Page 15 – Virginia Outdoors Foundation

Belle Meade, Rappahannock County

When Susan Hoffman and her husband, Mike Biniek, bought their 138-acre Rappahannock County farm in 1993, they knew they wanted to share it with others. They started a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation, began using the farmhouse as a bed and breakfast, and started running day camps for kids.

A renovated 1914 schoolhouse now houses Belle Meade Montessori.

But it was something on a neighboring property that really caught their attention: a boarded-up schoolhouse on one acre across the property line. “It was just calling our name,” remembers Hoffman, who taught in the District of Columbia Public School System before moving to the farm. The couple bought the property and renovated the 1914 building. They now run an accredited Montessori school there called Belle Meade Montessori, with students helping to care for livestock and crops on the farm.

Hoffman and Biniek believe that chores on the farm help students grow more confident in their own abilities. “For the kids it’s responsibility, rain or shine, but it’s also social time; they are out with their friends. And both are equally important,” Hoffman explains. “Our biggest thing is independence and responsibility. And self-confidence is what makes all those things happen.”

Kids do hands-on experiments outdoors, rain or shine.

Last year, the school added a cohort of four lower-school students to the upper- and middle-school levels. This year, the number of students in the younger group shot up to 21, equaling enrollment at the upper levels. “The lower school blooming like that is thanks to COVID,” Hoffman says, “We were already outside, and that’s what families wanted.”

Many school families also participate in the farm’s CSA, so the children are helping to grow the food that their families will eat. “If you think all your food comes from the grocery store, you’re missing some basic knowledge,” Biniek states.

When the kids make that connection, Hoffman adds, it lasts. “They go forth and they have in their consciousness that the environment matters.” Biniek and Hoffman strive to make the school available to students from diverse backgrounds by offering financial aid “to anyone who asks,” as Hoffman puts it.

Equestrian activities are part of the curriculum at Belle Meade.

Financial aid is also available for kids who want to participate in Belle Meade’s day camp and swim camp programs in the summer. Serving ages 4 to 13, the camps hosted 24 campers in their first year, 1994. In just a few years, those numbers increased to as many as 150 kids enjoying outdoor activities at Belle Meade. Even with the challenges of COVID in 2020, they welcomed 150 campers.

Protected by an open space easement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation since 2006, Belle Meade is now at the center of a growing community of families who want their children to grow up with first-hand knowledge of the natural world and their place within it. As for Biniek and Hoffman, Biniek says, “We thrive from the interaction with other people: the guests at the b-and-b, the school and camp families. It’s bigger than both of us.”

The Preserve’s Spotlight Species: Black Vulture

A species subject to many myths and misidentification, the first bird for our #sciencesaturday spring spotlight is the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus). With glossy black plumage, a naked gray-black head, short tail and talons, the black vulture is one of our resident scavengers. An important link in the food chain by eating and disposing of carrion, vultures provide an ecological service by reducing disease breeding grounds. The adaptation of having a feather-free face is very hygienic for a bird that spends the majority of feeding time sticking their noggins into dead species. This way the rotting flesh does not stick to their face.

Vultures have an excellent immune system, eating carcasses without contracting typical diseases like anthrax, cholera, or salmonella. While they have very sharp beaks to tear through thick hides, vultures are not usually able to attack live prey. Their feet and talons are more similar to a chicken than the sharp claws of a hawk or other raptor. Thus, it is very unlikely they are able to take down a struggling animal, such as claims that state they kill livestock. Although not listed as threatened or endangered, in urban areas, they are labeled as a nuisance or pest species. With easy access to garbage dumps and a decrease in sensitivity towards people, black vultures congregate in large groups around discarded food.

Found in many varieties of environments across the States, black vultures have several adaptations to help them regulate their temperatures. They often spend early mornings sunbathing with their wings spread to raise their body temperature waiting for morning thermal air currents to form. If they need to cool down, they will excrete on their legs. In this process of urohidrosis (Greek meaning: “ouron” = urine; “hidrōs” = sweat), the evaporating water from the urine and feces are a mechanism for thermoregulation. This is also seen in other avian species like storks and is similar to sweating for mammals.

