Virginia Master Naturalists Headwaters Chapter

Chapter happenings

Member Spotlight: Gail Napora

In an effort to get to know our members better, we are featuring an occasional post spotlighting one of our Headwaters Master Naturalists. Over forty Master Naturalists strong, our chapter draws strength from a wide variety of diverse talents and personalities, each deserving of their own spotlight!

With her upcoming public presentation on Monarchs and Milkweeds as part of the James Madison University’s Edith J. Carrier Arboretum’s Summer 2014 Brown Bag Lecture Series, our chapter historian, Stephanie Gardner, interviews HMN Gail Napora (Cohort I) for this Member Spotlight.

I have been exploring your author’s page at Amazon.com and reading about you through your teaching with the Lifelong Learning Institute at JMU. Wow, you stay busy! Please tell us a little about yourself and your work.
I am a creative person who loves creatures. In most things I have done, there is a natural element to reflect nature. For example, I am a scroll saw artist who does a special kind of wind chime featuring birds, elephants, and other creatures, and I have an entire line of arks with animals. In my photography, I focus on nature and taught photography in the community and through JMU’s LLI for many years before assembling images into books. As a full time employee, doing technology/software training for adults, I take my lunch time to explore nature sights, courses, and outdoor events. If I were to summarize my attitude, I would say that I strive to respect all creatures, all of the time.

I saw that you like to read. Me too! What is on your reading list this summer?
This summer I am reading research about bees, and anything by Malcolm Gladwell (right now that is Blink!).

What about butterflies most fascinates you?
Someone said that ‘butterflies are flying flowers’ and I like that they are so colorful and complex.

Will you tell us about your upcoming program at the Edith J Carrier Arboretum and Botanical Gardens at JMU?
At the EJC Arboretum I will tell the story of a lone butterfly weed plant and weave into the tale everything about the M’s: milkweed, mating, munching, metamorphosis, monarchs, mimics, and migration. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the EJC Arboretum, we will also release monarchs.

I know people that are interested in Monarchs and want to help them but don’t know where to start. What are some ways that everyone can help increase the Monarch population?
To me it has always been simple. For there to be monarch butterflies, we must provide food for monarch caterpillars. If every person plants and protects one plant, the monarchs will have what they need to survive and thrive.

What other projects are you working on this summer?
This summer I am doing a lot of family activities. Our squad of 4 (ages 14-22) each are exploring square foot gardening. Part of each box is devoted to butterfly weed as I am working to establish our 7 acres as a Monarch Waystation.

What have you enjoyed most about being a member of Headwaters Master Naturalists?
Headwaters Master Naturalists are genuinely nice people who ardently take care of, and protect, nature. Being a part of such a group is soul-nourishing.

July 13, 2014
“Build it, and they will come.”

Pond in progress with Kate and Frank.

With team workdays this spring and lots of individual efforts, the Headwaters Chapter Wildlife Center of Virginia‘s Wildlife Garden project has lots to show and is attracting attention from people and wildlife alike. The perennial garden, raised bed wildlife food “micro-farm” and lush corner pond with a trickling waterfall are all installed and doing their thing. Here is the latest update from project coordinator Kate Guenther:

Gray tree frog in pond wall.

“Build it, and they will come.” The first to arrive were the frogs. Very loud gray tree frogs have taken up residence around the pond. So has a pickerel frog. We’re up to 10 frogs total now! Unbelievable!

A mouse was scared out of the raised rock bed when Kate watered the garden.

A single morel-looking mushroom is growing in the garden—a surprise!

Then, after a notorious, long, spring, baby-season day, Dr. Kristin Britton and a student decided to call it quits at 11pm. The Wildlife Center has one of those building alarms that allows 45 seconds for the last person to get out of the building or the alarm goes off, calls the police and contacts the President, Ed Clark, at home. Many live in fear of setting off the alarm. As Dr. Kristin exited the main door with the alarm beeping down to blast off , she looked to her right and not 15 feet away stood a black bear getting a drink out of our new pond.

Pond in late May 2014.

“I didn’t know which was worse, confronting a bear face to face or setting off the alarm,” Kristin said. “In a split second, I decided the bear was less intimidating than the alarm. So, we yelled and clapped and now I know I can scare off a bear!” After that incident, Ed and Kate crafted an emergency plan should the local bears decide to do more than drink out of our pond, and somehow tear our pond liner with sharp claws.

Bear risks aside, everyone seems to be enjoying the new pond and critters.

