SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SAVE A STAMP! Click here to view 2010 proxy ballot and slate of candidates for VNPS Board and return your proxy ballot via email.
VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
REGISTRATION UPDATE: The meeting is full and there is a waiting list to register. Please contact Karen York at 540-837-1600 for more information.
HIKE UPDATE:
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Hike #14, Tom Dierauf's hike, will be a Saturday morning half-day hike on the Mill Prong Trail from Milam Gap to Mill Prong (moderate.) It is incorrectly listed in the printed materials as a half-day hike to Lewis Springs.
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We are adding a hike Sunday morning to Dark hollow Falls led by Kristin Zimet (moderate.)
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We are looking to add at least one more Sunday morning hike (easy to moderate). Ask the office for information.
REMINDER: Park entrance fee is $15/vehicle during summer months. Pass is good for seven days. An annual pass is $80, good at all National Parks and Recreation Areas. For those 62 or older, a lifetime senior pass is available for $10. Passes are not transferable, and you may be asked for an ID at the entrance gate.
An Annual Meeting filled with spectacular surroundings, informative speakers and great field trips is in the final planning stages as the Piedmont Chapter prepares for VNPS members to meet at Shenandoah National Park (SNP) September 10-12. Piedmont Chapter members hope to offer a meeting not to be missed. On Friday, September 10, SNP botanist Wendy Cass will offer an overview of the park flora and efforts to protect it. The speaker at Saturday’s dinner will be a valued friend of VNPS, Gary Fleming, whose in-depth knowledge of Virginia’s plant communities, including those of the park, is rivaled only by his artistic skill in photographing them. Gary is Vegetation Ecologist for the Virginia Natural Heritage Program. Field trips on Saturday and Sunday will cover a range of places and offer a varied focus, from energetic hikes to a relaxed workshop on nature photography.
The growing list of field trip leaders includes Doug Coleman, Ton Dierauf, Jay Stipes, Marion Lobstein, and Richard Stromberg as well as park staff biologists. Piedmont planners hope for a program that will give attendees a memorable few days, experiencing the park’s diversity of flora and cultural history, but also learning about strategies for combating emerging problems such as deer damage and threats to rare plants at rock outcroppings. Perhaps equally meaningful, Annual Meeting 2010 will give members from around the commonwealth a chance to renew friendships and find kindred souls.
VNPS 2010 State Field Trips
More details forthcoming for October Field Trips
October 1, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Walk the boardwalk through a swamp at what was formerly the New Kent Forestry Center near Providence Forge. Trip will be led by College of William and Mary botanist Donna Ware.
October 2, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
See a 50-foot sand dune, many plant communities, and a beach that is home to rare tiger beetles at Savage Neck Dunes Natural Area Preserve. Led by Natural Heritage botanist Dot Field.
Recent Newsletters
VNPS Bulletin: September 2010 Summer 2010, Spring 2010, Winter 2010, Fall 2009
Blue Ridge Wildflower Society: Spring 2010
John Clayton Chapter: Claytonia September-October 2010,
May-June 2010 March/April 2010 January/February 2010
Northern Neck Chapter NN Native Plant News Spring 2010, Winter 2010
Piedmont Chapter: The Leaflet Winter 2009
Potowmack Chapter: Potowmack News March/April
Prince William Wildflower Society: Wild News July/August
Shenandoah Chapter: May 2010, April 2010 March 2010