There are different names for black vultures depending on where a group of them gather. If flying, they create a kettle. When perched in a tree, they can be called a committee, a venue or even a volt. And if congregated feeding on the ground, they are referred to as a wake. Black vultures are not the only vulture species present at the Preserve and can often be confused with turkey vultures (Cathartes aura). Are you already familiar with ways to tell them apart? Read on to learn more out the similarities and differences between these two species.

Turkey Vulture vs Black Vulture

Adult turkey vultures (left images) have a red fleshy head, black/brown body, and a short, sharply hooked, ivory beak
With the largest olfactory system of all birds, and larger nostrils, they rely on a keen sense of smell to find meals up to a mile away and 12-24 hours old
Lighter colored feathers that stretch from their “armpits” along their body down to their feather tips
Lanky birds that make wobbly circles in a teetering flight, fly at lower altitude with wings in a V-shape
Often roost in large groups, but venture out independently to forage for food; territorial feeders
The oldest wild turkey vulture was 16 years, 10 months old

Mature black vultures (right images) have a dark gray head, black body, and a darker beak
Due to their poor sense of smell, they will actually shadow turkey vultures and follow them to food sources
Only has the lighter coloration underneath on the tips of their wings
Compact birds with broad wings, short tails, they have strong wingbeats followed by short glides, they soar high in the sky on thermals
Lacks a voice box limiting vocal abilities to hisses and grunts
Highly social birds that can outcompete turkey vultures in larger flocks for food source, and will even share food with relatives
The oldest wild black vulture was 25 years, 6 months old

Black Vulture Presence at the Preserve

The standing old house on the eastern side of the Green Trail (Fern Hollow Loop) is more than a cultural heritage site. It is now a seasonal home to a pair of black vultures, who return each spring to raise their young within the structure. Black vultures do not build nests, but instead will use cliff faces, stumps, caves, and protected areas on the ground. One to three eggs are incubated by both parents for 37 to 41 days.

Once they hatch the young are fed from regurgitation (which is also a defense mechanism, where vultures will vomit when threatened!), even months after they have fledged. The juveniles are able to fly 75 to 80 days after hatching.

Yesterday on the Preserve Grand Prix Hike, participants were rewarded for braving the cold by Mother Nature when we looked inside the house through a crack in the wall: one of the resident black vultures was sitting on the ground in the same spot as the picture above from last year! Although we did not specifically see any eggs, we can infer that the pair are now incubating and the scavenger’s Airbnb home will be otherwise occupied for the foreseeable future. Please be mindful not to disturb protective parents if looking for them or their chicks later this spring.

Lastly, be careful when referring to vultures as “buzzards”. It is a colloquial accepted term in North America, but if you are visiting Europe or parts of Asia, the word “buzzard” actually refers to hawks and eagles (birds with feathery heads and a poor sense of smell). Those international buzzards are assigned to the family Accipitridae. The vultures and condors in the States are bald with a better sense of smell, and they belong to the family Cathartidae.

Insect Biodiversity of the Preserve at Bull Run Mountains; a Natural Science Fellowship Report

In celebration of Earth Day, we are happy to share the final product of our 2020 Natural Science Fellow’s work! Meredith Hart spent the summer of 2020 trapping and identifying insects throughout the Jackson Hollow and North Sections of the Preserve. At the close of her research, she worked with VOF Preserve staff to coauthor the Preserve’s first Fellowship Report: Insect Biodiversity of the Preserve at Bull Run Mountains.

VOF’s Fellowship Program was developed to provide early career professionals with the opportunity to gain experience co-developing and executing a research project in their chosen interest area. While providing these key early career opportunities, this program also helps BRMNAP fill areas of specialized expertise and build internal capacity in the arenas of scientific and historical research, program development, multimedia, and/or other special projects that otherwise may not be possible with our small team of full-time staff.

