Join the inaugural Big Plant - Radford to kick off your spring planting on March 21st & 22nd at Veteran’s Field in Bisset Park in Radford, VA

Native plants, specifically trees & shrubs are critical to our local ecosystems, providing food and habitat to pollinators and wildlife while cleansing water and air and lowering ground temperatures.

With the historic flooding of 2024 at Bisset Park and across Southwest Virginia, we recognize the need to invest in the local riparian buffer zones, ecosystems, education, physical wellness, and the overall health of the planet.

This community planting event will offer all ages and abilities an opportunity to get their hands in the soil, interacting with native plants and neighbors, while also getting the chance to learn from local growers, and being giving the option to take home their own native plants (for free!)

This event is primarily funded by New River Conservancy and is a joint partnership between NRC, Dept of Forestry VA, Nursery Natives, City of Radford, Radford Parks and Rec, Radford Beautification and Municipal Forestry Commission.

March 17. Zoom Only and not the usual second Tuesday! The speaker will be Jim McCormac, author of Gardening for Moths. He will speak about moths in our gardens. Zoom contact information will be provided shortly before the meeting.

Hidden Rivers is a 1-hour film that explores the rivers and streams of the Southern Appalachian region, North America’s most biologically rich waters. The film follows the work of conservation biologists and explorers throughout the region - revealing both the beauty and vulnerability of this aquatic life - and how many people are finding ways to protect these ecosystems.

Film begins at 6pm at the SWVA Higher Education Center in Abingdon

Join The Nature Conservancy and DCR Natural Heritage in support of their native river cane restoration projects. Dig up rhizomes and prepared them in baggies for propagation. The rhizomes will later be planted (approx.. May or early June) back throughout the region to establish new canebrakes

UVA Wise Oxbow Center

16620 East Riverside Drive Saint Paul, VA 24283

Please register for each individual workday.

Join The Nature Conservancy and DCR Natural Heritage in support of their native river cane restoration projects. Dig up rhizomes and prepared them in baggies for propagation. The rhizomes will later be planted (approx.. May or early June) back throughout the region to establish new canebrakes

Location: Daniel Boone Soil and Water District Office (Jonesville)

32637 Main Street Jonesville, VA 24263

Please register for each individual workday.

Join The Nature Conservancy and DCR Natural Heritage in support of their native river cane restoration projects. Dig up rhizomes and prepared them in baggies for propagation. The rhizomes will later be planted (approx.. May or early June) back throughout the region to establish new canebrakes

Location: Daniel Boone Soil and Water District Office (Jonesville)

32637 Main Street Jonesville, VA 24263

Please register for each individual workday.

Come learn from DCR's Laura Young about various environmental restoration projects that are going on throughout southwest Virginia. Among others, Laura will touch on the on-going native river cane restoration project, now in its 5th year. Participants will also have the opportunity to sign up for volunteer opportunities related to the river cane restoration project! Go cane train!

You must pre-register to join in-person. The presentation will be held at the VHCC greenhouse classroom.

Join virtually here.

Join TNC and DCR Natural Heritage for their annual workday at TNC’s Barnes Chapel (non-public) preserve. This has become a popular volunteer work day and will be run in two parts; part 1 is 12-2pm and part 2 is from 2pm-4:30pm.  

• Work day part 2: Roadside trash cleanup

• 2pm-4:30pm

• This will be our second year partnering with Ben Casteel and students from the Virginia Highlands Community College. We will conduct a roadside trash cleanup on Rattle Creek Road (the road beside Barnes Chapel preserve) to collect and remove trash that might make its way in to the preserve.

• Blaze orange vests are required. TNC will have vests, gloves, and trash bags available.

• Click here to pre-registration (required)

Join TNC and DCR Natural Heritage for their annual workday at TNC’s Barnes Chapel (non-public) preserve. This has become a popular volunteer work day and will be run in two parts; part 1 is 12-2pm and part 2 is from 2pm-4:30pm.  

• Work day part 1: Removal of woody vegetation to promote the growth of certain plant species within the preserve.

• 12pm-2pm

• As in year’s past this project requires cutting and manually removing certain woody vegetation and piling it in pre-identified locations

• Muck boots are required

• Click here to pre-registration (required)

Join landowners, natural resource professionals, and other outdoor lovers for day-long tours that explore a variety of sustainable forestry and wildlife management practices. Tours visit private, public, and industry-owned lands. 

Squires Student Center, Virginia Tech, Southwest Virginia - Blacksburg

Dr. Stockton Maxwell. The Treeringist: A Story About Dendrochronology Near and Far. Dr. Stockton Maxwell has been studying dendrochronology, or tree-ring analysis, for nearly 20 years. His work focuses on reconstructing past environmental and climate history as well as studying how trees respond to changes in climate.

“Relative ecological stability” is a term used by ecologists to describe a highly competitive vegetative composition that allows few new individuals to enter the system. In garden-speak, that translates to “low maintenance.” In our final session we will illustrate how piggybacking on this and other ecological processes can change garden management from a battle to a partnership. Using examples from his own property as well as diverse client projects, Larry will share how a brains-over-brawn approach can result in compelling, easily managed landscapes that liberate both plants and people.

Meet: Heritage Park, Dora Highway, Pulaski.

Contact: Friends of Peak Creek at info@friendsofpeakcreek.org.

Join us to help cultivate and maintain pollinator-friendly plant species.

