Here we introduce some of our Volunteers, without whose steady help and guidance the Friends of Banshee Reeks and the facility itself would not be what it is today. The letter group VMN appearing with names indicates membership in the Virginia Master Naturalist program.
Meet Our Volunteers !
Susan Abraham, VMN:
Rain Garden at BRNP
VMN Banshee Reeks Chapter President
Bill Cour, VMN:
Monitored a local bluebird trail
Led Nature Walks for ANS and LWC
Invasive plant species mapping and removal
Worked on a stream restoration
Manned a booth at the Loudoun Arbor Day Festival
Ann Garvey, VMN:
Invasive plant species removal at Phillips Farm
Invasive mapping and removal at BRNP
Amphibian Monitoring
Organize training materials for use by naturalist educators
Dave Hellums, VMN:
Invasive plant species mapping and removal at BRNP
Preparing to train a class on invasives in Virginia
Wildlife Mapping for Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF)Christyna Hunter is our Publicity Chair. Among her contributions, she is constantly thinking of ways through which we can improve our Website and spread the 'word' through other means.
Christyna recently published her first book, a novel entitled "The Butterfly's Dance", which received a very complimentary write-up in our local newspaper the Loudoun Times Mirror. You can read all about it while the link works by clicking the following link - it will take you off our Website, so please bookmark us first. The Link is HERE. Please let us know if and when this link stops working.Robert MacDowell, and his wife Karin
have been Banshee Reeks supporters Since 2000.
Karin spoke to the county Board of Supervisors in support of making the land a nature preserve. In 2001, Bob became FOBR’s indispensable webmaster. Since then he has assisted in creating the website, adding and deleting info, as needed, and re-designing the site a few years ago. Bob says, “Creating HTML Code that under-lies websites is an interesting project. My own goal is to keep code lean and files small so that visitors with slow dial-up connections can navigate websites as quickly as possible and find the information they seek.”David McCarthy, FOBR, VMN
David McCarthy is a longtime member of the FOBR Scientific Research and Land Use Committee and recently became the president of the Friends of Banshee Reeks. He has been active in the Banshee Reeks site of the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) Program, which provides critical, long-term population and demographic data on targeted bird species. He is also working on projects related to the reptiles and amphibians that call Banshee Reeks home. His most important task, as president of the Friends of Banshee Reeks, is to help attract more people to join the active and engaged volunteers introduced on this page.Bruce McGranahan, VMN:
Elementary school earth day presentation
Lead Girl Scout Camp nature activities
Arbor Day presentation of water run-off
Frank McLaughlin, VMN:
Perched Wetland stewardship project
Bluebird trail monitoring - Temple Hall Farm
Stream Monitoring and tree planting at Evans Farm Estates
Stream Monitoring on Limestone Branch at Temple Hall Farm
Dori Rhodes, VMN:
Invasive plant species mapping and removal at BRNP
Bluebird nest box monitoring
Volunteer projects at Smithsonian Naturalist Center
Trail marking at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve
Mary Young-Lutz, VMN:
Computer Recycling Program
Storm Water drain labeling program
Wildlife Mapping for Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF)
Bluebird nest box monitoring