By Michelle Prysby

Tim had a lifelong fear of snakes. As a young boy walking barefoot in his backyard at night, he had stepped on a snake, thinking it was a garden hose, and was bitten. After that experience, he was “scared to death” of snakes.

Later in life, Tim joined the Virginia Master Naturalist (VMN) program, Virginia’s statewide corps of natural resource volunteers. Participation in the program begins with completing a basic training course with one of 30 local VMN chapters, which includes training on all aspects of natural resources, with topics such as forest management, aquatic ecology, birds… and reptiles. The presenter on herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) brought live animals to class, and Tim was face-to-face with an enormous black rat snake. The VMN program is all about lifelong learning, and rather than stand back, Tim stepped up and held the snake, gaining a greater appreciation for a particularly misunderstood group of animals.

Nearly 8,000 people have graduated from a VMN basic training course since the program began nearly 20 years ago. Not all of them may have overcome a lifelong fear, but all of them certainly learned something about the diversity of wildlife in Virginia and the importance of conserving wildlife habitat. Many also learned new places to go in their communities to enjoy wildlife viewing and got connected to tools, such as iNaturalist and eBird, to help them enjoy and learn about Virginia’s wildlife.

Completing the training course is just the beginning of the VMN program, though. The real heart of the program is in the volunteer service. To become a Certified VMN volunteer, participants must complete 40 hours of approved service and eight hours of continuing education. That service might be education, such as leading a nature walk for visitors at a State Park. It could be science, such as participating in annual bird and butterfly counts or monitoring bat populations. Stewardship activities, such as invasive plant management or trail maintenance on public lands, are another possibility. Lastly, some VMN volunteers serve as chapter leaders, helping to deliver the program in their local communities.

The majority of VMN volunteer service relates to wildlife in some way, whether it is educating others about wildlife and their needs, restoring native plant habitats to support wildlife, or contributing to participatory science projects so that scientists and land managers have a better understanding of wildlife populations. Much of this work is done in direct partnership with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), which is one of six state agencies sponsoring the program, in addition to Virginia Cooperative Extension, the program’s lead agency.

VMN volunteers contribute to more than 50 different participatory science projects, such as this caterpillar count. Photo by Anne Clewell

The Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail (VBWT) is an organized network of outdoor sites providing excellent opportunities to see wildlife. VMN volunteers have adopted many of these sites to visit regularly, report on conditions, and document wildlife observed there so that other visitors can know what to expect. More recently, VMN volunteers have embarked on a new project with DWR to evaluate the accessibility of all VBWT sites and document them on the Birdability map. The end result will help people with disabilities find sites with suitable access for them to enjoy wildlife viewing.

VMN volunteers visit Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail sites to document birds and wildlife and assess site conditions. Photo by Jody Ullmann

Another project that has really taken off is Living with Black Bears in Virginia. DWR has trained groups of VMN volunteers to provide research-based information on bears and behaviors people can make to reduce the risk of conflict. These trained volunteers then give presentations and staff outreach tables at community events to spread the word, which will ultimately be good for people and bears. The volunteers have given dozens of presentations for a diversity of audiences at libraries, schools, neighborhood association meetings, the Virginia State Fair, and local farmers’ markets. Evaluation results so far show that the majority of people who have attended one of the presentations increase their knowledge of bears and indicate that they will adopt one or more stewardships behaviors to reduce human-bear conflict. “Without the VMN participants, the 16 DWR staff that work with bears/bear education could never have reached 17,000 direct contacts in a year while also performing our other duties,” writes DWR Statewide Wildlife Education Coordinator Courtney Hallacher.

VMN volunteers have been giving presentations about living in black bear country at libraries and other locations in their communities. Photo by VMN-New River Valley Chapter

Vernal pools are ephemeral wetland habitats that often get overlooked because they can be quite small and may not be wet year-round. VMN volunteers have partnered with DWR to conduct a long-term study of vernal pools in Virginia. They document vernal pools on public lands and monitor them for the species of wildlife that depend on these habitats, such as spotted salamanders and wood frogs. The volunteers share the data with land managers and researchers so that they can understand the value of these habitats and work together to conserve them.

Groups of VMN volunteers are trained to survey vernal pools on public lands, making the data available for research and conservation projects. Photo by Lesha Berkel

These projects are just a few examples of the many activities VMN volunteers are doing that ultimately benefit Virginia’s wildlife. Other activities include permitted wildlife rehabilitation and support of Virginia’s wildlife rehabilitation centers, a multi-year survey of diamondback terrapins, and habitat restoration at Wildlife Management Areas, parks, and natural areas. In 2023, VMN volunteers contributed more than 72,700 hours of service on activities related to DWR’s “conserve, connect, protect” mission.

Want to become a VMN volunteer? Connect with a VMN chapter near you. Most chapters offer the basic training course once a year. There’s no prerequisite, other than a desire to learn and a commitment to volunteer service, and you’ll gain the satisfaction of knowing you are making a difference for Virginia’s wildlife and other natural resources.