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Field Conservation

The Virginia Living Museum staff and volunteers participate in several field conservation projects.


Green Teens

The Virginia Living Museum is currently accepting applications for the Green Teens Program until July 15, 2021. Fill out a junior volunteer application specifying the Green Teens Program as your assignment choice.
All applicants must be in high school and excited about leadership, environmental science, and problem-solving! For more information, email greenteens@thevlm.org and visit our Instagram @vlmgreenteens

 


Clean the Bay Day – Chesapeake Bay Foundation

VLM volunteers and staff participate in the CBF’s annual “Clean the Bay Day” to remove trash and debris from creeks, streams and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The VLM crew cleans the creeks and shorelines of Deer Park Lake and Lake Maury, which flow directly into James River, the largest Chesapeake Bay tributary in Virginia. Read more about the CBF event.


Coastal Cleanup – Ocean Conservancy

VLM volunteers and staff participate in Ocean Conservancy’s annual “International Coastal Cleanup” to remove trash and debris from local coast lines. Dozens of volunteers pick up a wide variety of trash and objects along the shoreline and also by boat. Read more about the Ocean Conservancy event.


FrogWatchUSA

FrogWatch-logoHerpetology staff have trained to host a FrogWatch USA chapter to help recruit, train and support volunteers to conduct population surveys and support amphibian conservation through citizen science. Read more about FrogWatch.

“FrogWatch USA is AZA’s flagship citizen science program that invites individuals and families to learn about the wetlands in their communities and help conserve amphibians by reporting the calls of local frogs and toads. For over ten years, volunteers have been trained to enter their FrogWatch USA information and ongoing analyses of these data have been used to help develop practical strategies for the conservation of these important species” – AZA 2014.

This two-part course will teach you all about frogs and toads in Virginia, how to identify them, and how to contribute that data. We will host the training course at the Virginia Living Museum on the following days and times:

Come back later for details.

If deciding to attend our FrogWatch training, please keep the following in mind:

  • Anyone below the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
  • The course is free to attend, but you must be able to attend both parts (A and B) in their entirety to become certified.
  • Food and refreshments will be provided, but anyone with dietary restrictions are encouraged to bring their own.
If you would like additional information, please contact:

Oyster Restoration

The VLM collaborates with oyster spat settlement research conducted by Dr. Russ Burke and Christopher Newport University as well as field restoration led by the Nature Conservancy. Staff helps collect and analyze/categorize spat settlement samples from an artificial oyster reef structure in Dr Burke’s lab. Staff also assists in the construction of

artificial oyster reefs using castle blocks to “raise the surface” of old oyster reefs to help them “become functional oyster habitat that will be capable of keeping up with sea level rise.” Read more about oyster castle blocks.