Riverine Master Naturalist Newsletter

Transcription

1 Now this is what we believe. The Mother of us all is Earth. The Father is the Sun. The Grandfather is the Creator Who bathed us with his mind And gave life to all things. The Brother is the beasts and trees. The Sister is that with wings. We are the children of the Earth And do it no harm in any way. Nor do we offend the Sun By not greeting it at dawn. We praise our Grandfather for his creation. We share the same Breath together----- The beast, the trees, the birds, the man -Nancy Wood (Taos Indians) Riverine Master Naturalist Newsletter Fall2013 Dr. W. John Hayden, Professor of Biology at the University of Richmond, will present The Botany of Fall Color. November 13, Wednesday Meeting, 6:30PM Along with the bright gold, purple and blue wildflowers each Fall, we look forward to the changing leaves. Instead of background green, we have glorious colors in woods, gardens and yards well into November. What causes the change?

2 What gives fall leaves their different colors? Why are some maples red and others yellow? Why are some trees beautiful this year and drab in other years? John Hayden will answer our questions and perhaps raise some we hadn t thought to ask. Location: Glen Allen Library Staples Mill Road in Henrico. We will be setting up at 5:30; a brief business meeting will start at 6:30 followed by the presentation. Please bring a snack to share. (2-Advanced Training presentation portion of meeting) New Projects Added All the Time by Diane Jadlowski, Project Committee Please scan through our long list of projects as we are adding new ones all the time. Just recently we have added CS-DEQ Chicakahominy Swamp Rats Water Quality Monitoring EO-James River Association Ecology Education, ST-Bryan Park Floating Wetlands Launch, EO-Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay-Chesapeake RiverWise Communities, St-Richmond Oyster Shell Recycling, and many more. Don't forget to volunteer on our VMS on line so the project leaders can contact you to let you know when and where to meet or any other thing they may have to tell you about training and the project. If you have ideas for new projects and need help filling out our easy form let me know. As a project leader you will write an article for the newsletter and put information in the announcements about your project to encourage volunteers and fill in an easy one page Annual Project Report form in December of each year. Don't forget to keep track of contacts you have to add to your Annual Project Report. BirdNote BirdNote tells stories that educate and inspire people to care about nature. Why? Because appreciation for the world we inhabit and share with other species is the first step in creating a populous committed to preserving and protecting the health of the planet for future generations.

3 Virginia Master Naturalist State Convention By Emily Gianfortoni The annual Virginia Master Naturalist State Convention was held October 18-20, 2013 in the Richmond area. The close proximity gave at least 16 of our members the opportunity to attend one or more days. Photo by Debbie Maiorano during conference tour of Maymont Friday was field trip day. Because the VMN meeting was held in conjunction with the Environmental Educators Meeting in western Virginia, participants had a choice of field trips in either central Virginia or western Virginia. I chose the Conservation Landscaping Field Trip led by Carol Heiser (DGIF). The tour highlighted local efforts to manage and retain stormwater on properties and to improve habitat with native plantings. We visited a large scale stream restoration behind Skipwith Elementary School in Henrico County; a green roof at VCU; and properties with rain gardens and native plant landscaping in the Reedy Creek watershed. All of the seminars on Saturday took place at the Wyndham Conference Center. I attended one on air pollution and one on planning and managing conservation projects. Richard Groover, a professor at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, explained the various chemical components of air pollution in clear, understandable terms. We hope to invite him to speak on this topic at one of our bimonthly meetings. The afternoon session covered a project planning and management template. Part of the workshop involved using a computer program to model ecosystem management. This program has been downloaded to Riverine s laptop and is available to chapter members. Other sessions included one on light pollution by Riverine member Laura Greenleaf. Conference attendees had dinner together on Friday and Saturday evenings. Alycia Crall, our State Coordinator, outlined the results of the VMN needs assessment review. Friday evening s activities included a mixer and displays of chapter projects. Dr. Caren Cooper of the Cornell Ornithology Department gave a very inspiring address on the promise of citizen science on Saturday evening. Master Naturalist photography contest entries were displayed. Congratulations to Riverine member Gary Sargent who was awarded a blue ribbon for one of his photos. Sunday was a cool but sunny day at Pocahontas State Park. Nature photography, the workshop that I chose, helped me to move beyond the automatic setting on my camera. Other activities for participants included a morning birding canoe trip, a session on rain gardens, a herpetology hunt, and a volunteer service project for the park. Like previous State Conventions, this year s gave Virginia Master Naturalists a chance to meet members from other chapters, share ideas for projects and programs, learn and have lots of fun. Photo by Debbie Maiorano during conference tour of Maymont

4 Congratulations to Gary Sargent! Gary Sargent s photo entry at the state Virginia Master Naturalist Conference won FIRST PRIZE!! New York Times Highlights ebird s Crowdsourcing Success The birder-powered success of our ebird project captivated readers of the New York Times in August. The story topped the weekly Science Times section, describing how each ebird sighting helps provide scientists with a very big picture: perhaps the first crowdsourced, real-time view of bird populations around the world. The story led with images of ebird's animated heat maps a groundbreaking new way to look at range and migration. Read the article. Don't miss the video extra: The Cornell Lab s Andy Farnsworth sits down with the Times to describe how anyone can ebird, and how our new BirdCast project takes ebird data one step further. Watch the video. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a membership institution dedicated to interpreting and conserving the earth s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. Visit the Cornell Lab s website at

5 President Larry Olson Vice President David Nichols Secretary Kitty Hardt Treasurer Sally Chamberlin Volunteer Projects Diane Jadlowski Program Chair Dave Nichols (as VP) Membership Chair Linda McBride Training Chair Education/Outreach Chair Sally Stockslager Advisor Kathleen Ogilvy Tell us what you think! Did you like what you read? Do you have ideas or suggestions for our next newsletter? We would love to have your articles, pictures and news. Please contact us. Diane Jadlowski Editor/ writer Nancy Essid Editor/ layout