Neonicotinoid insecticides, commonly known as “neonics,” have become the most widely used insecticides in the U.S., leading to drastic declines in bees, pollinators, birds, and aquatic ecosystems. In this webinar, Lucas Rhoads, Senior Attorney with NRDC’s Pesticides & Pollinators Team, will share expert insights on how neonics impact our environment and pose serious risks to human health. He’ll delve into the harms associated with neonic-treated seeds, which are a major source of contamination, and explore effective policy advocacy strategies to rein in their widespread use without disrupting farmers or landscapers.

In this session we will learn how “light touch” planting techniques can increase plant survival and reduce post-planting maintenance. The disturbance that results from deep digging, soil enhancement, and soil replacement always stimulates a flush of weeds. Applying fertilizer helps those weeds grow faster. In this session we will learn to match the plant to the soil, not the soil to the plant, an approach that avoids weed-enacting soil disturbance and places plants in soils that are familiar and conducive to their survival. We will also discuss how to select nursery plants that are most likely to thrive and proliferate in your landscape. Sara Weaner Cooper will conclude by presenting her chemical-free/no kill lawn-to-meadow transition project, now in its highly successful second year.   

Join The Nature Conservancy for a FREE hands-on workshop highlighting various native seed stratification techniques. Native plants have a variety of different requirements in order for its seed to successfully germinate. Requirements could include extended periods of cold or freezing temperatures, damp soil conditions, heat,/fire, etc. and can sometimes be tricky for native plant enthusiasts to get seeds to germinate in a home setting.

Meet: Heritage Park, Dora Highway, Pulaski.

Contact: Friends of Peak Creek at info@friendsofpeakcreek.org.

Join us to help cultivate and maintain pollinator-friendly plant species.

Join The Nature Conservancy at it's Clinch Valley program office on Main Street in downtown Abingdon for a volunteer appreciation cookout (starting at 4:30) followed by the Abingdon Christmas Parade (starts at 5:30). ALL are welcome to join us for the cookout and is a FREE event.

Designing with native plants is a good thing, but designing with the ecological processes that govern those plants in the wild - is even better. Our opening session will examine a series of garden-relevant concepts from the ecological sciences; including habitat fidelity, plant community, plant colonization, competition, and ecological succession. Each concept will be followed by a concrete example of its incorporation into a residential design. While rarely considered in traditional garden design, these ecological characteristics are actually key to achieving the environmental, aesthetic, and maintenance promise of ecology-based garden design.

Meet: Heritage Park, Dora Highway, Pulaski.

Contact: Friends of Peak Creek at info@friendsofpeakcreek.org.

Join us to help cultivate and maintain pollinator-friendly plant species.

Annual Southwest Virginia Tree Syrup School in St. Paul, Virginia at the Oxbow Center.  The morning will be filled with sessions for those new to tapping and tree syrup, as well as experienced producers.  Come get answers to your questions including what trees to tap, how to boil and bottle and how to store and sell your syrup.  

Celebrate the third anniversary as the Appalachian Highlands Chapter.

There will be a short business meeting with a social hour afterwards. We will hold the election of 2025 officers.

This is a great time as members to reflect on what we have accomplished and to discuss our future goals.

Water and coffee will be provided. Please bring your favorite light refreshment and your nametag.

The Summit building is set back from Volunteer Parkway with an access road between Eastman Credit Union and Bank of Tennessee. There is a cut-through on the Parkway divide for a left turn if you are coming from the downtown Bristol area.

Location: The Summit, Expedition Room, 1227 Volunteer Pkwy, Bristol, TN, 37620

Join Virginia Working Landscapes’ Graduate Research Fellow Bernadette Rigley as she reveals preliminary findings from her research on the behavioral ecology and conservation of grassland birds.

Bernadette, a PhD student at George Mason University and VWL Graduate Research Fellow, is conducting research on how grassland birds live, breed, and migrate throughout the different seasons and how their behaviors are influenced by management practices. Her goal is to identify management practices that can simultaneously support bird populations and the livelihoods of those who depend on these landscapes. 

This event will last for one hour. It will be recorded and made available online. Please register for this free event.

Must pre-regsiter

Blacksburg Community Center, 725 Patrick Henry Dr, Blacksburg, VA 24060

Invasive plant removal and improvement of native plants at Historic Smithfield Plantation, 1000 Smithfield Plantation Rd., Blacksburg. Parking is free without the need for a VT parking permit. The group is generally between the main house and the pavilion. If you cannot find them, text or call (727) 488-7378. If weather conditions present precipitation, high winds, or temperature lower than 40 degrees (F) or higher than 90 degrees (F), the event will be canceled. Recommend gloves and closed toed shoes. Bring a shovel, if you want to help dig shrubs, or loppers if you want to cut English ivy. Contact person is David McEwen, (727)488-7378 or dmcewen@davidmcewen.com.

Adopt-a-Garden or just come for the day and help. The garden consists of plants all native to our area, to both support pollinators and educate the public about native plants. Work with the group or come on your own. Workdays vary based on season and weather. Contact person is Barb Walker at brwalker@earthlink.net.

Meet on the paved walk between the Old Growth Forest and the end of Green Street. There may be a parking space on Green Street. If not, you can park (on Sunday!) across the street from the VTPD and walk up the paved path. If you cannot find us, text or call 540-257-2489. If there is precipitation, high winds, or the temperature is higher than 90 degrees or lower than 38 degrees, we will cancel the event. Please bring work gloves and wear closed toe shoes. For details, contact Beth Umberger at megachile300@gmail.com or call 540-257-2489.