
a great information resource and is worth a read, even if you
choose to not participate in the actual Bluebird Trail Monitoring.
Jane and Lee Hesler
Project FeederWatch - Tell Us about Your Observations
A number of chapter members participated in Project
FeederWatch this past season. Running from November to early
April, observers watch and count the numbers of each species of
birds that visit their feeders and designated watch area. It is nice
to see the variety of birds and to watch their behaviors as they
interact with others of their same type and other species. If you
have interesting observations, stories, helpful feeder hints or
pictures from this past season, please pass them along and your
input will be shared in future newsletters. Send your information
to Tom Yates at yateswt@gmail.com.
Chesterfield County Vernal Pools Project - Update
Hello everyone,
Things are changing. We are aligning our vernal pool data sets
with the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative
(NALCC). This means our data will be combined with all the North
Atlantic vernal pool data from Virginia north into Canada. This
will increase the impact of our data as well as possibly obtaining
monies to support our programs. We are changing some of the
data we are collecting and have eliminated some data that were
determined to be of little value.
The DataSheet is new and can be downloaded from the
resources tab on CitSci. We have also added many other
documents in the resource tab as handy references.
The salamander population is always under pressure from
something - the fungi and bacteria now encroaching require us
to be careful not to move contamination from one pool to the
next. If you must drive to the next pool you are checking, you
should sterilize any equipment used and your boots.
Anne Wright, Susan Watson and Lee Hesler
If you are interesting in supporting the vernal pools monitoring
project, contact Lee Hesler.
Basic Training - 2015
Bill Carloni is heading up our chapter's VMN Basic Training Class
for 2015. It is hard to believe but this year's group of Master
Naturalists are nearly finished with their training and are getting
ready to launch.
On deck in April are the following: Combination Herpetology
class and field trip on April 4th. There is also a field trip on April
11th for Open Spaces.
The Class of 2015 is heading into the home stretch. April
21st Graduation will be here before you know it!
2015 Regional VMN Conferences - Dates and Venues
Selected
Hello VMN volunteers,
I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the beginning of
spring! I am writing to let you know that we have set the dates
and locations for our four regional continuing education
conferences for 2015. These are one-day events that will be
replacing the statewide conference this year, but we'll be
returning to a statewide conference again in 2016. We are testing
the idea of holding these regional events to develop better
networks across chapters in close proximity to one another and
to provide more field training tied to projects relevant to your
region. So, please mark you calendars for the event below
corresponding to your chapter:
Central Region: Saturday, August 29 at Holiday Lake 4H
Center, Appomattox, VA
The central region includes Alleghany Highlands, Rockbridge,
Central Virginia, Central Blue Ridge, Central Piedmont, James
River, Rivanna, and Headwaters chapters
Southeast Region: Sunday, August 30 at Airfield 4H
Center, Wakefield, VA
The southeast region includes Riverine, Pocahontas, Historic
Rivers, Historic Southside, Peninsula, Tidewater, Eastern Shore,
and Northern Neck chapters
Southwest Region: Saturday, September 26 at Hungry Mother
State Park, Marion, VA
The southwest region includes Holston Rivers, Beagle Ridge,
New River Valley, Roanoke Valley, Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes,
and Southwest Piedmont chapters
Northern Region: Sunday, September 27 at Skyland Resort,
Shenandoah National Park, Luray, VA
The northern region includes Old Rag, Shenandoah, Banshee
Reeks, Fairfax, Arlington Regional, Merrimac Farm, and Central
Rappahannock chapters
We will be reserving participation in these regional events to
volunteers that are members in those regions. However, if space
is still available after a period of closed registration to the
region's volunteers, we will open up registration to volunteers in
any chapter. We look forward to seeing many of you this fall!
Cheers, Alycia
Continuing Education Opportunities
 John Zeugner/Wes Robinson will present "Mosquitoes -
Life Cycle, Habitat, Threats and Benefits" at the
University of Richmond's Jepson Center, on April
8th from 7-9pm. This opportunity is brought to you by
the Sierra Club Falls of the James Group. The event is
free. (The invitation is not intended as an endorsement
of Sierra Club's advocacy mission, some of which may
be incompatible with VMN policies.)
 Julie Kacmarcik is presenting a class on Bird Banding. This
will be held at Rockwood Park Nature Center on April
25th at 9:00 am. Julie "Kaz" is also a talented
photographer and posts photos on the Richmond
Audubon Society webpage. Check it out
athttp://www.richmondaudubon.org/photosbanding1.h
tml.
 DGIF's Jessica Ruthenberg will hold a class and field trip
on Virginia's "Watchable Wildlife" on Saturday, May
16th from 9;00-noon at Rockwood Park's Nature Center
Suggestions for a class or field trip ... or CE questions
Contact Jim McCord, Continuing Education Coordinator for the
Pocahontas Chapter VMN with questions.
