Venture down Ore Bank Road tucked into the southern corner of Rockingham County in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains and you will find the Deep Run Ponds Natural Area Preserve. Dotted with sinkhole ponds, this local treasure supports many ecological features unique to the Headwaters Master Naturalists service area. Recently expanded from 700…
Goin’ up to Reston, Reston, Reston … Three Headwaters members set out on Sunday morning, January 19th to the Walker Nature Center in Reston, Virginia, to hear one of our own present on the History of the American Chestnut as a teaching story for children. RoxAnna and Betty Forrest are from the same Headwaters 2011…
by Stephanie Gardner Once a bright and sure sign of autumn, monarch butterflies are now in worrisome decline. Scientists have tracked their decreasing numbers for several years. A recent study showed the lowest ever population of migrating eastern monarchs. A number of factors have contributed to the decline of the monarch butterfly. Here…
The story that grabbed my heart this year is of a critter that never entered our doors. JANUARY 2013 Last winter I got a call from a woman named Becky in far southwest Virginia who wanted to know what she could do to keep her female hummingbird warm during the anticipated cold snap that was…
Headwaters Chapter certified master naturalist Stephanie Gardner penned a monthly naturalist column for our area’s Daily News-Record’s North Fork Journal and Shenandoah Journal in 2012. In her words, here’s how Stephanie got started as a columnist: In autumn of 2011, Lauren Jefferson, then editor of the Daily News-Record’s North Fork Journal and Shenandoah Journal, was looking…
Virginia Master Naturalists Headwaters Chapter 