ARMN and Northern Virginia Conservation Trust present two showings of the documentary Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for our Time. 

• The first screening is at 7:00 pm on March 15 in the JC Cinema at George Mason University.  Dr. Stan Temple, Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow at Aldo Leopold Foundation, will be speaking and leading a discussion.
• The second screening is at 7:00 pm on March 29 at the Arlington Central Library, 1015 North Quincy St. in Arlington.

Find screenings and parking information at nvct.org.  Read more about the movie at greenfiremovie.com or watch the trailer.

Join us for the next Barcroft Park Habitat Restoration Work Party on Saturday February 18th from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm. This event is sponsored by the Arlington Regional Master Naturalists.

Coffee and doughnuts will be served at 9:30 am to help us tackle the multiflora rose and other invasives near the bike path. Then after a break following the invasive removal work, John Dodge, who has a Masters Degree in Botany from George Mason University, will lead a botanical walk through the park, focusing on the natural history of Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarupus foetidus, among other interesting and characteristic plants in Barcroft. John has worked with Fairfax County’s Invasive Management Areas for the last seven years, doing field botany and vegetation evaluation, and he has also taught short courses in the botany of particular plant families for Arlington Regional Master Naturalists.

We will meet at the picnic pavilion in Barcroft Park. If you park in the Barcroft recreational area parking lot, walk past the soccer fields, bear right and then cross the stream on the wood and steel bridge. Wear long pants and long sleeves. Bring gloves and any favorite weeding tools, especially pruning tools and shovels if you have them. We will also supply gloves and tools.

This project needs you! Every pair of hands makes a difference for this valuable ecological site. Enjoy the satisfaction of clearing invasive plants to encourage growth of native plants which provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.

If you have questions, please contact Marion Jordan at mcjordn@verizon.net.

Last Thursday, January 12, Master Naturalist (and current ARMN Treasurer) Josh Schnell enticed some 15 of his USDA OLC (Office of Legal Counsel) colleagues to Barcroft Park for a couple of hours cutting and digging Multiflora Rose, English Ivy and Japanese Honeysuckle.  Five Americorps volunteers supported the effort, as well as four other MNs (thanks Jim Clark!), and tools were supplied by Sarah Archer.  The day was sunny and a balmy 58 degrees, and with the ground wet from the previous day’s rain, the invasives were very vulnerable.  We took full advantage of the conditions, and massive R. multiflora clumps and root systems yielded to shovels and pickaxes.  We continued to clear the area between the bikepath and drainage ditch, exposing the Lesser Celandine that is the dominant invasive there.  There were large numbers of Ranunculus ficaria bulblets and tubers just below the ground surface, which, no longer protected by their cover of Rose and Ivy, are vulnerable to spraying in spring.  For more on Lesser Celandine, including a shoutout to our own Steve Young, see:  http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/rafi1.htm. Several of the lawyers last Thursday were interested in the work we are doing in Barcroft, and the philosophy of invasive species removal in general, making for some lively Q&A and cross examination on the reasons we do what we do, and providing an opportunity to cite Tallamy’s work.  Very enjoyable exchanges of perspectives, and we may be joined (either in Barcroft or other RiP sites) by some of them in the future.

Speaking of the future, consider joining the work this Saturday the 21st, as we will be working the same area again in Barcroft beginning at 9:30 a.m.  See you there!

Picture courtesy of Antony Lee of Americorps.

Arlington Regional Master Naturalists (ARMN) trains and certifies volunteers for stewardship of the environment.  Earth Sangha brings volunteers together to restore native forests and meadows, stabilize streams, and control invasive plant species.  The compatibility of purpose between the two organizations could not be closer.  In 2011, ARMN designated supporting Earth Sangha as one of its focus service projects.  This will continue into 2012. 

Earth Sangha translated means Earth Community, with emphasis on a deep concern for community.  Chris and Lisa Bright, the directors of non-profit Earth Sangha, bring their Buddhist practice to bear on their work.  Their mission is to support practical environmental action that expresses compassion for all living things.  While its mission is informed by Buddhist practice, Earth Sangha welcomes volunteers from all backgrounds, as does ARMN.

