Want to submit a story?
Got a story to tell? We’re looking for newsletter articles and blog posts that will teach and inspire anyone engaged in our area’s natural world.
What makes a good article or post? A field trip experience, a project you’re doing, a citizen science event, a deep dive into our native flora and fauna, an interesting continuing education presentation, a fascinating book you’ve read: the list is long!
Newsletter articles are typically 300-600 words long; blog posts can be longer. Both usually include photos or other illustrations with captions. (Please bear in mind that current VMN regulations limit published photos of people to ARMN members only, and only with their written permission.)
Tell us your story idea, and we’ll help you get it ready for Notes on Nature. Reach out to us at newsletter@armn.org and we’ll be in touch. Want to write a longer blog post instead? Please contact kasha.helget@outlook.com for questions about the ARMN blog. If you post on our blog, we will then summarize it for the newsletter, with a link to your story.
Spring Quarterly 2026 | PDF Version | Featuring: Getting ready for the City Nature Challenge, April 24-May 10; April is SciStarter Citizen Science Month—how to help achieve the goal of 2.50 million acts of science; how and where to shop for native plants for your spring garden; admiring and protecting spring ephemeral flowers, which come out in spring before trees fully leaf out; the role of mycorrhizal fungi in forest soils, where they form close symbiotic relationships with plant roots, helping trees to access water and nutrients; safeguarding your home and property from the danger of wildfires in our area in spring and fall; book review—Between Two Fires: A Fire History of Contemporary America, by Stephen J. Pyne.
Winter Quarterly 2026 | PDF Version | Featuring: Arlington’s Deer Management Program starts culling deer herds (why, where, and how); do deer exclosures work?; wildlife strategies for surviving winter (hibernation, brumation, and migration in reptiles, birds, butterflies, and more); surviving winter under pond ice for frogs and turtles; how skunk cabbage blooms in winter; the geology of Holmes Run Gorge—four different bedrock types; finding fossils along our local creeks; how to become an Arlington Regional Master Naturalist; book review—Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future, by Daniel Lewis.
Fall Quarterly 2025 | PDF Version | Featuring: Aldo Leopold’s conservation legacy; restoring vernal pools in Virginia; Nature in the early modern art exhibition “Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World;” Fall migration: not just for the birds (monarch butterfly, common green darner dragonfly, American eel, eastern red bat); join the 2025 Audubon Christmas Bird Count; Fall: the best time to plant a tree; Autumn native plant sales; Geology walk: geology of Holmes Run Gorge; Good books by and about Aldo Leopold.
Summer Quarterly 2025: | PDF Version | Featuring: Lights Out for Wildlife, The Environmental Impacts of Light Pollution; How to Save Birds From Window Strikes; City Nature Challenge 2025 Results; Volunteers Restore Nature in Mt. Jefferson Park; Learning How to Lead a Nature Walk; Enjoying the Wonder of Nature Through Art; Why Are Oaks in Our Area Declining? Arlington’s Complex Physiography Explained.
Spring Quarterly 2025: | PDF Version | Featuring: City Nature Challenge; Citizen Science Stream Monitors; Spring Ephemerals; Plant Natives; Arlington Streambanks; Stream History
Winter Quarterly 2025: | PDF Version | Featuring: Bald Eagles; Geology of Long Branch; Winter Native Seed Sowing; City Nature Challenge; ARMN Highlights Volunteer Work
Fall Quarterly 2024: | PDF Version | Featuring: Winterize Your Garden and Provide More Native Habitat; Sudden Branch Drop; Virginia Native Plant Society; Fall Bird Migration; Audubon Christmas Bird Count
Summer Quarterly 2024: | PDF Version | Featuring: Herons at Burke Lake; Arlington Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR); Fight mosquitoes; How invasive plants threaten Northern Virginia’s ecosystems; Book Talk: Learning more about our relationship with deer
Spring Quarterly 2024: | PDF Version | Featuring: City Nature Challenge; Citizen science; Reestablishing Itea Virginica in Little Hunting Creek; Insects of North America
December 2023: Wildlife strategies for the cold and some good winter reads
November 2023: Problematic Porcelain berry and the beauty of snags
October 2023: A new wetland in Ballston and tiny skippers, close up
September 2023: A bluebird family in Barcroft, native plant gardens
August 2023: Hidden nature gems, snakes of Virginia, and butterfly walks
July 2023: Flies, beetles and wasps: Unloved powerhouses of the insect world
June 2023: Stream monitoring, City Nature Challenge, and dragonflies
May 2023: Timing in nature, baby animals, world turtle day
April 2023: Migrating birds, new invasive, and dark skies
March 2023: Spring ephemerals, English ivy, volunteer opportunities and more
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