Meredith Hart served as Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s (VOF’s) inaugural Natural Science Fellow. Her research project aims to provide the Preserve’s staff and the general public with a better foundational awareness of the insect biodiversity that is protected by VOF’s Preserve at Bull Run Mountains. Meredith completed this fellowship in the allotted 360 hours, with the support of VOF Preserve staff and volunteers. In 360 hours, our team went from project design and development, to fieldwork, to taxonomic identification, to the preparation of a photographic guide to the specimens collected, as well as the completion of several public outreach and engagement initiatives.

This report contains the fellowship products of Meredith’s work. The physical specimens captured during these eight weeks of insect trapping are preserved in ethanol and fully publicly accessible to any researcher interested in building upon this project.

The Preserve’s Spotlight Species: Spring Ephemerals (part 2)

Last week for #sciencesaturday, we learned about three of the spring ephemerals blooming at the Preserve. As truly ephemeral, those plants bloom, seed, and die before the leafing canopy trees block the sunlight from reaching the forest floor. However, there are some other spring ephemerals, that often get misclassified. These imposters still bloom early and briefly, but their leaves remain visible much longer, especially in areas of the Preserve where they get more moisture. The following four species are not as ephemeral, but still stunning flowers to identify!

Bloodroot

Named for roots (and leaves/stem) that yield a red-orange juice that will dye your skin or clothes, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is noticeable as a singular, naked stem with eight to ten white petals. The petals cluster around golden yellow-tipped stamens, and the flower only blooms for a day or so before it dies. One green leaf wraps around the flower stalk and opens to full size as the flower wilts.

Round-lobed Hepatica

Also known as liverleaf or liverwort (Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa, renamed Anemone americana), round-lobed hepatica’s three clover-like leaves are actually evergreen. The solid or two-toned green leaves are visible on the forest ground throughout winter, and wither away once the plant bloom in spring. Many of the leaves are a bright purple color underneath if you flip them over, similar to the cranefly orchid! With flower petals that range from white to purple, they grow on a hairy leafless stalk. Behind each flower are three hairy, rounded tipped bracts.

Mayapple

With distinctive umbrella-like leaves palmately lobed in five to nine parts, mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) can form large colonies. Spreading from a single root system (rhizomes), this herbaceous perennial typically grows open deciduous forests, riverbanks, and roadsides. The leaves start folded as the stem grows during the spring, unfurling once it nears full height.Only stems with more than one leaf will flower, and its white flower petals become an oval berry about 2 inches long that ripens to yellow.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) gets its name from the shape of the flower, with the club (the “Jack”, or spadix) sitting in a tubular base with a hood (the “pulpit”, or spathe). This appearance is similar to the skunk cabbage we learned about as a spotlight species several weeks ago! Its fruit starts as a cluster of green berries that will turn bright red as they ripen later in the summer. This flower has both male and female plants, and they are able to change gender from year to year. Male plants have a hole at the base of the spathe (to allow pollinators to escape), whereas female plants do not have the hole (to ensuring successful pollination but trapping the pollinators longer).

Often confused for poison ivy as it has three shiny green leaves, however, jack-in-the-pulpit’s leaflets are connected in the middle, with a distinct vein pattern: a continuous vein runs around the entire edge of each leaf, whereas the poison ivy middle leaflet has a short stalk between the other two lateral ones.

Remember, we have a no harvest policy at the Preserve, so please do not pick these flowers or try to take them home! They are difficult or incredibly slow to propagate and must have very particular conditions to survive. These plants will likely die following any attempts to transplant them. Instead, take a picture of the spring ephemerals you find (true or tricky ones), and upload them to the Bull Run Mountains Preserve iNaturalist project!

Open to Interpretation; Fostering Community via Cultural History

“We’ve just been walking together, and we’re already becoming friends!”

This is probably my favorite quote that I’ve heard from the Black/African American hikes at the Preserve.

Keeping that in mind, allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Barinaale Dube, Cultural History Fellow, turned Cultural History Interpreter. I feel like my extended presence at the preserve is a very apt description of the nature of the work. It quite literally draws you in.

