The Eastern Shore Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalist Program is a corps of well-informed volunteers who provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of ESVA’s natural resources and natural areas.
- Natural Resources: This focus distinguishes our program from some other programs, such as Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners, which is focused on home horticulture.
- Volunteerism: The primary purpose of the VMN Program is to train, develop, and support volunteers who will participate in natural resource conservation through volunteering.
- Local Communities: Although the program is statewide, it is a chapter-based program that encourages volunteers to focus their learning and service in their own communities.
We support the Eastern Shore by volunteering in three areas:
- Education and Outreach Activities: activities or programs in which the VMN educates the public. It may include interpretive programs at parks; presentations and tabling/booths at fairs, markets, and other public events; and educational presentations to identified audiences, such as community groups, school groups, or homeowner associations.
- Science Activities: service involving data collection, monitoring, biological inventories, and other science-oriented activities. These activities may be called citizen science, community science, participatory science, or other terms, depending on the activity and partners involved. Examples include stream monitoring, vernal pools monitoring, and organized bird and butterfly counts.
- Stewardship Activities: hands-on volunteer activities intended to improve habitat and other natural resources, or, in some cases, to improve the ability of the public to access these resources. These activities typically occur on public lands and may include invasive plant removal, habitat restoration, and trail building/maintenance. As with other service activities, these activities must be for public benefit, not personal gain, and must first be approved by the chapter.
See what we’ve been up to:
-
Brinkley Stewards At Work
Stewards at Ned Brinkley preserve have had several workdays over the last four months to get some invasive plant species there under control. We all realize that this is going […]
-
Why Virginia Natives Are the Best Choice – What to Plant Where for the Best Results
Virginia native plants provide visual beauty year-round. Unique flowers, vibrant fall colors of leaves and stems, fruit shapes and colors and bark textures are all reasons to purchase native plants. […]
-
Assateague on the Move: Work Starts on New Beach Parking
Assateague Island is moving inland at the rate of 10-13 feet a year, causing costly annual rebuilding of the beach parking lots at Tom’s Cove, its most dynamic section where […]
-
CCNAP Stewardship Report
March 22, 2025 Master naturalists perform stewardship duties at the Eastern Shore Natural Area Preserves that are open to the public. Volunteer Bob Suppa reports on his recent spring stewardship […]
-
Trees are Tree-mendous
I used to live next to a little patch of woodland. Recently, the land was sold and the underbrush and old trees were cleared. Here on Chincoteague Island, most undeveloped […]
-
Snow Geese: A Conservation Success Story
One of the splendors of the Eastern Shore in winter is watching thousands of snow geese rise in a cloud of white from a field of stubble, honking and flapping […]
-
Do Waterfowl Need Raincoats?
Rain or snow, sleet or drizzle, no problem: waterfowl are built for foul weather. Their outer feathers have interlocking barbules that hold together like Velcro, blocking out wind and rain. […]
-
Join the Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb. 14 – 17, 2025
Do you enjoy birds? Do you have 15 minutes? If the answer is yes, then the Great Backyard Bird Count is for you! For four days every February, hundreds of […]
-
ESMN: 2024 In Review, By the Numbers
Eastern Shore Master Naturalists were busy in 2024. Motivated by a desire to protect our natural resources via stewardship, support scientific inquiry, and educate our community, it is a privilege […]
-
Chincoteague Bird Walk Gets Them Asking for More!
“My ambition is to see a kingfisher. That would really make my day,” a beginner bird watcher said. And as if on cue, there was the distinctive rattle of a belted […]
-
A Final View from the Course
The writer Annie Dillard reminds us that ”how we spend our days, of course, is how we spend our lives.” So how did we spend our days these last ten […]
-
Bald Eagle Returns to Wild
Dr. Meg Gammage-Tucker pulled on a long leather falconer’s glove and pulled back the orange cloth printed with the word Freedom. The bald eagle batted its body against the sides of the crate. Gammage-Tucker slipped the latch. The door swung open. A white head. The bird reared upward […]