Master Naturalist Program

 

Here is the schedule of courses for 2009 / 2010

 

October 20, Tuesday 6:30 p.m., First class will be on Mammals by Jeff Hajenga Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC)
October 29, Thursday 6:15 p.m. Habitat Improvement for Wildlife by Sue Alcott Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC)
November 11, Wednesday 6:30 p.m. General Ecology: Dr. Jim VanGundy Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC)
January 9, 2010, Saturday 9:30a.m - 1:30 p.m. Nature in Winter by Doug Wood Loudendale Freewill Baptist Church
January 27, 2010, Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Recording and Preserving by John Northeimer Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC)
February 27, 2010, Saturday 1:00- 4:30 p.m. Tracking by Doug Wood Loudendale Freewill Baptist Church
March 17, Wednesday 6:00p.m. Amphibians (salamanders, frogs, and toads) by two of Dr. Pauley's graduate students Cross Lanes United Methodist Church
April 14, 2010, Wednesday 6:30p.m. Amphibians - Fieldwork Kanawha State Forest at the Spotted Salamander Trail Parking area
Friday April 16, 2010 6:00p.m. Weeds and Wildflowers our instructor will be Dr. Mark Watson Cross Lanes United Methodist Church, in the scout room (upstairs)
Saturday April 17,
2010
 9:00 a.m. Weeds and Wildflowers -
Fieldwork portion
KSF -  meeting place to be the Spotted Salamander Trail
Friday April 30, 2010 6:00pm to 9:00pm PHOTOGRAPHY Marmet Grade School
May 1, 2010, Saturday 8:00am PHOTOGRAPHY - Field Work Kanawha State Forest (KSF) Location to be announced Friday.
May 14, 2010, Friday 6:00p.m. Aquatic Habitats.  The Instructor will be DNR Aquatic Biologist Dan Cincotta. Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC)
May 15, 2010, Saturday 8:30a.m. Aquatic Habitats: Fieldwork KSF.  We will meet at the first parking area on the left as you enter the park.
May 19, 2010, Wednesday 6:30p.m. Terrestrial Habitats  The Instructor will be Doug Wood Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC)
May 21, 2010, Friday 6:30p.m. Terrestrial Habitats fieldwork Doug Wood's farm
June 4, 2010, Friday 6:15p.m. Birds:  Instructor Jim Waggy Cross Lanes United Methodist Church in the education building.
June 5, 2010, Saturday 8:00 a.m. Birds: Fieldwork KSF
June 25, 2010, Friday 6:15p.m. Wetland Habitats : The Instructor will be Tim Craddock Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC)
June 26, 2010, Saturday 9:30 a.m. Wetland Habitats fieldwork Greenbottom Wetlands
July 9, 2010, Friday 6:30p.m. Trees, shrubs and woody vines.  The Instructor will be Dr Willis Trammell. Cross Lanes United Methodist Church in the education building.
July 10, 2010, Saturday 9:00 a.m. Trees, shrubs and woody vines: Fieldwork. KSF at the pool parking lot
July 16, 2010, Friday 6:30 p.m. Snakes: Instructor Larry Cartmill. Cross Lanes United Methodist Church.
July 17, 2010, Saturday TBA Fieldwork for Snakes KSF, meeting place to be announced.
Tuesday, July 20, 6:00 p.m. John Northeimer will teach Nature Interpretation and Teaching Cross Lanes United Methodist Church.
August 6, 2010, Friday 6:30 p.m. Insects:  The Instructor will be Laura Miller. Cross Lanes United Methodist Church in the education building.
August 7, 2010, Saturday TBA Fieldwork for Insects KSF
August 28, 2010 10:00 a.m. Ferns by John Northeimer. After a short lunch break we will do the fieldwork portion CLUMC;  Fieldwork at KSF
August 18, 2010, Wednesday 6:30 p.m. Claudette Simard will teach Rocks and Minerals Cross Lanes United Methodist Church.
August 19, 2010, Thursday 6:00 p.m. Rocks and Minerals fieldwork KSF (meeting place to be announced later)
September 1, 2010, Wednesday 6:00 p.m. Mussels: The Instructor will be Doug Wood Cross Lanes United Methodist Church in the Scout Room
September 2, 2010, Thursday 6:00 p.m. Fieldwork for Mussels Coonskin Park

 