One of Earth Sangha’s projects is a Tree Bank that it operates in the Dominican Republic to preserve the native forest.  Earth Sangha’s broad ecological perspective does indeed encompass the Earth community.  The heart of its work in the Washington area is the Wild Plant Nursery in Springfield, Virginia.  Earth Sangha collects the seeds of more than 200 species of native trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, and other herbaceous plants.  All of this seed is the local ecotype, meaning the seeds come from plants that have adapted to the local ecosystem over many years.

Seed Collecting at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, by R. Olsen

Plants grown from ecotype seed at Earth Sangha’s Wild Plant Nursery supply most of the restoration work in the Washington, D.C., region.  A notable project supported by Earth Sangha is the Native Plant Arboretum at the Marie Butler Leven Preserve, a 20-acre park in McLean.  Earth Sangha is cultivating an extensive collection of native plants that will eventually form an outdoor botanical library, with plants labeled and keyed to major field guides.  At the Meadowood Recreation Area on the Mason Neck Peninsula in southeastern Fairfax County, Earth Sangha is helping to restore forests and meadows over an extensive area.  ARMN members are among the many volunteers who participate in these and other Earth Sangha restoration projects.

ARMN supports Earth Sangha in other, more particular ways.  Twice a year, ARMN co-sponsors a Native Plant Sale at Earth Sangha’s Wild Plant Nursery.  For small donations, visitors receive complimentary plants from the 200 species at the nursery.  ARMN volunteers and others from the Earth Sangha community have made each native plant sale a notable gathering as well as a great success.

In addition, throughout the year, a group of ARMN members and other volunteers cultivate native plants by performing various nursery tasks.  In the fall, they also collect native plant seeds in forests and meadows and clean seeds in preparation for planting.  All who volunteer in this service find that it is a wonderful way to learn about native plant species and their role in the local ecosystem.

To learn about volunteer opportunities at Earth Sangha, subscribe to Lisa Bright’s email listing of upcoming field work:  http://www.earthsangha.org/act/sub.html.    Or become a member of Earth Sangha and receive emails, plus a monthly newsletter:  http://www.earthsangha.org/act/join.html .

To receive notice of ARMN’s weekly service activity in the field or at Earth Sangha Wild Plant Nursery, email Rodney Olsen and request to be put on the volunteer list.  You will receive email notice prior to Monday and Thursday service days:  rfolsen@verizon.net.  You do not have to be an ARMN member to join us on these days.  ARMN members should watch for other opportunities, such as volunteering at the spring and fall plant sales by following armn@googlegroups.com.

For more information about Earth Sangha and its volunteer activities, see http://www.earthsangha.org.   Also view the following video:  In June 2011, CBS News profiled Earth Sangha’s D.C.-area activities in a show called “Stewards of the Earth: One Planet, Many Faiths,”  http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7369702n

Almost everyone needs more time in the great outdoors – time to take a walk, enjoy each others’ company, or to just sit and do nothing!  So, come make a “natural connection” at Potomac Overlook Regional Park. Every Sunday afternoon, between 1:30 and3:30 p.m., the park provides refreshments, games and hands-on nature exhibits, and a fun place to meet and hang out. You take it from there: come alone or with family or friends; go on a walk; visit the nature center and chat with a Master Naturalist; or, just enjoy the day!  

This weekly offering is free.  Potomac Overlook Regional Park is located at 2845 Marcey Road, Arlington, VA (at the end of Marcey Road, off of Military Road).  Call 703-528-5406 for directions and other information

Arlington Regional Master Naturalists join professional staff at Potomac Overlook Regional Park on Sunday afternoons to engage the public using an interpretive table on any of a number of subjects.   In fine weather, the tables are set up outside the Nature Center; they move indoors for inclement weather days.

Master Naturalists are on both the giving and receiving end during these Sunday afternoon encounters, sharing what we know  - and learning even more – about such subjects as mammals, trees, Indians of Arlington and Northern Virginia, sounds in nature, local geology, reptiles and amphibians and birds of prey.  New interpretive materials are being developed on the subject of native plants and invasives for use in coordination with the new demonstration Shady Backyard Native Plant Garden.  Forays to the garden, or the raptor shed, tree hikes, or seasonal subjects:  all are activities which will be welcomed by the visiting public.

