It's Almost Spring Rally Time!
The Mount Rogers Spring Naturalist Rally is almost here and we are so excited to share some of the programs! Friday starts with a great dinner featuring locally sourced ingredients, so be sure to sign up for that before May 10th on our website. Following dinner, our a keynote speaker, Dr. Marcella Kelly will give a talk about Virginia bears, coyotes, and bobcats. After this program, we will be hosting nighttime Salamander Meanders, Owl Prowls, and Star Gazing. During this time we will also lead a kids program on Campfire Building and Astronomy.
At 7:00am on Saturday, registration and breakfast begins and our first field trips and programs set out at 8:00am. These morning programs will consist of Mt Rogers hike led by Phil Shelton (full day), Stream Ecology with Maddie Cogar, Intro into birding with Cade Campbell, a Hike led by Mt. Rogers Appalachian Trail Club from Whitetop to Elk Garden with Carol Broderson and Sharon Trumbley that will focus on spring wildflowers, Small mammals with Karen Powers, American Chestnut hike with Darrell Blankenship and Ciera Wilbur, Nature Photography with Jay Martin, Fairwood History with Tom Blevins, Salamanders with Dr. Kevin Hamed, and Weather Survival with Dr. Doug Miller. Following the morning programs, we will be serving lunch at our Schoolhouse. After lunch, our programs set out at 1:00pm. These programs will consist of Bird Ecology with Dr. Steven Hopp, Edible Plants with ben Cattle, High Elevation Spring Wildflowers with Jordon Blevins, Mushrooms with Lee Diggs, Snail Research with Cade Campbell, Caving with Jason Lachniet and Steve Ahn, Butterflies with Bruce Grimes, and a service project at BRDC. Looking for shorter programs to attend? We will also be having one hour walk-n-talk sessions throughout the day as well. These sessions include a Schoolhouse History Tour, Campus Habitats and Native Plants of BRDC, Nature Awareness and Mindfulness, Be Bear Aware, and Wild Wonders in your Backyard Darin Handy. After our Saturday programs, we will have another locally sourced, homemade, hot meal waiting at our Schoolhouse along with our annual Spring Raffle. The fun doesn’t stop there, we will also be hosting nighttime programs as well including a Salamander Meander and Star Gazing. Throughout Saturday we will also be featuring a variety of kids programs such as a Nature Walk, Building your own binoculars, nature crafts, stream ecology, and Wild Wonders in your Backyard with Darin Handy.
Sunday will begin the same way as Saturday, with registration and breakfast starting at 7:00am. The morning expeditions will begin at 8:00am. These expeditions include Wandering for Warblers and other Various Neotropical Migrants with Allen Boynton, Spring Wildflowers with Nancy Adamson, and the NABA Spring Butterfly count led by BRDC Staff.
Are you worried about lodging for this event? Don’t worry, we have some options for you! We are renting out rooms and beds in our Schoolhouse for rally goers that want to stay on campus. Not interested in sleeping in the building? We also have primitive campsites on our campus that are available for reservation as well!
If you are interested in reading more about our guides, purchasing rally, raffle, or meal tickets, or pre-ordering our Limited Edition Mount Rogers Spring Naturalist Rally T-shirt, click here!