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Spotlight on Presenter: Carolyn Smith

4/3/2023

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How did you first become interested in Monarch butterflies?
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Carolyn Smith with Monarch butterfly; Photo: Dee Dee Lyon
Toward the end of his life, Carolyn Smith's father became reliant on a motorized wheelchair to go outside. “My father had always enjoyed nature and being outside,” Carolyn noted. “He decided to plant milkweed and nectar plants near the house so he could easily observe Monarch caterpillars and butterflies.” Carolyn was traveling a lot as part of her job at that time and regularly received emails from her father, who was so excited to see the cycle of life: a 5th instar, a caterpillar pupating, and once he observed a butterfly eclose in real time.  “Watching monarchs brought him such joy and allowed him to see nature up close, in spite of his limitations,” Carolyn said. Her father passed in 2016 and she felt that by watching Monarchs she was celebrating him and his life.

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Carolyn Smith's father; Photo: Smith family archives
PictureMonarch butterfly caterpillars on milkweed leaves; Photo: Carolyn Smith
What is the importance of Monarch butterflies? Why do we monitor the different phases of their lives (egg, caterpillar and butterfly)? Is this a local, statewide, national, or international effort?
Carolyn explained that Monarchs, like polar bears, are an iconic species whose future is not assured. “Monarchs undertake an amazing migration each year, whose secrets scientists are still trying to unlock. But their numbers have declined so much that the migration is at risk,” she said.  “A number of groups across North America came together to create the Monarch Joint Venture, a partnership of nonprofits, state agencies and academic programs trying to conserve the monarch migration.  One of the partners is the  Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1997 its scientists have enlisted the help of citizen scientists to collect information on Monarch distribution and milkweed habitat. Carolyn has established her farm as a registered site where she and other volunteers collect data on Monarchs, which is then reported to MLMP.  “Citizen scientists like our monitoring group are studying all stages of Monarchs from egg to butterfly in order to provide data to researchers,” she explained. “These data have informed scientists on what threatens Monarchs and what role people can play to help them survive.” Carolyn noted that data have led scientists to confirm that the early stages are when the greatest mortality occurs. 

What is involved in monitoring Monarchs? Does it take special skills or training?
Carolyn explained that Monarch monitoring requires volunteers to learn what the different instars (larval stages of caterpillars) look like, and where to look on a plant for eggs and caterpillars. “It’s not difficult,” she said, “but it definitely takes some practice for most folks to learn to correctly identify what instar they are seeing.”  She related how excited her monitoring group gets when they find the first egg, the first caterpillar, or see adult Monarchs flying around the milkweed patch. “There is such excitement and joy when you find one of these delicate creatures and know that you are helping to assure that Monarchs will continue to be enjoyed by people everywhere,” she explained. 

PictureMonarch butterfly; Photo: Carolyn Smith
​Are Monarch populations increasing, decreasing or staying the same?
“The data show differences in Monarch population totals from year to year, sometimes up and sometimes down.  But the overall trend is clearly a marked decline,” Carolyn noted. She said that between last year’s and this year’s numbers, there was a 22% drop in the number of Monarchs that overwintered in Mexico, where most eastern Monarchs go to spend the winter. 

What are the threats to Monarch survival?
Carolyn said that Monarchs have a lot of predators, including birds, spiders and grasshoppers. “But the loss of habitat is one of the biggest threats to Monarch populations,” she noted. That has been exacerbated by the broad application of insecticides that many farmers use.  “Over the last 20 years, ‘Roundup-ready’ crops are being planted and entire fields are being sprayed, as opposed to selective spraying that had been the practice before,” Carolyn explained.  There has also been a loss of overwintering habitat in Mexico.

What can ORMN members and others do to help support Monarch butterflies?
“Plant milkweed and nectar plants,” she said. She noted that even people who live in cities and towns can help Monarchs by planting the food they need and the milkweed they require to lay their eggs. Carolyn encourages everyone to talk to people about Monarchs. “Just sharing your own admiration of these beautiful creatures may change someone’s behavior.” She shared a conversation she had at her local gym with another member, who then became inspired to plant milkwood and native wildflowers on her property. “Every effort is important,” Carolyn emphasized. “If each one of us told five people about Monarchs, and those five people told five people – you get the picture!”

Interviewed by Charlene Uhl 
March 2023

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Spotlight on Presenter:  Keith Tomlinson

6/1/2022

 
Keith Tomlinson was born in Indiana and lived in Detroit until 1969, when his family rented a house overlooking the Potomac River. He vividly remembers the beauty of the area, including the river rapids and the angular gray cliffs as well as the Swiss diplomat next door who fed dog food to a local bear. When he graduated from high school, he took a “gap decade." Ultimately, “rock climbing became my life," Keith recalled.
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PictureTeaching low impact backpacking, Shenandoah National Park, 1982

Picture
Keith at Cottonwood Pass, CO; elevation 12,000 ft.
Keith entered college as an adult student, choosing West Virginia University because they allowed some academic credit for the eight years of work experience. He worked full-time evening shifts at a homeless shelter while completing a self-designed bachelors’ degree focused on biogeography, outdoor education and botany.  After graduation, a 22-month trip around the world ensued. Afterwards, Keith went on to master’s course work at the University of Hawaii in Biogeography while working as the Natural History Education Specialist at Bishop Museum in Honolulu.

