January Chapter Meeting: Continuing Education and Volunteer Opportunities

Announcements:

  Next Board meeting 2/7 @ Wegman’s 7pm (open to all members)

  Next Chapter meeting 2/19 @ church 7pm

Master Naturalist Volunteer Opportunities:

• Dahlgren has asked that an Earth Day education outreach take place on April 22 at the elementary school on base. It will be from 1-3pm. Volunteers needed.  
• Spotsylvania Courthouse Trash Pick Up February 9th - Meet at Gazebo 9AM.
•  Earth Day at Old Mill Park on April 27, rain or shine - volunteers needed
•  Earth Day at AP Hill on April 18  volunteers needed 
•  Widewater St Park looking for volunteers  for monthly cleanups- 1^st Sat in February next opportunity
• Mott's Nature Center Volunteer Orientation - March 9th - 9-11am.  Register with Alexa at Fredericksburg Parks and Rec.  
• April 13 Osprey Festival @ Caledon. Opportunities to volunteer to give talking points/lead bird walk, native plant information, backyard habitat. Chapter can have a booth there. Caledon is coordinating event with Joyce from Colonial Beach.

Continuing Education:

• Owl Prowl @ Caledon 1/26 @ 7:00 pm. There is space for 21 people on the wagon.** Bring a blanket and some hot cocoa to share. Arrive a little bit early. THIS EVENT IS FULL
• Bluebird program @ Stratford 1/26 10-noon. Doors will be open at 9am. There will be a bag lunch about 12:30. Some walking is anticipated, so bring your walking stick. This is a FREE program.
• Dinosaur Beach walk @ Stratford in February. Date & time and to be determined. More details will be given at a later date.
• Vernal Pool field training to happen in February. Harry would like to lengthen time of monitoring. Breeding time for Spotted Salamander is Feb/March. Usually, the time to go investigate is at night, when peepers are peeping. Harry will send out a “Hey, it’s tonight! Let’s go look!” email, so have your gear at the ready. A lead monitor is desired for the Lee Drive vernal pools
• Montpelier has revamped programs. There will be programs twice/month. The first walk will focus on the Working Woods. The second walk will have a specialized focus. Walks will take place in April, June, August, and October. Native plants will be the specialized focus on April 24. A mushroom walk will be in June. The Chief Horticulturist at Montpelier will have training for those interested in leading the Working Woods walks.
• FOR Wild & Scenic Film Festival March 23 @ UMW. More information on FOR website https://www.riverfriends.org/events/

Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) – Nothing Sweet About It

This past Saturday a few of the Master Naturalists assisted Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) to remove Japanese Honeysuckle along Mabe’s Trail.  We assisted last year, and everywhere we had grubbed out the honeysuckle, spring ephemerals flourished.  Things like Dutchman’s Breeches, Virginia Blue Bells, May Apple, Trout Lily and the odd Spring Beauty.  

VMN Volunteers

The picture below is just a small pile of the bags pulled.  FOR received volunteers not just from VMN, but elsewhere as well.  It may have been a chilly day, but knowing the beauty hidden under the honeysuckle made it all worth it.  The honeysuckle can be found all along the trail and with so many other plants to protects, manually grubbing is the best.  

Bagged Honeysuckle

Happily Hand Grubbing

This time of year, it is just about the only thing green and a good time to grub it out.  Make sure you put it in trash bags for disposal.  You cannot recycle this plant as it will spread due to seeds being viable for an extended period of time.

Some Japanese Honeysuckle facts:

Japanese Honeysuckle along Mabe's Tr.

1. Native to eastern Asia
2. Introduced to North America in 1862, used for erosion control
3. You can still purchase it in many plant centers as an ornamental.  Any hybrids are equally as invasive.  DO NOT PLANT.
4. Considered a noxious weed in Virginia, and one of the highest ranked invasive
5. Grows rapidly and smothers everything else

Great resources at Virginia Native Plant Society Website.