One of the pinnacles of our then fellowship and now gainful employment has been the hike. Considering that the entirety of this work has occurred during the first global pandemic in at least a 100 years, it was a relatively safe way to take lovers of the Preserve, people in the community, and life-long learners on this journey with us. Participants sign up online, meet us at the trailhead, and then we literally walk some of the same paths that the families we are researching once did. We stop at cemeteries, still-standing structures, and man-made landmarks to discuss the details of their daily lives. All while discussing a range of topics that either connect us to these families, one another, or a combination of the two. It constantly amazes me how much I learn every time I lead a hike. Because we freely offer up this information, people are encouraged to offer their own experiences and wisdom back, or even include us in various projects or programs.

This concept of “taking people along with us” has always been a foundational pillar of this work for me. There are millions of inaccessible journals, research reports, books and textbooks filled with either antiquated or indecipherable historical information. There are hundreds of classes and conferences constructed to bounce the same schools of thoughts amongst people. Some of the most persistent history that the average person has access to today, is oral.

I couldn’t tell you what 3^rd grade textbook I learned about Christopher Columbus in, but I can tell you that in fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That history was passed down to me orally. In that same way to preserve resources and maximize engagement, there are no pamphlets or fact sheets distributed on our hikes. Everything offered up, is discussed, dissected, and directed back to us in words and ways that will help it stick in our minds.

Between my cultural information, Summers’ geo-spatial analysis, and Joe’s biological insights, we have really been able to offer a very immersive experience. One of the benefits of this being a state-protected preserve, is the ability to offer the experience and the entirety of the south-section of the Preserve freely.

On the hike, when I discuss colonial-capitalistic concepts of ownership, specifically in regards to land, it helps shine light on these notions of nationality that we’ve constructed. I believe it is very important to constantly assert that we are only stewards of this land and information. That is the belief of the people who ancestrally occupied this space, and it also was the belief of the Black people who lived on the mountains as well. That every exchange does not have to be commodified or have a monetary component.

This has really rung true. For Langston, a nine-year old participant on one of our hikes, he really got more than be bargained for. What he probably thought would just be a hike in the woods with his grandmother turned out to be a very rich adventure where he could, “make a friend just by walking together”. That is our continual hope, that as we look back in time at our ancestors or members in our community, we’ll be able to take care of not only the earth, but each other better through what we’ve learned to adopt or lay by the wayside. That these Black/African American hikes at the Preserve offer cultural lessons that have contemporary value that can improve the way we live in community with one another.

That is the beauty of this journey; it’s all open to interpretation.

VOF announces $1 million for community projects in Southwest Virginia

The Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) has awarded $1 million in grants to support eight projects that protect the outdoors and increase access to open space in Roanoke, Montgomery, Giles, and Franklin counties, as well as in the City of Danville.

The grants were awarded from the Forest CORE (Community Opportunities for Restoration and Enhancement) Fund — a component of VOF’s TERRA program, which administers funds resulting from legal and regulatory actions involving Virginia’s natural resources. The Forest CORE Fund was established with $15 million received by the Commonwealth of Virginia to mitigate for natural resource impacts caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The most recent grant round targeted projects within impacted localities that have great importance to the community and show a high level of community support. Projects were scored on these qualities, as well as their accessibility by the public and their educational components.

Since the first round of Forest CORE grants in 2018, VOF has awarded $8.3 million from the fund. The expenditure of the funds is tied to the tree-clearing and grubbing activity of pipeline developers. Approximately 80 percent of the pipeline right-of-way in Virginia had been cleared and grubbed as of December 2020.

VOF developed the Forest CORE grant criteria in consultation with local officials, planning districts, conservation partners, and state agencies to ensure that community needs would be well represented.

The projects that have been approved for the latest funding are:

Angler’s Ridge Trail, City of Danville, $200,000

The City of Danville Industrial Development Authority will transfer 54 acres of forested land to the City of Danville Parks and Recreation Department. The city will add a picnic shelter and flora/fauna identification markers to the existing trail system, as well as a paved connection trail to the RiverWalk trail system. The Forest CORE grant will help the city complete more than half of its master plan for the property.

