Do you love nature? Do you care about protecting what’s special about the Mad River Valley? Are you curious? Do you like being part of a community of learners? If your answers are “Yes!” you now have a chance to become a Master Naturalist – Vermont Master Naturalist is coming back to the Mad River watershed with support from the Stark Mountain Foundation in the fall of 2023!
The Vermont Master Naturalist Program (VMN) began in Burlington in 2016 and has since expanded into 18 towns in Vermont. VMN is led by Alicia Daniel who, after 30 years of teaching in the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Master of Science Program, adapted the landscape-level approach to understanding ecosystems developed at UVM to help Vermont residents gain new insights into of the nature around them and encourage use of their learning in conservation efforts in their communities.
Vermont Alliance for Half-Earth, Warren Conservation Commission, Waitsfield Conservation Commission, Fayston Conservation Commission and Mad River Path collaborated with VMN to bring the program to the Valley for the first time in 2020. The Mad River Valley is a watershed with a rich cultural heritage and habitat ranging from montane forests to dry oak hilltops & spruce swamps. Vermont Master Naturalist “classrooms” will be special locations in the Valley with stories to tell, like wildlife corridors, woodlands of wildflowers, stone walls and cellar holes, and the ever-meandering banks of the Mad River.
During a series of 5 day-long field trips, fifteen participants will spend time in specially chosen sites across the Valley reviewing layers of the landscape, like geology, soils, hydrology, plants and animals (natural communities), as well as signs of processes like human land use history, river geomorphology, wind, or fire that have shaped the Valley. VMN faculty will help participants learn to “read” these layers and tell stories of its natural and cultural history. Participants will also consider the importance of biodiversity in functioning ecosystems as advanced by famed biologist E. O. Wilson and the Half-Earth Project.
To practice their new skills and as a way of giving back to the community, teams of participants will work on local conservation education and stewardship projects.
“The Vermont Master Naturalist Program builds community and connects Vermonters to their place through professional training & local volunteer projects,” said Alicia Daniel. “And, we hope it serves to engage more people in planning and conservation of their special wild places.”
For information and an application contact Alexa Lewis, VMN Coordinator for the Mad River Valley: alexajlewis@gmail.com
Banner photo of the Vermont Master Naturalist Mad River Valley participants at Wu Ledges by Curt Lindberg.
Vermont Master Naturalist Program 