Virginia Tech students on their final day at BRDC.

On August 12th, 62 Virginia Tech students arrived at Blue Ridge Discovery Center as part of the undergraduate Wildlife Field Techniques Course led by professor Marcella Kelly and her team, for ten days of hands-on learning and intensive research in the field.

Dr. Kelly has been bringing students to BRDC for four years, beginning in 2021—before the schoolhouse renovations were even finalized. The entire group used to camp, and now that we have the schoolhouse, the group splits, with some camping and some sleeping indoors.

When VT is here, we let them have the run of the place - and they fill the building up! Our campground is lined with tents and there’s a fire in the firepit nearly every night. Every room on the second and third floors was at max capacity!

On Tuesday, Virginia Tech faculty set the tone for the week with a cookout! It was an all-you-can-eat buffet of barbecue chicken! (Huge thanks to Tom and VT for inviting us to join in!)

The next several days were primarily focused on instruction. On Tuesday of the following week, students participated in a capture workshop where students got to try their hand at various capture techniques, including tranquilizer guns, blowguns, foot snares, drop nets, mist nets, Sherman traps, and insect netting with BRDC staff!

For the final sprint, students split into six groups to do field research—two groups each to study herps and small mammals, one group to study birds, and one to study bats. There were six groups of various subject areas: small mammals, salamanders, birds, and bats. Groups covered species richness and elevation versus vegetation cover.

On Thursday, the final full day, students presented their research projects, and BRDC staff got to sit in! Students posed hypotheses, discussed their research methods, and presented their findings to their classmates and instructors. Since VT has been coming to BRDC since 2021, students had four years of data to draw from, plus their own findings. We love learning about the health of our species and ecosystem on the BRDC campus!

Virginia Tech, we look forward to hosting you next year!