Keith managed Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia from 1998 to 2020, where he was honored to receive a Lifetime Biology Fellowship from the Washington DC Academy of Sciences for development of the Potomac Valley Native Plant Collection at Meadowlark. The “PVC” was featured in multiple publications including the New York Times Science Section. 


In February 2022, Keith received the Best Effort Award for Land Ethics and Conservation from the Bowmans Hill Wildflower Preserve. This recognized the creation of the Potomac Valley Native Plant Collection at Meadowlark.  

​Recently, Keith spent four months with the American Horticultural Society helping them with a needs assessment for various new projects. He left to assist with a new grandchild – but is continuing to consult with them on education and travel programs.
  
During the forty years he worked as an interpretive naturalist and natural resource manager, he has studied wilderness areas and botanical gardens in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, Australia, the Americas and Europe.

When and why did you become interested in nature and the natural world?
Keith cannot remember when he wasn’t interested in nature. While his father was not an outdoor person, his mother was always outdoors – taking him on walks through the local parks and enjoying being outside whenever the weather permitted. He has always been fascinated by birds but said he’s not a “lister – I just enjoy them in the environment in which I see them.” While enjoying outdoor sports such as rock climbing, mountaineering or traveling the globe, Keith was fascinated with the natural world and the native ecosystems. He is particularly interested in regional flora. He has been to more than 100 botanical gardens in nearly 40 countries around the world where he always makes a point of visiting native plant collections.

What is the most amazing thing you have experienced in nature?
In his travels around the world, Keith has seen many amazing things in nature, including lava flowing into the sea on the big island of Hawaii. “It was stunning to essentially see earth being created,” he said.  But one experience in nature stands out more than any other. During his gap decade between high school and college, Keith worked for the Montgomery County School System, taking students on white water rafting, camping and climbing trips. One of those trips stands out vividly in his memory. “It was early May and we were hiking Old Rag to camp on the summit, which was allowed back then,” he explained. The following day they climbed up Mount Robertson and then dropped into Weakley Hollow where they were met by the most phenomenal site. It was covered in wildflowers. “I was blown away. I had never seen such a diversity of flowers in my life,” Keith stated. That experience was an epiphany for Keith, who decided to go to college and study plants.

Describe what you do on your own property (house, farm, woods, etc.) to support a healthy ecosystem.
Keith and his wife live in one of a dozen houses owned by and within the Northern Virginia Regional Parks. The park is in 600 acres of contiguous forest, including some post-Civil War “Old Woods” that have enormous tulip poplars and red and white oaks. “While it is a beautiful landscape, it is not pristine,” Keith explained. “There are invasives in many parts of the forest, including English ivy and multiflora rose.” As with many public places, the park also has a problem with deer. Keith routinely weeds various invasives and assists the staff with preparing education programs.
Another way that Keith is trying to support a healthy ecosystem is through his part-time job at a large local family-owned nursery. “I have been working with the nursery owners to take a more ecological view in what they sell,” he explains. They have increased their stock to include natives and are launching an online video series.


Picture
Climbing Pywiak Dome, Yosemite with wife, Carolyn Ramwell, 1987
But he cautions that we need to be realistic. The nursery stock is still 99% ornamental plants. “We can’t set the world back 500 years before Europeans started altering the landscape on a vast scale,” Keith explained. “You can have native and nonnative plants which are not aggressive that remain ecologically stable.” He also noted that climate change is having an immense impact on our existing native plants. “Red maples are becoming prolific and grapevines more aggressive.” Actions that we can take include legislation like that adopted by Oregon which prohibits the sale of English ivy.

Tell us about your work as a Seasonal Naturalist, Potomac Overlook Regional Park and Smithsonian Associates Study Tour Leader
“As native plant specialist, I really enjoy introducing new plants to park visitors,” Keith stated. “I always stress that all native plants in cultivation support our regional biodiversity,” he emphasized. “Native plants are patronized by many insects, birds, mammals, and even reptiles.” He tells park visitors that when they use native plants in their yard, they’re supporting the local ecosystem – and in turn, entire eco-regions. “Our area is truly diverse and a great place to grow natives,” he explains that folks will be amazed at the diversity of life that appears as their “native-scape” garden matures over time.

As a local study leader for Smithsonian Associates, he has led guided tours for over 20 years. These have included tours to the Chesapeake Bay, West Virginia Highlands, Shenandoah and Great Falls National Parks. Keith maintains a blog – keithtomlinson.blogspot.com – that includes articles on botanical gardens he has visited as well as information on environmental education and nature resource management with a focus on plant diversity conservation. He is careful to explain that he is an interpretive naturalist – not a scientist. “I try to make nature ‘accessible’ to the general public by sharing experiences with them in natural areas.”