Blackwater River Access at Round Hill Road, Franklin County, $94,100

The Friends of the Rivers of Virginia will develop a river access point along the Blackwater River. Development includes the removal of an improperly sited river access point, a site plan showing existing and replacement river ramp details, grading, barriers, and surfacing of the gravel parking lot. River access will include a driveway, ramp, and steps. There will be signage at the parking lot and ramp location, as well as a kiosk to explain the history and ecology of the area, along with a county blueway map.

Newport Community Park, Giles County, $200,000

Established as a crossroads community in the 1800s, the historic community of Newport will develop the Newport Community Park as an outdoor space that educates the public on the ties between forests and community history and culture. It will include an improved forest-themed playground, construction of a Forest Discovery Center, parking area improvements, tree planting, and signage.

Mill Creek Nature Park Revitalization, Giles County, $39,490

The Town of Narrows is planning improvements to Mill Creek Nature Park, such as restrooms, signage, road/trail upgrades, and equipment, and the grant will assist with these costs. With traffic increasing to the area, restrooms have become a necessity. Signage and road/trail upgrades promote easier access to the attraction areas. The equipment purchased would be used to maintain upkeep in necessary locations.

Plant Southwest Virginia Natives Campaign & Propagation Center, Montgomery County, $175,000

Through the creation and printing of a Plant Southwest Virginia Natives Guide, a community-supported native plant propagation center focusing on local provenance forest communities, and implementation of a community accessible native forest demonstration garden, the New River Valley Regional Commission will work to improve the public’s relationship to their own backyards.

Meadowbrook Greenway, Montgomery County, $85,000

The Town of Blacksburg will design and engineer a greenway connecting an existing trail network to the previously VOF-funded Brush Mountain properties. The proposed greenway is needed to create safe off-road access for pedestrians, cyclists, and horseback riders to both Brush Mountain Properties and the contiguous National Forest.

Brush Mountain Property 2: Trail Planning and Implementation, Montgomery County, $32,460

The New River Land Trust will conduct site planning and trail construction on Brush Mountain Project Property 2 in the Town of Blacksburg. The goal is to add trail infrastructure to a growing regional natural recreation hub. The proposed trail will travel through an intact forest that has high ecological integrity, climate resilience, and is adjacent to the following the public land: Heritage Park and Natural Area, Gateway Park, the Mountain Bike Skills Park, the Huckleberry Trail, and the Jefferson National Forest’s Poverty Creek Recreation Area and Pandapas Pond trail system.

Carvins Cove Shoreline Protection, Roanoke County, $175,000

The Western Virginia Water Authority will acquire a 45-acre parcel on the shoreline of Carvins Cove Reservoir, which is the only parcel on the shoreline of the reservoir that is not owned by WVWA. Acquisition of this parcel will allow control of vegetative management under the existing powerline, protection of the watershed from chemicals and sedimentation, development of a circumferential trail, and establishment of experimental plantings, such as bee and pollinator-friendly plants, to educate trail users and the public on options for management of utility corridors.

The Preserve’s Spotlight Species: Spring Ephemerals (part 1)

If you’ve been closely observing the forest floor as you walk along the trails these past few weekends (not only on the lookout for the rocks and roots trying to trip you), you may have seen dainty flowers and more colors popping up. As we learned several weeks ago, skunk cabbage is the first flowering plant at the Preserve, but it is no longer the only one blooming. Spring ephemerals, or plants that bloom and quickly lose their leaves and are not seen again until next spring, are here!

The following #sciencesaturday spotlight species are only three of the many spring ephemerals present at the Preserve. Comment below to share your favorite spring ephemeral.

Virginia Spring Beauties

Spring beauties (Claytonia virginica) have delicate small pink or white flowers with five petals. Each petal contains light to bright pink venation and they sprout from corms: underground tubers like a tiny potato. Those pink veins are key for pollinators, acting as a nectar guide for bees and flies. Andrena erigeniae, the solitary bee, exclusively pollinates spring beauties! The low growing plants (about six inches) love the sun, opening in the sunshine and closing at night or during cloudy days. That tendency has been used to predict incoming bad weather.

Trout Lily

Trout lily (Erythronium americanum) is named after its mottled leaves that resemble Virginia’s state freshwater fish: the brook trout. A single nodding yellow bell-shaped flower blooms above mature plants with two speckled leaves. Also nicknamed “adder’s tongue”, trout lily grows in huge colonies that can survive 100+ years, which could be older than the nearby surrounding trees!

