Exploring what is underfoot, overhead, & making the Mad River Valley home!

2020 is 1st Mad River Valley Cohort
of Vermont Master Naturalist!


Why - Advancing conservation, building community, and connecting Vermonters to the wild heart of place.
Vermont Master Naturalist: Mad River Valley builds a community of neighbors with a deep interest in nature who together learn to better understand and “read” the Mad River Valley landscape. The Vermont Master Naturalist Program (VMN) advances conservation, builds community, and connects Vermonters to the wild heart of place through professional training and local volunteer projects. VMN is partnering with Friends of the Mad River and the Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth to bring this state-of-the-art nature programing to the Valley for the first time in 2020. 

This program connects Valley citizens to the nature of towns through professional training and volunteer projects. The Mad River Valley benefits long-term from a community of naturalists acting as a creative brain trust for solving ecological issues facing our wild lands and serving as expert resources for conservation education in our schools and communities.

Who - Local residents with a sustained interest and background in at least one natural history discipline.
Participants are chosen by application process. VMN and partners work with local leaders, groups, and municipalities to build a base of local support and sponsorship for programs, projects, and the participants. Trainings are developed and instructed by VMN and other regional and local experts will lead the training for the candidates. Participants must reside in the Mad River watershed towns of Warren, Waitsfield, Fayston, Duxbury, or Moretown.

What - Field-based natural history training across earth, life, and social sciences that weaves together landscape pieces, patterns, and processes.
The Mad River watershed has a rich natural heritage with habitat ranging from montane forests to dry oak hilltops & spruce swamps. The Valley's geologic and human history give rise to many natural communities - each with a diverse suite of plants and wildlife. Through a series of field trips to key natural areas, participants explore the processes that shape each place and learn a timescale for the major events that have created the landscapes we see in the Valley today. At each site, the team spends time learning the geology, soils, plants and animals (natural communities), human land use history, and signs of processes like wind, fire, or deer browse. They also dive into the conservation history and management issues relevant for each site. In addition, each VMN participant will be supported as they consider ways to deepen their naturalist skills of observation and description outside of the field trips.

About Vermont Master Naturalist

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Vermont Master Naturalist emphasizes deep investigation at the local level, and training naturalists to serve as environmental ambassadors. VMN began in Burlington in 2016, where it is has trained cohorts of master naturalists since. Over 200 people have graduated from the Vermont Master Naturalist Program new regional programs in the Middlebury area ,Winooski Headwaters, and Mad River Valley.

Alicia Daniel, VMN Founder, is a lead faculty with University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program, and has adapted this graduate-level approach for Vermont communities.
"To develop intimacy with people it is necessary to understand their history; the same holds true for developing an intimate relationship with place."  -Tom Wessels
Stewardship -
Following the core training, teams of candidates are matched with partnering conservation organizations to undertake stewardship and engagement projects of at least 20 hours per person. These teams are arranged and paired with partner organizations by VMN, Friends of the Mad River, and Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth. Upon completion, certified Vermont Master Naturalists will continue to support the local community, while receiving continued mentorship in their future naturalist endeavors.

When - Field day trainings are scheduled on four Sundays and one Saturday, from 10 am to 4 pm.
  • March 15 - Geology, Winter Ecology & Wildlife Tracking (CANCELLED and to be rescheduled due to Covid-19 pandemic) :(
  • May 16 (Saturday) - Glacial History, Soils, & Wildflowers
  • June 14 - A Dynamic Mad River & Watershed
  • September 13 - Land Use History & Forest Forensics
  • October 18 - A Celebration of Fall, MRV Conservation Successes, & Graduates 


Want to Join the Next Cohort?

While we've selected 2020 participants, we'd like to know if there is interest in a second year of VMN in the Mad River Valley. If you're interested in being on our contact list, let us know here.


Course Resources

  1. Reading the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels. This book help you to read the history of land use and landscape change.
  2. Wetland, Woodland, Wildland: A Guide to the Natural Communities of Vermont by Liz Thompson, Eric Sorenson & Bob Zaino. This book describes the natural communities of Vermont and the common associations of plants that we will see around the Valley. It’s a great reference guide. Consider the newest edition, published in 2019.
  3. Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Doug Tallamy. This book explains the importance of providing native plant habitat for caterpillars, pollinators, birds and more to sustain biodiversity in an age of climate change.
  4. Half Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life by E.O. Wilson. A visionary way to approach conservation from the whole world to our own backyards.
  5. More on Vermont Master Naturalist's Resource Page.

2020 Mad River Valley Program Handbook


Contact

Feel free to contact us with questions or comments or interest.
Curt Lindberg, VMNMRV Coordinator
Email - curt2225@gmail.com


Want to Sustain this Offering in the Mad River Valley?

We haven't yet raised the full support it takes to bring this program to the Mad River Valley. If you'd like to support it in 2020 or beyond, please click on the Donate button below and be sure to note "Vermont Master Naturalist" in the note column. Many thanks!


Photos by: Corrie Miller, C.H. Diegel, Amy Todisco, Brad Long, Corrie Miller (top to bottom, left to right)