Great turn out for the Environmental Conference

We had a great showing with 4 Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter Members at the DRBA Environmental Conference "Streams of Stewardship" today in Martinsville. Due to inclement weather, the conference was pushed to the afternoon at the Virginia Museum of Natural History.

We got this cool conference t-shirt

Check out the DRBA website

DRBA (Dan River Basin Association) is a great organization with superior individuals who care about preserving and promoting the natural and cultural resources of the Dan River Basin through stewardship, recreation and education. 

Interestingly enough, they feel if they educate all the neighbors of these blue-ways  then once they have pride of ownership, and a vested interest they too will become stewards of this great region.  Check out their website here: http://www.danriver.org/

One of the presenters for a couple sessions was Brian Williams, here is one of the Hidden Gem videos he has put together about The Smith River, hope it makes you want to get outside!

Those in attendance today from BRFAL Chapter were: Charlotte Hubbard, Dick Hendrix, Guy Buford, and Shellie Leete (with both daughters in attendance).

We learned quite a bit and had a fantastic key note speaker during lunch who is the Executive Director of the Museum (VNMH), Joe Keiper. His expertise in the area of aquatic entomology, and his love for streams made it super interesting! 

Thank you to all who made this conference available to us, and a success.

RIVERS & BUGS SUMMIT

Streams of Stewardship Environmental Conference
DRBA is a conservation organization doing great things in our area! We attended this conference before and found it very informative. We hope you will consider attending. It is down the road a spell in nearby Martinsville Virginia, held at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Visit their website to learn more about DRBA here.

Streams of Stewardship Environmental Conference

Saturday, January 26, 2013

8:30am - 1:30pm

What about Dan?

Do you know the history of the Dan River? Did you know there are well-preserved nineteenth century river structures now on the National Register of Historic Places?

Leaksville Bridge Piling, Dan River

DRBA (Dan River Basin Association) is having a a 5-mile cleanup float on the Dan River from Whetstone Creek to Eden on October 1. The cleanup is part of NC Big Sweep, the statewide component of an international watershed cleanup. Participants record the types of trash they find, contributing to statistics that help design educational programs to prevent littering.

Thank you Dan River Basin Association!

Three BRFAL Chapter Members (2 en-training) and my teenage daughter went to the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) Rivers and Bugs Summit in Patrick Springs Virginia!

Sugar Glider

We had an action packed day filled with snakes, bugs, woodchucks and even a live sugar glider! (and those were just the animals).  We learned much about this valuable natural resource called The Dan River Basin and packed our brains with valuable knowledge.  

Thank you to all of our presenters: Jason McGee (Forestry & Smokey the Bear), Infinity Acres (Green Tourism), Nguzo Saba (African Rhythms and Rivers), Brian Williams (Long-bellied Friends), Scott Martin (Primland Environmental Stewardship), Wayne Kirkpatrick (Teaching with Bugs & Trout in the Classroom), Minnie Moore (Organic Gardening in Schools), Melissa Coe and Sue Fields (Wildlife Rehabilitation), Lynn Pritchett  (Treasure Chests of the Dan), Dr David Jones (Keynote speaker).