January 2021
Watershed Calendar
Hello ,
A new year, an opportunity to try something new, to take on personal challenges, to grow. This year, we hope that the Watershed Calendar will share with you opportunities to engage in local and international citizen science initiatives and chances to volunteer in your local community. We'll promote environmental success stories, classes and lectures to learn more about your local landscape, and environmental events from our community partners doing great environmental work. And, best of all, we anticipate resuming stream monitoring workshops in early spring and we hope to see you there!

As you've heard many times before, wash your hands, stay home, and take care of yourself. Keep in touch with NVSWCD on our Facebook and Instagram. Your friendly neighborhood stream monitors will be very happy to welcome you back in the spring!

Ashley Palmer
Stream Monitoring Coordinator
ashley.palmer@fairfaxcounty.gov
703-324-1423
Stream Monitoring
Citizen Science & Training Opportunities
While NVSWCD stream monitoring workshops are closed for the winter, consider taking some time to brush up on your identification skills!
Izaak Walton League Stream Monitoring Certification Online Training
Want to become a certified Save Our Streams monitor? Start the certification process from the comfort of your home with online interactive webinars! Simply watch the video versions of in-person training lectures: Introduction to Water Quality and Introduction to Macroinvertebrates. See all the information you need here!
Creek Critters by Audubon Naturalist Society
Audubon Naturalist Society’s Creek Critters® app walks you through finding and identifying the small organisms – or critters – that live in freshwater streams and creating stream health reports based on your findings. Through a short series of steps, you’ll learn one method for catching critters using an aquarium net. You can simply pick up submerged rocks and carefully check them for critters if you don’t have a net. As you identify critters, you’ll be building a stream health report. Check out the Creek Critters app and learn more!
Community Events & Webinars
Check out this exciting list of gardening clinics and webinars from many different groups curated by the Fairfax County Master Gardeners!

Reston Association's Winter Bird Count
When: Saturday, January 2, 7:00am-12:00pm
Half-day annual bird count throughout Reston natural areas. Meet local bird experts, obtain tips on identification, and help with collecting vital information about our feathered friends. Register by Dec. 31.

Arlington's Tree Canopy Fund
Applications Due: Friday, January 8
EcoAction Arlington's Tree Canopy Fund is accepting applications from owners of private property, including single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and places of worship in Arlington County to have a native tree planted on their property. The deadline is January 8 for trees to planted in spring 2021.

RestGreen Breakfast: Valuing Our Urban Forest
When: Saturday, January 9, 9:00am
Recently, Fairfax County adopted the updated Tree Action Plan unifying many program efforts to enhance Fairfax County’s urban forests. At the same time new climate and pest stressors have been discovered. Grab the breakfast of your choice and pull your comfy chair to your computer to hear from Jim McGlone, Urban Forest Conservationist with the Virginia Department of Forestry. Jim will share an overview of these activities and concerns, as well as new tools available to help capture information on a wide variety of tree plantings across the Commonwealth and help DOF meet its goal of planting 56,000 trees over the next two years. This event is free and no prior registration is required, join the Webex meeting here.

Amphibian Monitoring Training (Virtual)
When: Saturday, January 16, 12-3pm or Saturday, January 23, 12-3pm
Frogs and toads are a vital part of our ecosystem and are considered an indicator species. Fluctuations in their populations can give us vital information regarding the overall health of their habitat. Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s amphibian monitoring program allows us to collect data which is compared over time to observe trends in populations and identify areas of population decline. Volunteers will monitor specific locations from February to August. During this training you will learn the various breeding calls of local frogs and toads and how to participate in the data collection. Join LWC and participate in this exciting citizen science opportunity! Free, registration required for sessions on January 16 and January 23.

Audubon Afternoon w/ Dr. Sahas Barve
When: Sunday, January 17, 3:00-4:30pm
Join the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia to learn how birds stay warm in cold weather and extreme elevations. Sahas is an avian evolutionary ecologist and currently a Peter Buck Fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where he studies how birds stay warm in the high Himalayas. He is also an avid birder and hopes to see 6000 bird species by the time he is 60. Free, registration is required.

