Signs of Spring
Spring is a wonderful time of year, with leaves and blooms emerging, birds singing, and amphibian reproduction in full swing. But breeding occurs over a prolonged period since different species have distinct tolerances and adaptations for seasonal progression in temperature and related habitat changes.
Young Explorers Hit the New River Trail
The Young Explorers Club set out for a wildflower walk on Saturday, April 23rd in search of spring wildflowers and birds.
Explorers Club Spring Wildflower Walk
Carol Broderson led a group of 17 explorers on an early spring, wildflower walk along the New River Trail last Saturday.
Galax Enrichment Pond Exploration
Galax Middle School students explored a nearby pond last Friday, as part of BRDC's Galax Enrichment program. The students had a great time building salamander traps and searching for frogs- they discovered spring peepers and eastern newts.
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, is one of our lovely spring ephemerals.
Bringing Nature Home
"Chances are, you have never thought of your garden — indeed, of all of the space on your property — as a wildlife preserve that represents the last chance we have for sustaining plants and animals that were once common throughout the U.S. But that is exactly the role our suburban landscapes are now playing and will play even more in the near future." Doug Tallamy
Trout in the Classroom Release
For four months, the 7th grade class at Grayson Highlands School have been raising trout from eggs to fry in a 50 gallon aquarium. On March 24, the students celebrated their success with the release of 80 small fry into Wallen's Creek.
BRDC partners with the Independence Farmers Market for Rally Dinner
Friday Night Rally Dinner goes local for the finest and freshest ingredients!
Galax Middle School Visits Matthews Museum
Galax Middle School students went on a field trip to the Mathews Museum Friday, March 11th, as part of the Galax Enrichment program. The kids were given a scavenger hunt list that challenged them to explore all the amazing exhibits.
Bernd Heinrich's Winter World
From flying squirrels to grizzly bears, and from torpid turtles to insects with antifreeze, the animal kingdom relies on some staggering evolutionary innovations to survive winter. Unlike their human counterparts, who must alter the environment to accommodate physical limitations, animals are adaptable to an amazing range of conditions.
Explorers Club Full Moon Hike
Any full moon hike is special but add the second highest peak in VA, a 250+ acre grassy bald and a gnarled beech forest and it becomes truly spectacular!
Galax Enrichment Week - Give Me Shelter
For BRDCs Give Me Shelter course, students built and installed nest and roosting boxes for owls, bats, ducks and bluebirds. They learned about nesting strategies, comparing the enormous variety of bird and bat nests, and the importance of incorporating features preferred by the particular bird species, including the entrance hole size, the height at which the box is posted, and the type of habitat surrounding the box.
Galax Enrichment Week - Build A Beast
BRDCs Build A Beast course taught students the principles of physics and mechanics while building a mechanical walking "beast" operated by pedal power.
Galax Enrichment Week - Primitive Technology
BRDC recently hosted a Primitive Technology course as part of Galax Middle School Enrichment Week. The students were engaged with a variety of hands-on activities that connected them to skills used by early American Indians and materials found in their backyards.
Build-A-Beast
The Bearded Tinkerers are hard at work preparing the first iteration of "The Beast" for the kids at Galax Enrichment Week. Hopefully it will be up and walking on all four legs by the beginning of next week...
BRDC Welcomes New Board Member
BRDC would like to welcome Blake Edwards as the newest member of our Board of Directors. Blake has been a long time champion of BRDC and will bring a regional network of connections along with vast fiscal experience. He officially joined the board at the start of 2016.
Wandering Through Winter
"Edwin Way Teale (June 2, 1899 – October 18, 1980) was an American naturalist, photographer and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Teale's works serve as primary source material documenting environmental conditions across North America from 1930 - 1980. He is perhaps best known for his series The American Seasons, four books documenting over 75,000 miles (121,000 km) of automobile travel across North America following the changing seasons."
Students Study Whitetail Deer impact on forest understory
Through the cooperation of Matthews State Forest and forester Zack Olinger, and along with Alan Webb (Ag teacher), and Rachelle Rasco (stem lab manager) from Carroll County High School, BRDC initiated a research project at one of the two deer exclosure sites on MSF. This project is expected to encompass not only this fall semester, but also a spring 2016 return visit or two for further comparisons.
Young Explorers turn their attention to the rocks and may never look back!
Geology is literally at the foundation of everything having to do with Natural History, the root of it all, but even beyond that, there is the spectacular emotion that comes over a person when they spot a shiny speck in the dirt that might be a crystal. These two powerful draws pulled the Young Explorers out into the field on Saturday November 21, 2015 for a day of rockhounding, history lessons and exploration.