Dutchman’s Breeches

These white to pink flowers resemble a pair of pants hanging upside down, earning it one nickname: Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria). They also go by other common names, such as bleeding hearts (for the pink version) or little blue staggers (due to the drunken staggering that happens if livestock eat this narcotic related to a poppy). Bumblebees are its main pollinators. Fine compound leaves look like ferns, but they are not a true fern!

These spring ephemerals are ideal candidates for myrmecochory, or seed dispersal by ants. Their seeds are coated in fatty external appendages called elaiosomes, which attract the ants and encourages them to haul the seeds back to their nests. The ant larva consume the lipid-rich food source and the leftover bare seeds are tossed into a midden (imagine a seed compost pile rich in nutrients that stimulates germination). This method of seed dispersal protects the seeds from predation, and decreases competition as they are more spread out.

Found thriving throughout the North American undisturbed woodlands of the eastern United States and Canada, spring ephemerals have an incredibly small window of opportunity to grow, bloom, be pollinated, and seed. By June, the deciduous trees high above will shade out the forest floor and these plants retreat back underground until next spring. Despite their seasonality, spring ephemerals play a critical role for forest ecosystems by stabilizing soils, providing nutrients, and sustaining native pollinator populations. They are also incredibly fragile and threatened by human disruptions, invasive species, and overpopulation of herbivores. See if you can find all three of them on your next hike and tune in next #sciencesaturday to learn about a few more!

The Mariners’ Museum and Park, Newport News

Most museums focus on what’s inside. Since 2016, The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News has looked beyond its walls to the community it serves instead. “The social unrest that year really made us think about how we could connect to people, and people to each other,” says Sabrina Jones, the museum’s director of strategic partnerships. “It became less about exhibitions and more about how we can use our resources to address community gaps and challenges in Newport News and in Hampton Roads overall.”

Those resources include the museum’s “living collection”—the 550-acre The Mariners’ Park, whose five miles of wooded trails surrounding The Mariners’ Lake have been free and open to the public for decades. The lake itself was a popular spot for boating, kayaking and fishing until a 2014 storm, when flooding damaged the boathouse and dock beyond repair.

A storm in 2014 damaged the dock and boathouse so that they could no longer be safely used by the public.

“It’s been six years, and everyone has been asking about when we are going to open it back up,” says Jones. “We get weekly, if not twice weekly, inquiries on Facebook, Instagram, and email from people who want to know where we are in the process.”

Access to the boathouse and dock is currently limited to those who can safely navigate one of two sets of steep and narrow concrete steps.

To restore public access to the lake, the museum applied for a $25,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation’s Get Outdoors program. Their original plan was to use the money to restore the dock steps, as well as to build an ADA-compliant boat ramp.

After receiving the money, however, museum leadership had a better idea. They wanted a design that allowed for everyone to access the lake at the same spot, or as Jones puts it, to make sure “no one feels ‘less than’ when getting out onto the water.”

The museum reached out to Beyond Boundaries, a Richmond nonprofit that works to make the outdoors accessible to all. They came up with a new design that serves people with and without disabilities equally. Although the new design was more expensive, the museum was able to leverage VOF’s grant to secure additional money from other partners.

The new design will provide one access point that will allow everyone to get on the water safely.

The evolution of the project reflects the museum’s approach to funding, which, as Jones points out, is about building relationships, not merely conducting transactions. “We’re not just looking for a group that can put together a pot of money. We are seeking out partners who are really interested in making a measurable difference. The relationship is based on how we can work together and what we can learn from each other.”

You can read more about The Mariners’ Museum and Park’s mission in museum President Howard Hoege’s blog post.

Educational programs at The Mariners’ Museum and Park are now available online. You can find out more about them here.

Guided park tours, limited to 10 people, are conducted most Saturdays and Wednesdays and require advance registration.

