Recent Articles from BRMC Newsletters

Hidden Jewels

BRMC has a focused education program that often remains invisible to our members and supporters. In addition to our public programs and school offerings, BRMC works to encourage conservation-oriented careers. We do this through varied internships and research opportunities for high school, college, and graduate students. It is time to share some of their stories.

Currently, BRMC is working with four high school students. Liz Long is a student from Osbourn Park's center of environmental and biological studies who is working with us for the 2005-06 school year. As part of the program, Osbourn Park offers a senior independent research class that allows seniors to work in their field of choice on a year long research project. Liz is working on two perennial streams that originate in the mountains and quickly move into Prince William county and major development. Liz has designed a unique study to create a baseline of life in the streams and to analyze the developments' effects on this life.

Lyndsay Gay and Sarah Christian (more on Sarah in cover article) are working at BRMC to complete their science fair project for their advanced placement biology class at Battlefield High School. They are analyzing a perennial stream and studying the impact of golf courses and development on this stream.

Andrew Gizinski's internship focuses on herpetology. Andrew is a home school student, which provides the time for independent study and allows him to work with us throughout the year. He has built and dismantled our first reptile exhibit and will build a new exhibit this year for all of our visitors and campers to enjoy. He has worked with Marty Martin and BRMC on our annual survey of rattlesnakes. He has worked with our naturalist, Ken Bass, to line some of our salamander pools that recently have been drying out prematurely each spring. He has also been a wonderful program assistant at our nature camps. Andrew was honored for his work at BRMC at an award ceremony hosted by Local Environmental Education Partners of Prince William county this past fall.

George Mason University's New Century College (NCC) focuses on experiential learning to prepare students for jobs after graduation. NCC offers a conservation biology course that requires a 45-hour internship in a related field. We were privileged to have Tara Weakland and Laurel Simpson intern with BRMC. They participated in gypsy moth egg-mass counts, stream monitoring, public programs such as Halloween Safari and Old Home Sites, and day-to-day operations. We recently provided a reference for Laurel and wish her and Tara luck in advancing in their chosen fields.

Brianna West, a biology graduate from William and Mary, worked as an intern with BRMC the summer after she graduated. Bri helped us with our ongoing stream studies, invasive plant removal (we are sure she and her parents will never forget), and summer nature camps. If we could have, we would of kept her forever, but we had to let her move on to become a naturalist for the Education Department of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. One part of her job entails: giving tours of their trails and nature center, leading boat and canoe tours through mangrove estuaries and into the Everglades, handling reptiles/raptors, and giving educational talks to local public/private schools. She is also the JASON coordinator for her county and the surrounding counties. This part of her job entails designing/constructing a museum exhibit, training more than 50 school teachers in the new curriculum, doing classroom visits for each teacher, and building four laboratory stations for students to use during a fieldtrip to the conservancy. As she recently told us: "All in all, a pretty fun job."

Our first naturalist, formerly Diane Barnes and now Diane Frisbee (congratulations), went to the University of Virginia, obtained her master's degree, and is now working with the Nature Conservancy. Her job entails working with macroinvertebrates in perennial streams.

Tanya Amrhein, our second naturalist, is an "Ecologist II" for Fairfax County's Stormwater Planning Division, part of the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. A major part of her job is monitoring the county's streams, including the benthic macroinvertebrates (insects, crayfish, and mollusks), fish, bacteria levels, and water chemistry. Another large part is her participation in the county's watershed planning efforts. Tanya has put the skills that she acquired at BRMC to good use for Fairfax County and is continuing her training by taking advantage of the many opportunities offered by her employer. She will be attending a North American Benthological Society training course and taking their certification exam for genus-level insect identification in August. Other upcoming training will include wetland delineation and stream channel design.

Even with all of her success, Tanya says, "I do miss the quiet oasis of the Bull Run Mountains Natural Area Preserve and all of my friends at BRMC." We miss you too, Tanya, but your work in Fairfax County is desperately needed.

Ken Bass is our current naturalist. He is a renowned birder and naturalist. If you have not met Ken or been on one of his programs, you must. You just do not find talent like this every day.

We know Ken—and all our interns and employees, current and future—will learn a great deal at BRMC. We are extremely proud to help spawn such wonderfully talented people. On February 21, 2006, we will be celebrating our interns at the Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains at our annual fundraising event. Indeed, without the support of our members and donors we could not work with these interns so closely. Thank you all for causing these good things to happen.