We are entering the last phase of this project before the Saturday August 16 morning ribbon-cutting ceremony to which you are all invited. We still have to finish the signage. Sandy and her team of designers and artists are working with WCV staff to create 3 large metal signs that describe the Center and its mission, what we have done with the habitat in this project and what citizens can do to create wildlife habitat on their own properties.

If you have not yet been involved in this project and you want to join in on the fun, there still is time! Contact Kate at goatherderkate[at]yahoo.com, 540-350-2824.

Pickerel frog on our pond wall.

Click on the image to find a short video of Angel releasing the first goldfish in mid-June.

Find complete photo documentation of this 2013/2014 HMN Focus Project by Kate on the Virginia Master Naturalist’s Smug Mug site here.

July 1, 2014
Wilderness First Aid: Another Way to Make a Difference

Margaret fixing up RoxAnna.

Six Headwaters Master Naturalists and one interested individual met over the weekend of June 28th and 29th to learn from Brad and Paula Neher of Emergency Prep in Harrisonburg about handling common injuries and illnesses in the field when medical care is an hour or more away.
But first things first: let’s define what’s meant by Wilderness First Aid. Wilderness First Aid (WFA) is the assessment of and treatment given to an ill or injured person in a remote environment where definitive care by a physician and/or rapid transport team is not readily available.   In addition to assessment and treatment, possible emergency containment techniques might be taught.   Going beyond what you may know as “first aid”, you discover the deeper purpose of WFA is to train participants to prevent acute situations and only when necessary, manage them. While it contains substantial medical information and teaches skills required for medical emergencies in the wild, the bottom line is this: it’s more effective to prevent an incident than to manage it. But accidents do happen and better decision-making at the incident scene miles from medical facilities or help can save valuable time and human resources. It can save lives too.

Malcolm stabilized.

Generally speaking, any WFA course is a 2-day training that provides introductory medical skills to those of us who may be involved with group activities in remote environments. Through a hands-on and scenario-based approach, WFA offers the skills and confidence needed to make informed medical decisions when accidents happen in these remote locations. The WFA course includes short lectures along with increasingly challenging practice scenarios that help us master the central concepts of remote medicine and learn effective responses to an emergency.

Here’s the typical practice scenario outline: Accidents happen.   People get hurt, sick, or lost.   The temperature drops, the wind picks up, and it starts to rain.   What can you do to offer positive and worthwhile help?   Although many backcountry emergencies are preventable, when bad things do happen sometimes the wrong care can make things worse.   By learning a few basic skills, you can make the difference between a good outcome and a bad one.

Making that difference is what we worked on the weekend of June 28/29. It surprised me how clear it became, when faced with a simple beginning scenario, how unprepared I was. We learned how to assess the situation for safety, how to safeguard ourselves and then how to address primary and secondary patient assessment using simple mnemonics and acronyms. Using “at hand” materials we practiced splinting, bandaging and dealing with shock, hypothermia, heat exhaustion and heat stroke among other conditions such as insect bites, snakebites, allergies and anaphylaxis. It was a lot of information to assimilate but it was thoroughly engaging and we felt fully supported by the teaching team of Brad and Paula. They watched us closely and listening to our questions responded with thoughtful care and whatever detail we needed. The practice scenarios were both inside and outside and we got pretty darn creative with them. My comfort level increased and I moved from “frozen” to decisive.

Courtney attended to by Jo-el and Heather Lantz.

This WFA course was a re-certification for Malcolm Cameron and he felt the training here in Harrisonburg was comparable to the SOLO training he received almost two years ago in Charlottesville. He even learned some new things. Courtney Hallacher liked the small size of the class and felt the learning achieved was well worth the time spent: although a model of shorter classes over a longer time frame would have been her preference to aid in memory retention. Margaret Speicher greatly appreciated the hands-on practice scenarios and was pleased the course did not go for distracting and overly graphic injury drama. Jo-el Nelson also felt the course met her expectations and echoed the same willingness expressed across the board to consider this course for WFA re-certification. Sue Eckroth was unable to complete the second day of the course but plans to finish with the next group that goes through WFA. Personally, I found the course to be very valuable in exposing my own deficiencies regarding the “how tos” in handling an acute emergency situation and increasing my comfort level with challenging situations. I remain mindful of the need to “practice” these skills regularly.

With that in mind, the Chapter can look forward to seeing some WFA concepts incorporated into the Basic Training and Advanced Training programs. It will be eye opening. I guarantee it!   – RoxAnna Theiss, photos courtesy of Paula Neher of Emergency Prep

June 30, 2014
eMammal Camera “Trapping”

Carl changing camera card.

