March 17, 2023 -
By Ellen Powell, DOF Conservation Education Coordinator and Cory Swift-Turner, DOF Communications Specialist A middle school class documents the spring’s first dogwood and redbud blooms in their schoolyard. A family records the birds that visit their feeders in the winter. A retiree places wing tags on monarch butterflies before migration. A hunter reports sightings of sick deer to a wildlife agency. What do all of these scenarios have... Read More
February 17, 2023 -
By Ellen Powell, DOF Conservation Education Coordinator I’m on a mission to teach you that plants are cool. They may look like they’re just sitting there, but they’re hiding superpowers. Watch this blog in 2023 for more posts about amazing Virginia plants! In the dead of winter, from the muck of a woodland seep, rises a hooded figure of mottled purple, the color of dead flesh. Undeterred by snow... Read More
January 25, 2023 -
By Dean Cumbia, Director of Forest Management — As the site of the first permanent English settlement and a hotbed of activity during the American Revolution and Civil War, Virginia has a rich history. All throughout that history, trees have played a role. Have you ever wondered whether some of the first trees settlers saw when they arrived are still standing? DOF recently tried to find out. Last December, DOF... Read More
January 13, 2023 -
By Ellen Powell, DOF Conservation Education Coordinator In a bare winter landscape, our eyes are often drawn to any remnants of green, stirring the memory and promise of warmer days. But our native evergreens have winter value far beyond their looks. Perhaps the greatest winter benefits of evergreens go to wildlife. Plants that keep their foliage through the winter provide thermal cover, or protection from cold temperatures. Dark needles absorb... Read More
December 22, 2022 -
By Ellen Powell, DOF Conservation Education Coordinator Are you looking for a family day trip during the school holidays? Consider the Conway Robinson State Forest in Gainesville, where you can slow your pace and your kids can expend some year-end energy. Imagine more than 400 acres of woodland placed right next to sprawling subdivisions, near the busy junction of Interstate 66 and US Route 29. That’s the “Con Rob” (as... Read More
