BRDC receives SWVA Outdoor Recreation Contract
We are excited to announce that Blue Ridge Discovery Center has been awarded the contract to provide web content for the SWVA Outdoors Website. This project is headed up by the Friends of Southwest Virginia and is an effort to highlight the awesome outdoor recreation opportunities our region has to offer.
Flight Behavior
For March, the BRDC Book Club read Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver.
"A brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths. Kingsolver's riveting story concerns a young wife and mother on a failing farm in rural Tennessee who experiences something she cannot explain, and how her discovery energizes various competing factions—religious leaders, climate scientists, environmentalists, politicians—trapping her in the center of the conflict and ultimately opening up her world. Flight Behavior is arguably Kingsolver's must thrilling and accessible novel to date, and like so many other of her acclaimed works, represents contemporary American fiction at its finest."
Galax After School Field Trip
Students in Galax Middle School's After School Program are learning about Primitive Technology this month. At the beginning of the week, students discussed the meaning of primitive technology and experimented with different pottery techniques.
A Week of Exploration, Messy Adventures, Engineering & Creativity!
Both staff and volunteers were on-the-go as we taught students from Galax Middle School for their Enrichment Week. Enrichment week gives students a break from the everyday class routine and allows them to gain crucial experience outside of the classroom. BRDC provided students with three different programs that they could choose from including Pioneering, Crafting with Nature, and Exploration and Discovery.
Galax Enrichment Week Begins!
Students from Galax Middle School take a break from the classroom and have the opportunity to get outdoors and discover the natural world!
Wood Frogs Calling
Have you heard a strange turkey-sounding frog call?
Wood frogs, Lithobates sylvaticus, are adapted to the cold, appearing very early in the year and mating quickly, with all eggs laid in the course of a few days.
Women's Fly Fishing Weekend
Fri-Sun, Apr 21-23
3 days / 2 nights
Experienced and beginner fly fishers welcome!
This weekend will provide participants with an intense hands-on introduction to the sport of fly fishing.
Raptors and Kids Circle Burkes Garden
Five eager and energetic students climbed into the van and began the trip to Burkes Garden
Now Hiring Summer Camp Interns!
Enjoy spending time outdoors? Love to hike, camp, and fish? Have experience working with kids?Utilize your skills & take advantage of all that the Blue Ridge Mountains have to offer! BRDC is seeking interns for the 2017 Summer Camp season.
Animal Tracks & Signs in Grayson County Schools
This month, Grayson County students learned all about Animal Tracks and Signs.
BRDC Program Director, Lisa Benish, showed fourth grade students examples of tracks made by animals found here in the Blue Ridge. Students were asked to reenact the walking patterns of species such as white-tail deer, black bear, and eastern cottontails.
Superheroes of Grayson County
All of Grayson County's first, fourth and fifth graders became superheroes last week. BRDC guide and wildlife rehabilitator, Darin Handy presented a wonderful program about mammals; marsupials in particular, of the Blue Ridge.
Check Out BRDC's Summer Camp Lineup!
Check out our great line-up of Summer Camps for 2017!
Our camps are led by highly skilled guides who understand how to develop curiosity, foster autonomy and be model citizens. Adventure is not the end, but rather a gateway to developing deeper connections with your surroundings. The farther you push the closer you get to discovery.
Discounted camp rates with family membership- Join Today!
Make a Difference- Volunteer for BRDC!
Join our team! Volunteers support our mission to inspire curiosity, discovery, and stewardship through the wonders of the Blue Ridge. They help us grow & reach out to share the vision of BRDC.
Mt Rogers Naturalist Rally Featured Speaker
FRIDAY, MAY 12TH THROUGH SUNDAY, MAY 14TH, 2017
Three days of exploration & discovery for all ages! Bring your family and celebrate Mother's Day in the most beautiful place on Earth. There is something for the entire family to enjoy with field trips Saturday and Sunday, an expert speaker Friday Night and nighttime programs at the campground. Topics include salamanders, wildflowers, geology, birding, fishing, cultural history, mammals, medicinal plants, general natural history and much, much more!
Red-tailed Hawk Saved after Collision with Vehicle
On a chilly January day, local birder Cathy Spencer stopped by our office with news of an injured red-tailed hawk just up the highway. We frequently get calls for help from concerned citizens about injured animals. For many years we were able to connect them to local wildlife rehabilitators William and Joyce Roberts. With William's death this past summer, dedicated rehabilitator Darin Handy stepped forward to carry the torch. After consulting Darin, we grabbed a blanket and BRDC storage tub and headed out to find the bird.
Fairy Stone's for Young Explorers
Seven eager young explorers ventured to Fairy Stone State Park in search of these mysterious Fairy Stones.
BRDC Kicks Off New Science Fair!
We are excited to announce the 1st Annual BRDC Science Fair in partnership with Grayson County Public Schools! The Science fair is a chance for students to exercise their creative thinking skills, follow their curiosity, learn more about their interests and share their discoveries with others.
BRDC Partners with Blue Ridge Birders
Blue Ridge Discovery Center and the Blue Ridge Birders are excited to announce a partnership to make the Blue Ridge Bird Club a program of BRDC! This partnership brings a renewed focus on avian life to BRDC and ensures that the many activities of the Bird Club will continue into the future. Beyond programming, Blue Ridge Birders provided nearly $5,000 from the James Coman Fund to support regional youth education focused on birds.
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
"From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class."
2016 Christmas Bird Count
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt". They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won. Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations.
Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.