The Preserve’s Spring Spotlight Species: Garter Snake

Last weekend was the first time I witnessed reptiles on the move in the Preserve! In honor of their emergence, this #sciencesaturday is dedicated to the first snake I saw this spring: the common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). The harmless eastern garter snake was also listed as the state snake of Virginia in 2016, and we even share it as the reptile state symbol with Massachusetts.

Garter snakes, a medium-sized reptile that grows up to two feet long, are widely found throughout the diversity of North and Central America. They are distinguishable by yellow or white stripes down their green/black/brown body. Garter snakes are emerging from brumation, a period of dormancy where they slow down their metabolism and activity and do not eat (but still need to drink). Similar to hibernation for mammals, however, these reptiles will gather in larger groups to wait out the colder months in dens.

Once they venture above ground, the males move first, trying to warm up in the sun to be ready to mate with the larger females, which produce a sex-specific pheromone to attract male snakes in droves (a scent other males try to imitate to lure competing males away from the females). These mating balls can be made up of up to 25 males vying to copulate, and leads to intense competition.

Afterwards, females can store the male’s sperm before fertilizing the eggs internally. Because garter snakes are ovoviviparous, the eggs are incubated in the lower abdomen until they hatch inside the mother, and she gives birth to live young. Gestation is about two to three months, and litter size varies from 3 to 80+ young. As juveniles, they are a tasty snack for other critters like raccoons, birds of prey, shrews, and even large frogs.

Garter snakes are mostly harmless to humans (if bitten, it might cause itching or a rash but is not deadly), but they do have a mildly venomous saliva to help them defend themselves and catch their prey. As carnivores, garter snakes eat any animal smaller than them either on land or in the water. When eating amphibians, like frogs, toads, and newts, garter snakes are not only resistant to their prey’s poison but can absorb it to become poisonous themselves. *Remember, venomous is something that bites or stings and makes you sick, but poisonous is something that you touch or ingest that makes you sick. Garter snakes are one of the few snakes that can be both!

Look for these smooth and cool species and their other scaly friends as you hike at the Preserve this weekend. Keep your eyes peeled not only on the ground, but through some of the lower branches of the mountain laurel and spice bush, and on any sunny rock where they may be basking. Please avoid handling them, as they can release a foul-smelling odor from their anal glands – another one of their forms of defense!

Ethnobotany at the Preserve

We are excited to introduce Liliana Ramirez, a research student working with us while she studies with the Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation!

Liliana will be working with me for the next five weeks, creating a methodology to survey vegetation in the Preserve at our cultural sites. She will be analyzing our vegetation’s possible significance to the mountain’s historical inhabitants, exploring the culture of our diversely peopled past.

Her work folds into our overarching Cultural History Project, creating opportunities for ethnobotanical discoveries at our cultural sites.

Ethnobotany is the “scientific study of dynamic relationships among people, plants, and their environment.” (Salick, 1995)

Liliana and I will be conducting vegetation surveys, identifying plants at some of our cultural sites during her five weeks. The hope is to better understand vegetation diversity surrounding our cultural sites, helping inform us of the life histories of people inhabiting the mountains. Plants will be identified, documented, and then analyzed through an ethnobotanical lens; researching into their possible significance for human use, such as medicinal, spiritual, or decorative purposes.

We will not be able to survey all of our cultural sites and capture every plant within the time Liliana is here. However, the methodology that Liliana creates will establish a framework for a long-term ethnobotanical study of the Preserve’s vegetation.

Liliana is a sophomore at the University of Mary Washington, where she is double majoring in Conservation Biology and Spanish with a minor in Applied Mathematics. She hopes to use these skills in a career dedicated to preserving our world’s precious biodiversity.

Her fascination with nature started at a young age with fossil hunting in her grandparents’ creek, and quickly grew to become her academic focus as well as a personal passion. When not learning about the natural world, she observes it on hikes and runs through the gorgeous Shenandoah mountains; she can also be seen completing a crossword puzzle and sketching in her notebook.

The Smithsonian Mason School of Conservation is based out of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. The program has been established to offer students from high school to graduate programs opportunities to engage in hands-on, interdisciplinary conservation programs. We are thrilled to be partnering with SMSC and bringing more research projects to the Preserve.