Welcome to the Eastern Shore Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalists. We are a group of passionate and well informed volunteers working with our sponsors and partners to care for and promote better understanding of our natural resources.
Serving the Virginia Eastern Shore, our service includes three types of activity:
- Stewardship, including caretaking of natural areas and restoring native habitat.
- Citizen Science, activities like data collection, monitoring, biological inventories, and other science-oriented activities.
- Education and Outreach, supporting educators in their work, and promoting awareness of natural history.
The Virginia Eastern Shore peninsula reaches from the southern tip of the peninsula up to the Virginia border with Maryland, and from the Chesapeake Bay to the barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean. This area features a unique and very diverse collection of coastal habitats, and includes areas critical to the survival of many important species. The area is also home to many parks, preserves, and conservation areas.
Our chapter of the state-wide Virginia Master Naturalist Program was chartered in 2007 to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Today we continue to preserve and protect our natural heritage and promote environmental resilience in the face of a changing world.
Becoming a volunteer involves taking a Basic Training Course to learn about the many subjects that relate to our region’s natural history. Volunteers then engage in a wide variety of activities and projects in support of our mission. For example: walking Natural Area Preserve trails to ensure they are safe and free of litter, volunteering at visitor centers, native plantings, working with scientists to set up and run experiments, observing and collecting data, working with school groups, and much more.