The West Virginia Mushroom Club
invites you to our next
MUSHROOM FORAY
At Greenbrier State Forest near Lewisburg, WV

SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2010
Meet at Shelter 2 at 9:40 a.m.
WITH GARY LINCOFF
Author of The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms

$25
(Age 13 and under free)

Activities include:
Mushroom walks and identification
Samples of tasty mushroom dishes
Power point presentation of fantastic photographs
Demonstration of shitake cultivation
Potluck dinner
Evening campfire with ‘shroom tales and s’mores

Joining us will be Bill Roody, author of Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians, Taylor Lockwood, acclaimed nature photographer specializing in beautiful mushrooms, and Paul Goland, mushroom cultivator.

Go to www.greenbriersf.com for driving directions and camping information or call 304-536-1944.
Please bring bug spray, knife, basket for collecting and drinking water.
Questions: send to Martha Hopper at Marthachopper@yahoo.com
or Nancy Ward at naward57@verizon.net
 

 

Below is information from Mark Watson, who taught our recent MN Wildflowers class.  He provides addresses for good internet sites on plants, and he offers a couple of suggestions for possible research projects.

I have cut and pasted the links I promised that were left off when the computer battery was exhausted.  I also wanted to mention to you a potential future research or conservation projects that would be appropriate for the Kanawha State Forest.   On the past several trips out there I have noticed along the road right as you turn on to Loudan Heights Road there are several species of invasive exotics that are approaching towards the forest.  One is the Allaria petiolata, garlic mustard, and the other is not as bad, but spreads about as easily  which is Hesperis matronalis,  or Dames Rocket.  Another bad guy, Japanese Knotweed is also just downstream of the Forest and could easily spread into the area as well.    It would be ashamed to have the Forest taken over.  Your group might want to post a “Garlic Watch” to monitor the spread of the invader and hopefully stop its encroachment.   A potential research project would be to monitor this patch of garlic mustard and document its spread rate  and the documentation of any future eradication efforts…

 

¢  Web Sources

—  http://plants.usda.gov/

¢  Invasive species, plant lists

¢  Extensive photo archive

—  http://www.efloras.org/index.aspx

¢  Flora of North America

¢  Most up to date compilation of plant systematics

—  http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Wildflowers

—  http://npdc.usda.gov/technical/plantid_wetland_mono.html

¢  http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/plants/plantsystematics/phyl.html

—  Michael G. Simpson “Plant Systematics”  Elsevier Academic Press

¢  Resources associated with the book by Simpson

 

I am always willing to help when I can.  Your students can feel free to contact me if they need help keying out a specimen or if they are going on a wildflower hike, we might learn some new plants together!

Cheers,

Mark

 

Listed below are directions to the Cross Lanes United Methodist Church (CLUMC) church. 

 
 From Charleston, travel on I-64 West to the Cross Lanes exit.  Turn right at the end of the exit ramp, and merge left into the traffic flow.  You'll follow this road for .7 of a mile.  You'll eventually proceed straight ahead through a 4-way stoplight, and then the next side street you'll see on the left is Frontier Ave.  Get in the middle, turning lane and turn left onto Frontier.  Then you'll just go a short distance before you'll see Cross Lanes United Methodist Church on the right, with a large asphalt parking lot in front of it

 

A new management group for the Master Naturalist program has been established

See the article in the Charleston Gazette-Mail

 

 

DNR has announced that it is finally ready to print out complete copies of the long-awaited MN manuals, which will contain chapters of content designed to dovetail with the MN classes.
 
So, the good news is that these will now be available.  The bad news is that we will have 5 groups of students who are due to receive these manuals.  The manuals are large and bulky, and we'll have to figure out an efficient way to distribute them.
 
To minimize the difficulty, here are my thoughts.  There are some people who paid the registration fee for the program, but then didn't follow through.  They stopped attending classes, and I haven't seen or heard from them in years, which would make it difficult to track them down to give them manuals.  So, for everyone who falls into this category, I'm not planning to request a manual for you unless I specifically hear from you right away to let me know that you want one.  And then it would be your responsibility to pick it up. 
 
On the other hand, everyone from all the classes who made a sustained effort - graduates, near graduates, those still attending classes, those who have stayed active with various outings and activities, etc. - will be on the list to receive a manual unless I hear from you saying you don't want one.
 
