Upon completion of the Basic Training Course the world of a Riverine Master Naturalist is your oyster. From rebuilding oyster reefs to establishing native gardens, doing “bird counts” to testing water quality, educating about pollinators (or bats, or birds, or snakes or….) to setting up new wildlife trails, there are endless ways to volunteer. The beauty of the program is that volunteers get to choose which activities to get involved in – or start some new projects of their own. Here are some examples of Riverine projects:
Oyster Recycling
Since 2013, The Virginia Oyster Shell Recycling Program (VOSRP) of the VCU Rice Rivers Center has facilitated the collection of waste oyster shells from restaurants, fish mongers, and public drop off locations. The program takes shells destined for the trash and returns them to the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay to help restore wild oyster populations, improve water quality and provide new fish habitat.
On occasion volunteers will be asked to spend some time at the VCU Rice Rivers Center bagging shells in preparation for seeding the shells. Once seeded, volunteers will be sought to work shifts on the river building an oyster reef. This project supports efforts underway by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the Virginia Marine Resource Commission and The Nature Conservancy.
American Kestrel Nests
Center for Biology Conservation (CCB), William and Mary College is seeking volunteers and/or appropriate locations for American Kestrel nest box installation and monitoring. Boxes and installation will be provided by volunteers of the program. Monitoring assistance can be provided by volunteers
To stabilize and increase the American Kestrel population in Virginia by providing nest boxes within suitable breeding habitat. Monitor occupancy and breeding performance, band adults and young. Timing – Kestrels establish breeding territories as early as March with egg laying May, incubation 30 days with average clutch of 3 to 4 eggs. young reared between late April and mid-August. This is a long term project with no planned end date.
Garden Center Liaison
The Plant Virginia Natives initiative (PVN), started and currently coordinated by the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program engages more than 150 organizations, including the VMN, in collaborative regional and statewide marketing strategies to increase use and availability of native plants across the Commonwealth. Master naturalists who volunteer to be Garden Center Liaisons will select, or be assigned to, one or more garden centers or nurseries to conduct a visit at least once each quarter to help the PVN regional campaign maintain a rapport with the provider. Liaisons may engage in additional contacts and visits as needed and feasible, and may also assist with native-plant-focused events or exhibits at the centers held in partnership with the regional campaign.
Other projects include the following (categorized below):