For the past year and a half, several Headwaters Master Naturalists have been participating in the eMammal project. Conducted by the Smithsonian Institution’s Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) in Front Royal, the eMammal Project aims to produce the same kind of database of mammal movements and behavior that exists for birds, thanks to the efforts of millions of bird-watchers. Since you can’t very successfully go “mammal-watching,” something else has to be done. That something else is cameras.

Wildlife cameras with motion- and heat-sensors are placed at predetermined locations for three weeks at a time. Each time an animal is detected, the camera takes 10 pictures in 20 seconds; if the animal is still there, it takes another 10 pictures, and so on. The heat sensor is there to prevent the camera from photographing leaves swaying in the wind.

When the three weeks are up, the volunteer retrieves the cameras, switches out the memory cards and batteries, and moves the cameras to the next location. Each “location” is really three sites: one right on a trail, one 50 meters off the trail and the third 200 meters off the trail. The locations are determined by the lead investigators, who give us the GPS coordinates. Of course, they choose the locations by looking at maps, which do not show the vegetation—I often wished for a machete, especially trying to get to those 200-meter locations!

Carl locking camera in place.

Once the cameras are in their new positions, we take the now-full memory cards home, where a computer program supplied by the CBI analyzes the time-stamps on the pictures and organizes them into groups, each likely to represent a single contact. Our job is to examine each group, and try to decide what the animal is. Trust me, it’s not always easy…. (see below for an example.)

Bobcats are frequently “trapped” by eMammal cameras in our area.

For the first two rounds, in the Spring and Fall of 2013, each of us had 4 locations. Chip Brown’s and mine were on a Nature Conservancy-owned trail that begins on Route 39 at the Dan Ingalls Overlook on Warm Springs Mountain. Jerry Hopkins and Kate Guenther had locations on the continuation of that trail south of Rt. 39. In the Fall, Chip and I found ourselves in the area of Pitt Spring on Cub Run Rd. (on the eastern slope of Massanutten).

After the second round had ended, we were all invited to the Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal for a “debriefing” and a tour of their captive-breeding operation. The data from the project are still being analyzed, and after a hiatus this Spring, the project will continue in the Fall, this time with the focus partially on more urban settings.

Between getting out into the woods every three weeks, and getting off-trail to boot, and looking at the sometimes thousands of pictures of everything from small birds to bobcats and bears, I personally found it to be a very enjoyable experience. – Carl Droms, HMN Cohort II

Check out the eMammal blogsite here and facebook page here.

Some images from the cameras prove challenging to identify what triggered them. Can you find the culprit in the photo below?

Click on the image to find the “culprit.”

June 29, 2014
Invasive Removal

Escaped from a nearby cemetery, wavyleaf basketgrass (WLBG) has slowly been creeping into the understory of the Shenandoah National Park near Elkton since around 2005. Headwaters Master Naturalist and Virginia Native Plant Society member Chris Bowlen has led a removal effort for the last three years.

On June 23, Master Naturalists Betty Forrest and Jerry Hopkins joined Chris and I and our friend Bea Woody for a couple of hours of crawling among multiflora rose and poison ivy on the forest floor to pull up wavyleaf basketgrass. After being bagged and hauled out of the forest, it went straight to a county waste station to be incinerated.

Once WLBG sets seeds in August, it is easily spread by mammals walking through it. The sticky seeds adhere tightly to fur and fabric. The grass removal is most effective before seeds appear.

Alycia Crall, the VMN state coordinator, organized a webinar on this new invasive species which streamed live in early May 2014. Providing information about the nature of invasive species, and the recent history and properties of WLBG, master naturalists may earn an hour of continuing education credit for watching this presentation by Kevin Heffernan, Stewardship Biologist with the Virginia Natural Heritage Program and Vanessa Beauchamp, a biology professor at Towson University in Maryland. Access the webinar here.

Towson University School of Emerging Technologies has launched a citizen science project for mapping wavyleaf through a smart phone app. More about this here.

If you’d like to help with future removal efforts, contact Chris Bowlen. – Adrie Voors

Wavyleaf growing on the SNP forest floor, June 2014.

Chris points out our park section for wavyleaf removal to Betty.

From Vanessa Beauchamp’s portion of the WLBG webinar: areas of Maryland and Virginia where WLBG has been identified. In VA, these areas interestingly follow the Appalachian Trail.

June 25, 2014