The only other consideration is that there are a fair number of married couples in the program.  I think many couples will feel that it's overkill to have more that one of these bulky manuals per household, so my working strategy is to order one manual rather than two for married couples.  But if there are any couples that would prefer two, so each person can have their own copy, just let me know and that won't be a problem.  Thanks.
 
Jim 

 

 

First

Passing of the Torch 9-03-09

As most everyone knows, on Thursday 9-03-09 the Master Naturalist group held a meeting at the Cross Lanes United Methodist Church for the purpose of discussing the future of the Master Naturalist Program. There were15 people in attendance and several that wanted to attend but were unable to do so for various reasons. It has been known for some time that Jim Waggy has been wanting to hand off the coordinator duties so he can have a little free time to enjoy for himself. Since this is a volunteer JOB, Jim has gone far beyond dedication in doing this for nearly five years. We discussed the different aspects of the coordinators position and broke it down into basically six different categories.

1.Terry Finney volunteered to contact the instructors and scheduling of all
classes.


2. Mary Hogue volunteered to be a liaison person to follow up with instructors
prior to classes and to accommodate their needs for the class.


3. Gary and Debbie Mullins volunteered to insure that the instructors have
the visual aids that may be needed for the classes.


4. Frank and Carolyn Barker volunteered to field any inquiries and send out the
class reminders.


5. Rick Moore is the volunteer hour coordinator. In that he will be looking for
ways that the MN can fulfill their volunteer hours.


6. Everyone attending volunteered to facilitate classes when needed. Meaning
that they will be at the class to introduce and help the instructor with any
issues he or she may have.

Everyone agreed that there is a need for a regular event planning group. This would be like the first Saturday hikes, the Monday evening get-togethers that we were having, or picnics, etc. Frank and Carolyn Barker, Donna King, and Regan Quinn have volunteered to help plan various outings for the MN group. Any input or ideas for future outings of interest would be welcome.

We would like to thank Jim for all that he has done for the MN Program. Without him this wonderful group of people would not exist.

Frank and Carolyn Barker
 

 

  

 

 

 

Click Picture to go to site.

Photos taken at the Master Naturalist outing on October, 2005 at Kanawha State Forest

 

Photos taken by some  Master Naturalists on March 2007 at Kanawha State Forest

 

Dan Cincotta gave a class on "Aquatic Habitats" on May 18th.  This was followed by a field trip on May 19th to Kanawha State Forest.

 

Jim Waggy gave a class on "Birds" on June 1st.  This was followed by a field trip on June 2nd to Kanawha State Forest.

 

Tim Craddock gave a class on "Wetland Habitats" on June 15th.  This was followed by a field trip on June 16th to Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area.

 

Bill Roody gave a fascinating class on "Mushrooms" on July 21st.  This was followed immediately after by a field trip to Kanawha State Forest . 

 
Dr. Mark Chatfield gave a class on "Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines" on July 27th.  This was followed by a field trip on the 28th to Kanawha State Forest . 

 

John Northeimer led a class on "Ferns and Taxonomy" on August 18th, in the morning.  This was followed by a field trip in the afternoon to Kanawha State Forest in search of ferns . 

 

Laura Miller led a follow-up to the Insects class.  This was a set-up at Kanawha State Forest with a blacklight and a white sheet to lure moths and other night-flying insects.  Alice Knight took some great photos.

 
The First Saturday outing on December 1st for Master Naturalist alumni's. Check out the outing report and photos.

 

The March Saturday outing  for Master Naturalist alumni's. Check out the outing photos.

 

On the April Saturday outing  for Master Naturalist alumni's, we looked for early birds and wild flowers.   Check out the outing photos.

 

Bill Grafton gave a wonderful class on Wildflowers on May 2nd.  This was followed by a field trip on May 3rd to Kanawha State Forest.

 

Doug Wood gave a fun class on Terrestrial Habitats on May 28, 2008 (Wednesday).  This was followed by a field trip to Doug's property, "Wood'scape" on May 29, 2008(Thursday.

 

Tim Craddock gave a class on "Wetland Habitats".   Here are some thoughts and photos from MN student Carolyn Barker from the Saturday (06/28/08) fieldwork at Winfield Wetlands.

 

Laura Miller gave a class on  Insects on August 22, 2008 (Friday).  This was followed by a field trip to Kanawha State Forest on August 23, 2008(Saturday) to catch and identify some insects.

 

 

 

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