If you have a neighborhood listserve, please consider copying this blog message in the new year and sharing information about Meet Me on a Sunday with your neighbors and friends.

If you’re interested in helping occasionally with this program, please contact Joanne Hutton at joannerhutton@gmail.com.

You can make a difference in our community by becoming a Master Naturalist volunteer!  The Virginia Master Naturalist program trains volunteers to provide education, citizen science and outreach to conserve and manage natural resources and public lands.  Master Naturalist volunteers gain certification through state-approved natural history courses and a commitment to volunteer service.  Fun and interactive training is provided by recognized experts in a wide range of disciplines such as ecology, botany, herpetology, ornithology, forest and aquatic ecosystems and much more. 

Arlington Regional Master Naturalists will be conducting training this spring, beginning February 23 through June 7, 2012 on Thursday evenings from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington. (There will be no class on April 5.) Additional field training is tentatively scheduled for  the following Saturdays: March 17,  April 14, May 28, May 19 and an optional canoe trip on June 2.  The application deadline has been extended to February 10, 2012.

Virginia Master Naturalist programs and employment are open to all, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status.

Thank everyone for coming out tonight on a wet evening.  Especially want to thank our guests for joining us this evening.

ARMN President Caroline Haynes presenting the 2011 Annual Report

This past year
2011 has been a banner year for ARMN.  As of this coming Monday, we will graduate the seventh class of ARMN volunteers.  Coming up with accurate statistics is a bit difficult considering that hours were still coming in this afternoon. As of about 2:00 pm today, our active volunteers totals 137.  Our return of trainees who become active volunteers is close to 90% .  As of this afternoon, ARMN volunteers logged in almost 8000 hours so far in 2011 and we still have three weeks to go!  Sixty-two members have reached certification or recertification levels in 2011.  That is impressive indeed and we should all be proud of our collective efforts.

We’ve invested time and energy this year in building the infrastructure to support this growing organization and those efforts are beginning to bear fruit.  A few highlights of some of the initiatives from this year:

Focus Projects:
While we continue to support the concept of “letting a thousand flowers bloom” by having individuals work on projects of particular interest to them, we wanted to provide an opportunity to reinforce chapter goals of habitat restoration and provide an opportunity for us to work collectively as an organization:

• Barcroft Park:  ARMN has conducted monthly invasive pulls and restoration work, combined with a variety of advanced training and programs.  ARMN commitment has provided momentum for reclaiming this ecological gem, and our commitment helped to secure a recent grant for contract invasive treatment to further these efforts.   Don’t miss the last event of the year: December 17 where we will work and get some exercise from 9:30 to 11:30am followed by a walk with Joe Marx, where we will explore the unique geology and hydrology of this area.  Thanks to Marion Jordan, with the assistance of Jim Hurley, for their efforts in leading this project.

•  Earth Sangha: Volunteers have worked throughout the year on seed cleaning, nursery work, plant sales, seed collecting and restoration projects.  We are grateful for the partnership with Lisa and Chris Bright in the vital work that they are doing and to Rodney Olsen who has been tireless in leading our ARMN team. (Gary Putnam will be providing some performance art later on showcasing the seed cleaning techniques!)

We are gaining momentum on the focus projects and we’re adding a new project for 2012:

•  Potomac Overlook Park:  With the installation of the native shade demonstration garden in partnership with Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, and the Meet Me on a Sunday Program, we anticipate having a regular ARMN presence at PORP in the coming year.  Thanks to Joanne Hutton for taking the lead on this project.

We hope to build on these successes in the coming year, and re-evaluate focus projects on an annual basis.  The biggest criterion seems to be having a champion within ARMN and a strong partner group to support the volunteers.  If you would like to get your project nominated to be a focus project for 2013, start building the momentum now!

Communications:

• VMS: The Communications Committee, under the leadership of Christine Campe-Price and with the able assistance of Pete Pfeiffer has done terrific work in transferring all of the chapter information over from the armn.org site to the new Volunteer Management System.  For those of you who have been with us from the beginning, you will recognize the huge improvement in centralizing chapter information and the reporting mechanism.  We are just beginning to utilize all of the features, but it has greatly reduced the administrative work of keeping track of members’ hours.

