Chapter News & Projects

ORMN Hosts Wildlife Habitat Open House. Details for our open house. Download the program here. Additional information may be added later, so check back often.     .... more 

ORMN on the Front Lines in the War on Invasives. Twenty ORMN have been aggressively attacking invasives in the Shenandoah National Park and their efforts are really paying off.     .... more 

Old Rag Butterfly Count 2011. July 2011 Butterfly Count in Rappahannock County.     .... more 

Miracles Happen at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute has an interesting history and provides a hopeful future for endangered species.     .... more 

Shenandoah Celebrates its Diamond Anniversary. The Shenandoah National Park had quite a celebration on June 25, 2011, for its 75th anniversary.     .... more 

Shenandoah National Park Celebrates Its 75th Birthday. This is the first in a series of articles about the 75th Anniversary of SNP, prepared by the Association President, our own ORMN Jack Price.  Plan to attend some of the events throughout the coming year.     .... more 

The Wilderness Act of 1964. This is the second in a series of articles about the Shenandoah National Park, which celebrates its 75th Anniversary in 2011.     .... more 

The Sky is Falling!. What causes the variation in the amount of hard mast in the forest?  Last year there was a poor crop, but this year, it's dangerous to walk in the woods without an umbrella or helmet to protect your head.     .... more 

Environmental Ethics and the Naturalist's Perspective. Here is another perspective on ethics that naturalists will want to consider.     .... more 

New Hope for an Old Friend: Breeding a Blight-Resistant American Chestnut Forest. Cathy Mayes talks about American Chestnut restoration efforts.     .... more 

The Process of Making Charcoal. On September 4, 2010, Master Naturalists participated with the Department of Forestry and VCE in turning Ailanthus into usable charcoal.     .... more 

Butterfly Gardening by Trial and Error. An ORMN discusses her experience with butterfly gardening.  It has been rewarding and educational and continues to raise questions for her about butterflies.     .... more 

Class IV of ORMN is launched!. The fourth class began on August 12, 2010, with twelve members.       .... more 

Appalachian Trail Exotic Invasive Plant Management Project. This project introduces volunteers including school children, summer camp groups, scouts and ofter recognized volunteer groups to invasive plant identification and removal along the Appalachian Trail.     .... more 

	Photo by Richard Lykes.

Volunteer Projects

Our chapter, working with our sponsors and partners, is developing a list of potential projects in which our members can choose to participate. All projects must be approved by the chapter to count toward the volunteering commitment of the participating member. The following projects have been approved, and more are being developed:

• Adopt an Outcrop
• Appalachian Trail Annual Water Resources Sampling (AT Water)
• Appalachian Trail Invasive Removal (AT Invasives)
• Big Meadow Invasives Management (Save the Meadow)
• Bird Banding
• Blandy Experimental Farm and Arboretum (Blandy Farm)
• Bluebird Box Monitoring
• Brumfield Elementary School Tree Planting (Brumfield Tree)
• Butterfly Survey
• Cerulean Warbler Transect Project
• CEWA MAPPING PROJECT
• Chapter Outreach
• Chestnut ID - PATC
• Chestnut Restoration
• Clean Streams Day
• Cornell Bird Counts
• Cornell's Project Feeder Watch (Feederwatch)
• Culpeper Soil & Water Rain Barrel Program (Culpeper Rain Barrel)
• DGIF Madison Wildlife Action Plan (Madison WAP) and DGIF Wildlife Mapping (Wildlife Mapping)
• Frogwatch
• General - John Marshall Soil & Water Conservation District
• Greene Co. Park Support
• Habitat Defenders
• Hoover Ridge Tree Planting
• Ivy Creek Natural Area Support
• Montpelier Invasive Plant Control
• Montpelier/James Madison Landmark Forest Invasive Management Program (Montpelier Invasives)
• Rain Garden
• Rappahannock Elementary Junior Naturalists (Rapp El Junior Naturalists)
• Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch
• Rural Madison Macro-Invertebrate Stream Monitoring (Rural Madison Streams)
• Rural Madison Tree Identification at Hoover Ridge Nature Trail (Rural Madison Tree ID)
• SCBI Butterfly and Bird counts
• Smith Bluebird Trail
• Smithsonian SCBI Forest Ecology Project (SCBI Ecology)
• SNP Alluvial Forest Invasive Removal (SNP Invasives)
• SNP plant propagation
• Stream Watch
• Town of Washington, VA butterfly trail development
• Trail Building and Maintenance (Trail Building)
• Trout in the Classroom
• Upper Rappahannock River Watershed Stream Monitoring Program (Upper Rapp Stream)
• Virginia Butterfly Counts
• Virginia Cooperative Extension - Madison
• Waverly Yowell Science and Nature Enhancement
• What Makes Trillium Happy? (Trillium Study)
• Whitney State Forest Plant Survey (Whitney Plant Survey)
• Wildlife Habitat Open House
• Wildlife Rehabilitation
• Wood Duck Box installation with science class at Wakefield Country Day School

Volunteer Opportunities with State Agencies

For a document that outlines some of the many possible projects available with the state agencies that are sponsoring this program, click here.