Ask the Experts: Shade Gardens
When: Monday, January 18, 10:00am-11:00am
Expert: Melissa Gildea, Lotus Design and Consulting 
They say shade gardens are the gardens of the future, since it will be too hot to sit in the sun. But how do you make a good design that welcomes you to the space? How do you garden among all those tree roots? Submit your questions on the registration page, and please send photos of the area in question to plantnovanatives@gmail.com.
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Sustainability Summit: A Journey to Environmental Sustainability
When: January 18-22, 2021
This summit aims to educate, intrigue, and encourage 5-12th graders to help make their schools and communities more sustainable. This conference serves to increase awareness of the Eco-School initiative that helps make the school environments sustainable and eco-friendly through a variety of pathways. Learn more and register here.

Ask the Experts: Choosing and Planting Native Trees
When:  Monday, February 1, 10:30am-11:30am
Expert: Jim McGlone, Virginia Department of Forestry
There are so many great native trees to choose between. How do you decide? Jim will help you with your situation. Submit your questions on the registration page, and please send photos of the area in question to plantnovanatives@gmail.com with a note about the amount of sun and moisture. To prepare for the conference, please look over our page on native trees.

Flying Squirrels
When: Wednesday, February 17, 7:00pm
Join Friends of Dyke Marsh for a presentation by naturalist Kim Young and explore the often hidden life of the native southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys Volans). Learn how to look for them, their adaptations for nocturnal living and the truth about their ability to “fly.” Click here to register for this Zoom presentation. After registering you will receive a confirmation email.

Integrating Stormwater in Landscape Design: EcoSavvy Symposium
When: Saturday, February 20, 9:30am–12:30pm
Presentations by Dr. Laurie Fox (Horticulture Associate, Virginia Tech Hampton Roads Agricultural Research & Extension Center), Christine Horner (Water Quality Engineer, Town of Vienna), and presentation on Virginia Conservation Assistance Program by the Northern Virginia Soil & Water Conservation District. Learn More.

How to Organize a Cleanup
When: Wed., March 3, 6:30-7:30pm or Saturday, March 6, 10:30-11:30am
Join the Alice Ferguson Foundation and partners across the watershed for the 33rd Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup event! Join this virtual workshop to learn how to safely organize a trash cleanup within your community during a pandemic. AFF will go over all the steps you need to take to organize a cleanup, where to get COVID-19 safety information for your jurisdictions, and how to collect data to help support source reduction policies! Register for the March 3 or March 6 session.

Recordings of previous “Ask the Expert” events from Plant NOVA Natives can be viewed on this YouTube playlist!
Looking to Learn Something New?
The Ellen Macarthur Foundation is sponsoring a free, self-paced class on the circular economy. Read more and learn about the course here.

Introduction to Statistics Virtual Program
Presented Dec 3rd, recorded talk available here.
This talk is intended for community/citizen scientists who help collect data but may not have the knowledge they need to analyze it, for nature journalers who record numbers in their journals but aren’t sure what to do with them, and anyone else who is curious about how scientists use data to understand the world. Managing Director Eleanor Harris, Ph.D., will give a brief introduction to the statistical methods biologists and other scientists use to analyze data. Eleanor will use interesting examples relevant to the ecology of northern Virginia throughout the talk. No mathematics beyond high-school level will be required. By the end of the talk you’ll understand what a p-value is and what it means when they say the phrase “statistically significant” on the news. And she hopes you’ll be inspired to try analyzing some data of your own.
2021 Native Seedling Sale
Orders open February 2, 2021
In Sustainability News
By Plant NOVA Natives
(Photo by Dustin Humes on Unsplash)
Trees play an important role in keeping our local waterways healthy - yes, even the one tree in your backyard! Track your trees and shrubs here!
The Winter Salt Watch program is in full swing!
Excess road salt runs off into our beloved waterways, poisoning aquatic life and endangering our drinking water. Help us track this problem across the country as we work to encourage less road salt use while still keeping drivers safe!