•  ARMN.org: We will soon be launching our new and improved armn.org website.  We have hired a consultant to help us design the site so that it meets our needs as a communication tool to share information about what the chapter is doing both to our own members and to the outside world.  We are actively recruiting a team of ARMN writers who are interested in writing four or five articles a year to post on the site. Our goal is to keep the information fresh, interesting and informative. Thanks to Christine for her tremendous work on bringing all of this together
  

Looking forward to 2012:

Outreach:
We began the discussion this past year about what messages we liked to convey as a chapter in the numerous opportunities we have to interact with the public.  Given that we are involved in so many different projects, it is often difficult to project a clear message or single theme. We’ll be focusing more on this in the coming year and welcome the active input of members.

To that end, there are multiple opportunities to get involved in shaping the direction of the chapter.  Several committees are actively recruiting members and sign-up sheets are found on the clip boards on the back tables for those interested in finding out more.  Some of the immediate needs are:

• Programs and Advanced Training:  Looking for a team of people, where each member will assume responsibility for two or three programs or advanced trainings a year, in addition to the numerous opportunities that are already available to us.  Elizabeth Gearin has done a great job this past year and will be staying on the committee but stepping down as chair.  Sherrie Burson has agreed to be nominated to chair this committee in 2012.

•  Outreach: The potential opportunities for outreach and education are endless.   Thanks to several members of the current training class for adapting their presentations to make them immediately useful for our display board.  We will be recruiting additional members to help better define our external message and to continue to work on our display materials.  Robin Davis has agreed to be nominated again for the chair of the Outreach Committee.

• Web site writing team: as mentioned previously we are looking for a group of people willing to write about various topics throughout the year to ensure that our content on the website is fresh, interesting and informative.

If you have an interest in any of these areas, please let us know or sign up for more information on the clipboards at the back of the room.

Upcoming service opportunities:

• Audubon Ambassadors at Home:  We’ll be working with Cliff Fairweather to offer training for ARMN members to provide education and advice on how to make private yards more habitat friendly.  Will be making an announcement soon about a training in January or February, and how we might specifically target neighborhoods adjacent  to natural areas.

• Citizen science projects:

–The project on the wildlife value of native plants:  has become more involved as we may be partnering with DCR, but we hope to have this up and running soon– thanks to Leigh Pickering for the groundwork on this project.

 –Michelle Prysby yesterday contacted ARMN to pilot an on-line citizen science project.  Will be sending out a short survey on that tomorrow for those interested in participating.

• Junior Master Naturalist program in conjunction with 4-H.  Just beginning to get off the ground, opportunities for master naturalists to support. Toby Smith is taking the lead on this project.

• Working Group on Environmental Education: Already have numerous volunteers in the schools, and the “tool kits” have been a big hit and we have lots of opportunities to expand this program – thank Lou Ott for chairing WGEE.

There are so many other great projects: such as the ongoing work with the National Park Service, the ARMN sponsored and supported invasive work , stream water monitoring, and some of the individual projects like the monarch butterfly tagging and the bluebird nesting boxes – there really is something for everyone and if you need any ideas for service projects, please see me or Jim Hurley!

In a volunteer organization there are always lots of people we need to thank:

- Long Branch staff for putting up with our shenanigans and hosting our training.

Alonso Abugattas, Lisa Bright, and ARMN Members

- Especially want to thank Alonso Abugattas for his ongoing support and to congratulate him on serving in the newly created position of Natural Resource Manager in Arlington County.  We look forward to working with Alonso to move the Natural Resource Management Plan forward.

- Instructors for classes and field trips.

- Partner groups for supporting the volunteer work.

Soon we will be voting on the slate of nominees for members of the ARMN Board . I want to thank both the members who have agreed to serve another year: ,Jim Hurley, Marion Jordan, Christine Campe-Price, Robin Davis and Kathleen O’Brien, and for those who are going off the board for all of their time, talent and energy:
Elizabeth Gearin, Programs and Advanced Training Chair,
Christine Freidel, Treasurer, who has been serving since the formation of the chapter, and
Ruth Gibbons who has done a wonderful job of taking on the past two training classes.