Interviewed by Charlene Uhl, May 2022

Spotlight on Presenter: Dr. Theresa Dellinger

3/27/2022

 
Theresa “Tree” Dellinger grew up in the Tidewater area of Virginia and has spent most of her life here except while attending the University of Tennessee for her Masters degree and during a brief sojourn in California. She has lived in the New River Valley since 1998. She is a diagnostician at the Insect Identification Lab at Virginia Tech where one of her foci is the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF). She worked briefly as the collections manager for the Virginia Tech Insect Collection but left so she could return to working as a diagnostician in the ID Lab.

As an undergrad, she had a dual major of English and biology. “I found my English major invaluable in my professional work as I have had a much easier time writing than many of my fellow scientists,” she noted. She also credits her college English professor for her skill at noting patterns. “She adored medieval literature and made us look for themes as we read Milton’s Paradise Lost. This developed some excellent skills that I use to this day,” Tree shared. 

When and how did you become interested in nature and the natural world? 
“I was the little kid who turned rocks over to watch the ants and other animals underneath them,” she remembered. “I loved to watch crawdads and minnows in a creek and see crabs and fish at low tide in the James and Poquoson Rivers.”  As a child she had many of books in the Golden Guide series and loved to read and re-read them to figure out how nature worked. “I learned about the life cycle of a frog in 3rd grade and distinctly remember telling myself that I wanted to be a scientist who studies things like that,” she recalled.  

In college Tree heard about biophilia, a term coined by Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst, and later popularized by Edward O. Wilson, to describe his belief in humanity’s innate affinity for the natural world.   “Yes! That is exactly what I have!” she recalls thinking. “I just like being outside and observing the outdoors, even if I’m just watching the bats fly around our yard in the evening or taking a walk along the river at the city park.”  

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Dr. Theresa "Tree" Dellinger at Seabrook Island, SC
Picture
Dogbane beetles (Chrysochus auratus), one of Tree’s favorite Virginia species Photo: Theresa Dellinger
​Describe what you do on your property to support a healthy ecosystem.
Tree and her family live on 3 acres in Montgomery County that were previously logged, then used as a cow pasture. They leave the remaining wooded area alone and typically mow the grass a minimum number of times during the summer. “We mostly mow to keep the tick population away from the house”, she explained. They try to minimize their use of chemicals. “I try to manage insect pests in my vegetable garden by hand-picking caterpillars and squash bugs, or timing my plantings to avoid the worst of the insect damage.” She rarely cleans up her flower garden until late spring, “when most of the overwintering invertebrates have woken up.” A pile of cut wood is home for bugs, birds, snakes and the occasional rabbit. 
​

Her family has composted for years but recently got four pet Nigerian dwarf goats. “They have been getting much of my vegetable scraps as treats,” she said with a chuckle. The goats do their part by eating multiflora rose, autumn olive, and oriental bittersweet. “All of their soiled bedding now goes into the garden to enrich the soil.” Her family also has solar panels in the back yard.

Tree truly enjoys sharing experiences in nature with her 14-year old daughter. “We recently saw a pair of black snakes mating, which offered a wonderful chance to discuss what an ecosystem is and the importance of procreation by animals that are integral to the balance of nature.” 


What is the most amazing thing you have experienced in nature?
Tree had a marvelous list of amazing things she has seen in nature. Here are just a few:
  • Thousands of Mexican free tail bats emerging at dusk from under the Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, Texas;
  • Watching a lynx walk past her camp site in Denali National Park;
  • Seeing a roadrunner choke down a long snake in Joshua Tree National Park, California; and 
  • Fossilized wood and plant leaves at a coal bed exposed by very low tides on the Cook Inlet off Anchor Point, Alaska.
Picture
Spotted lanternfly, Frederick County, VA. Photo: Theresa Dellinger
Picture
Spotted lanternfly, Frederick County, VA. Photo: Theresa Dellinger
What is something you would like to share with ORMN members?
Tree shared something that is rooted in the concept of biophilia: “One thing I have learned over the years is that not everyone has the same need or desire to experience or learn about nature as deeply as others do.”  She has recognized that some folks are perfectly content to watch birds at a feeder or take a walk in a park. “My grandmother adored butterflies and flowering plants – but she only knew their common names,” Tree noted. She continued, “Some people simply appreciate the beauty of the natural world without understanding the workings of the ecosystem before them, and that’s perfectly fine.” She believes the more people who enjoy nature on any level, the greater the support there will be for protecting our natural resources.

With respect to the spotted lanternfly, “The more you know about this insect, the less fearful you will be,” Tree stated. “This isn’t like a Japanese horror film (remember Mothra?). These insects are actually fairly fragile. They do not bite, they don’t invade your home like stink bugs, they are not a major threat to landscape plants and, they are easy to recognize and control.” 


Interviewed by Charlene Uhl, March 2022

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