Email: jc.mccord@verizon.net
Pocahontas Chapter - VMN Mentor
Project
Hello Fellow Master Naturalists,
Do you remember being in the MN class and wondering what
was available, who to contact, and where your interests and
talents could be used as a volunteer?
A need exists to help our students transition from the classroom
setting into active volunteering. We are looking for a few
members to be a contact for students to receive assistance and
guidance as they launch into volunteering. As a contact, or
"mentor" you would provide information and help facilitate
communication and/or coordination with appropriate members
or organizations to connect the student with the right people.
Attached is a document of examples so you can have an
understanding of what a mentor's role might be. As a mentor,
your name and contact information would be provided to the
class members. You might find this to be a very rewarding
experience!
If you are interested, please contact Cris Pond
at CEPond@gmail.com for additional information, and to
proceed.
Volunteer Projects
The month of April is my favorite month of the year. Temps
warm up, flowers and trees bloom, and volunteer opportunities
abound!
I can't remember when we had something to do almost every
week in a month. If it is not directly on one of the attached
projects, JRA is working out at Belmead, there is Vernal Pool
monitoring, Blue Bird monirting, Bat Monitoring,...all sorts of
things are happening as this beautiful place we call home comes
to life for Spring.
Take a look at this list of events for updates and new items. Give
me a shout to help or if you have other questions.
Also in the attachment are flyers for both Explore the Outdoors
and Presquile Field Day. Please print, post and share with friends
and family. There are no better free events for everyone.
Presquile does require registration to attend due to the boat ride
to the island. (Volunteers do not need to register).
A note to the Bat Project Volunteers - There is now a stand-alone
project listed in the VMN for accounting for hours. Please
use "Pocahontas Bat Project" for future hours recording.
As always, thank you for all you do and will do. Let me know if
you have any questions or to volunteer.
Karen
=================================================
VMN Upcoming Events - April 2015
April 11th Presquile Field Day
Presquile Island, managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Services, is
closed to the public except for special events like the Field Day. I
am looking for volunteers to help with parking, a VMN table and if
someone would like to give it a try, a nature walk. Volunteer a
couple of hours and also enjoy everything the island will have to
offer at this time of year - a Pontoon Boat ride over to the island
with perhaps a glimpse of a magnificent Sturgeon, a walk around
the island searching for migrating birds and maybe even a marsh
canoe paddle. If interested, contact Karen for more info.
April 18 Crestwood Elementary Nature Fair
On April 18, from 11 - 2, Crestwood Elementary is having their
annual nature fair. The school is looking for a couple volunteers
to set up a booth/table with a nature activity. If any of our
Rehabers have the opportunity, they would love some live animal
demonstrations. If interested in supporting this effort, please let
me know. The fair contact is Jennifer Heidlebaugh, 8789415 jenniferinmidlothian@gmail.com. This was announced
earlier. Please let me know if you had contacted Jennifer to
volunteer. We need to coordinate the volunteers. (I should have
done this from the start!)
April 19th Explore the Outdoors
We are still taking volunteers for this event being held at the
grounds of PBS which is adjacent to Huguenot Park from 1:00 to
5:00. Staying the entire time is not required. We have several
activities planned and would love to have the help. If you can't
volunteer the day of the event, you can still help. As an activity,
we will be making Pine Cone Bird Feeders. We would appreciate
donations of pine cones, bird seed and/or lard. These need to be
nut free due to potential to come in contact with participants
with allergies. Contact Karen for coordination or more
information.
April 23rd Fort Lee Earth Day
Help out on Thursday, April 23, 2015 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fort
Lee's Earth Day Celebration. Daryl Downing is heading this event.
This year's event will include indoor educational displays and
hands-on exhibits highlighting Environmental Stewardship with
an intended audience of children in Grades 3-5. The event is open
to local third through fifth-grade students, Military and Civilian
Personnel, and the Fort Lee Community. They estimate that
fewer than 500 school children will attend this year's event.
Please contact Daryl if you would like to help out DTDowning@comcast.net
April 25th Girl Scout Bug Badge Presentation
The Bensley Service Unit troops are camping at Pocahontas State
Park the weekend of April 26th. The Brownie Program Leader for
the event has asked us to present a program for the Brownies to
complete the requirements for their Bug Badge. The exact time
has not yet set but will likely be 9:00 to 11:00. If you would like to
assist in this presentation let me know.
VMN Upcoming Events May 2015
May 6th
Girl Scout Troop 3247 is taking a trip to New Point, VA. As a
service project, they are picking up trash on the beach the
morning of May 30. The troop leader has asked if the VMN could
present a program to the troop about what they can do to help
conserve the environment. The lead and I have had some
discussion about presenting a program about the Chesapeake
Bay Watershed and how our day to day activities affect the bay.
This is not set in stone. The girls are 6 yrs to 10 yrs old. The troop
meets at St. Marks United Methodist Church in the Community
Life Center at 11551 Lucks Ln, Midlothian, VA 23114. Event is
scheduled for May 6th 6:00PM but is flexible. We need at least
two or three volunteers for this presentation. The chapter can
help with development and materials. Please contact Karen if
interested.