Thanks to all those that have served as committee members over this past year – it’s a team effort and none of us can do this alone!

Most importantly, I want to thank each of the members who have dedicated themselves to becoming educated on these important natural resource issues and to taking that knowledge and putting it into action with volunteer service in our community.  It has been an honor and a great privilege, as well as a lot of fun, to work with you all this past year.  With dedicated volunteers and a strong foundation in place, we can move forward to do great things together.

12/17 Barcroft Park Volunteers, by R. Olsen

By Jim Hurley

We had another inspiring turnout December 17, with 26 volunteers (Master Naturalists, Tree Stewards, Americorps, Windgate residents, hikers, spouses and friends of the above) reluctantly ending the invasive work after almost two hours, in order to turn our attention to Deep Time.  We began the morning again with coffee, cider, and donuts on a cool and cloudy day, fueling more intensive work on the natural area between the bikepath and the drainage ditch.  Some revisited the area worked last time, continuing to dig the remaining extensive root systems of the Multiflora Rose forest that had been left in the ground in November (Jerry Schrepple brought his own pickaxe and Margaret Chatham her own weed wrench for the heavy work).  Others such as Cliff Gay and Martha Cogdell pushed on upditch, clearing the rose back to the edge of the ditch.  Still others worked on Garlic Mustard patches in the area.  Allison Willochs and Elizabeth Rives, dedicated Tree Stewards, freed Spicebush ((Lindera benzoin) from choking Porcelainberry vines.  Again, as in November, great fun and very satisfying.

Back to Deep Time, Joe Marx, Geology Professor at NVCC, then compressed a billion years of Barcroft geology into a stimulating 1.5 hours for 30 of us.  Joe talked us through the forming, splitting, then forming again and splitting, of the ancient North American continent and adjacent oceans.  He made especially apt references to current geography and geological processes such as the island arc Japan moving toward China, or the 60-foot seafloor jump of the 2004 Sumatran earthquake and resulting underwater cliffslides, to illustrate the bedrock geology of Barcroft.  Check out the entire group standing on the Indian Run formation bedrock in the middle of Four Mile Run, a “metasedimentary melange” that formed in a similar geological setting as that Sumatran earthquake, only some 500 million years earlier, evidence that, in geology, what goes around comes around.

Standing on Indian Run formation bedrock, by R. Olsen

More recent geological events (only 145 to 100 million years ago) produced the sandy and clayey layers of the Potomac Formation that lies on top of the bedrock, and is responsible for the special hydrology that produces the seeps and bog that support the valuable plant communities of Barcroft Park.  In a fascinating detail with implications for possible ecological work on the park, Joe noted that rainwater falling on the Skyline area of Baileys Crossroads, the surface source of the aquifer that feeds the Barcroft bog, takes 27 years to travel from Skyline to the bog.

We are grateful to Joe for sharing his knowledge in such an approachable, stimulating way, a fitting, final Barcroft focus project event of 2011.  In a subsequent post we will report on ARMN efforts and results in Barcroft Park in 2011, and set the stage for our work there in 2012.

Thanks to everyone who showed up in December, and we look forward to more good work together in 2012.

We began Saturday morning with coffee and donuts, which fueled 23 volunteers for more than two hours of intense, and intensely satisfying, invasive removal in sunny brisk weather.  The Master Naturalists, Tree Stewards, and Native Plant Society were well represented, and we had residents from Claremont and Windgate too.  We worked in the natural area between the bikepath and the drainage ditch, mowing through an impenetrable 1000 sq. ft. hedge of primarily Multiflora Rose, interlaced with Porcelainberry.  We cut the canes to a foot or so, and then used shovels and pickaxes to dig impressive old-growth root infrastructures.  Great fun. 

Pile of Invasive Plants Pulled

The group then spent over an hour on winter tree ID, puzzling through the Winter Tree Finder key on an American Beech, Green Ash, and White Oak, among others.  Several of us split off from the main group and ID’d exotic tree targets for further work, a growing Siberian Elm thicket near the cement bridge, and Norway Maple saplings and teenagers, in a grove of Box Elder, American Elm and Green Ash.     Thanks to all for a great day.  See you in December!