=================================================
Volunteers Needed for Project Sparrow Swap!
Dr. Caren Cooper at the North Carolina Museum of Natural
Sciences, in partnership with the Virginia Master Naturalist
program, will be working to develop a new citizen science project
this spring to address the problem of house sparrow competition
with native songbirds for nesting sites. This project is associated
with the National Science Foundation project that David Mellor
had been leading for our program, so participants will be asked to
enroll in this larger research study.
Project Description:
Interested volunteers will use tools available
through CollaborativeScience.org to explore the dynamics of
competition between house sparrows and bluebirds for nesting
sites and to co-design field and experimental protocols. The
Sparrow Swap involves testing the effectiveness of using fake
eggs to dupe house sparrows into attending a failed nest for as
long as possible. The NC Museum of Natural Sciences will provide
participants with fake eggs to swap into house sparrow nests,
and participants will send real eggs to the Museum for curation
into the collection.
What Participation Entails:
We are recruiting both project leaders and project members for
this citizen science project.
Project leaders will:
 Participate in 2 ½ hours of an online training course
(broken up into 9 modules) related to project
development and implementation
 Participate in two to five online discussion sessions with
team members
 Lead and recruit volunteers in related project activities
 Use online tools available at collaborativescience.org to
develop and implement the project
 Participate in surveys associated with training material
 Participate in interviews with project team
Project members will:
 Participate in 34 minutes of an online training course
(broken up into 3 modules) related to broad project
participation
 Participate in two to five online discussion sessions with
team members
 Participate in project activities
 Use online tools available at collaborativescience.org to
develop and implement the project
 Participate in surveys associated with training material
 Participate in interviews with project team
Together we will:
 Rigorously investigate best practices for songbird
stewardship
If you are interested in learning more about this project and how
to be involved, please contact Alycia Crall (acrall@vt.edu) with
your name, chapter, and email address. We will be setting up an
online meeting in the near future with the project team to
provide additional details and our next steps.
=====================================================
Volunteering Reminders:
Check the chapter website for Volunteer Project details and
contact info for all ongoing projects. I also encourage you to sign
up for the Friends of Pocahontas notifications. There are several
ongoing projects the Friends manage which count towards
volunteer hours for VMN. Be sure to get new projects approved
ahead of time and add your hours for volunteering.
Remember to log your hours in the Volunteer Management
System each month by the end of the month. This is especially
important for year end reporting of Chapter activity and
participation to the State Coordinators. Reports are run monthly
showing how many hours were volunteered and also for new
members especially to meet your 40 hours to complete
certification. We should remember to log our park volunteer
hours on the State Park site as well. Our hours help the parks
show involvement and obtain needed funding.
Take care and VOLUNTEER MORE!
Karen
Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally, May 8-9
Every year the Naturalist Rally Committee assembles a wide
variety of excellent field trips with leaders who are experts in
their field. Their goal is to make the Mount Rogers area ecology
understandable and interesting for everyone, from inquisitive
amateurs to accomplished naturalists.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Friday, May 8
 5:00 PM - Registration begins, Konnarock Community
Center. Fee is $8 for each person 18 or
older. Registration online is greatly appreciated!
 5:30-6:30 PM: Chicken supper prepared and served by the
Konnarock Community Association at the Konnarock
Community Center. Prepaid reservations for supper are
required. Tickets for the dinner will be limited to 150 so
make sure you reserve early. The cost is $13.50 per
plate.
 6:45 PM: Welcome, introductions of field trip leaders, lastminute announcements.
 7:30 PM: Featured speaker: Jennifer Frick-Ruppert
Saturday, May 9
 7:00 AM: Continuing registration. Anyone who has not
registered should do so.
 8:00 AM: Morning field trips. Signs will be on the building
for the field trips, so meet at the one you are interested
in.
 11:30 AM: Lunch break (hot dogs and drinks are for sale at
the center or bring your own.)
 1:00 PM: Afternoon field trips
For more information and to purchase tickets, click below:
Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally - 2015
February 2015 Membership Data, Pocahontas Chapter
Total Membership - 114
Certified - 48
Inactive - 11
Trainees - 41
Chapter Partner/Instructor - 1
Total Volunteer Hours - 270
Continuing Education - 65
Miles Driven - 1326
Member Milestones 250 Hours: Tom Yates
500 Hours: n/a
1000 Hours: n/a
Certifications: n/a
CONGRATULATIONS
Order your own
Pocahontas Chapter
Master Naturalist
polo shirt!
Orders can be placed
directly with our vendor
at 804-748-9254
or scs@scstitch.com.
Shirts can now be ordered at
any time. Our new vendor is
able to do individual orders.
http://pocahontasvmn.org/
For more detailed information on volunteer
opportunities, Chapter events and newletter copies,
visit us on the web!
And look for us on FaceBook
Pocahontas Chapter
Virginia Master Naturalists
10301 State Park Road
Chesterfield, Virginia 23832