There’s one in every neighborhood—the person who answers questions

about the nature for their neighbors, who feeds birds, tends gardens, explores

nature in a community park, watches the weather, the stars and butterflies. In

direct and indirect ways these neighbors help their communities—particularly the

children—learn about the plants, animals, and

the way the world works in their own

backyards, neighborhoods, and parks. Maybe

it’s you? Or perhaps your neighborhood hasn’t

found you yet.

In 2009, Charles Davis, a professional

ecologist and volunteer at the Natural History

Society of Maryland, began searching for and

mapping these self-identified nature mentors,

and he discovered that most didn’t know each

another, though one might live around the

corner from the next. And they didn’t have a

simple way to learn from one another and to

access experts who could help them learn more.

Charlie envisioned a network that could

strengthen communities, and help people

rediscover their connections to nature and to their neighbors. The result? The

Maryland Community Naturalist Network (MCNN).

In February of this year, 25 volunteer community naturalists and seven

expert mentors began a pilot project in Baltimore City to establish the Network.

The pilot project is organized by the Natural History Society of Maryland, in

collaboration with the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks, and

Maryland Community Naturalist Network:

Reconnecting Neighbors To Nature

I n t h i s I s s u e

Maryland Community Naturalist Network Sign up for electronic newsletter Program Highlights Naturalist News Cricket Crawl 2013

The Official News letter of the Summer 2013

Like us on Facebook at The Natural History Society of Maryland

follow us on Twitter@NHSM_Naturalist

Community Naturalists cont.

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The Natural History Society of Maryland

P.O. Box 18750 6908 Belair Road

Baltimore, MD 21206 410-882-5376

nhsm@marylandnature.org www.marylandnature.org

OFFICERS

Joe McSharry Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Carl (Bud) Herb Treasurer

Diane Allen Secretary

BOARD MEMBERS

Ed Funk Nick Spero Rick Stanley Amy Young

STAFF Herbert S. Harris, Jr.

Editor- Bulletin of the Maryland Herpetological Society

Joan Maloof Editor-in-Chief –

The Maryland Naturalist

Clem Counts Managing Editor –

The Maryland Naturalist

Amy Young Newsletter Editor

with technical support from the Maryland Department of

Natural Resources and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. At its

heart, the Network is a collaborative learning and service

community. Its participants include community gardeners,

science teachers, community activists, volunteers at local nature

centers, graphic designers, recent college graduates with degrees

in natural sciences, participants of the Maryland Master

Naturalist program—all people who are interested in learning

more about nature. They are active in their neighborhoods and

are willing to give back to help their neighbors reconnect with

local nature. The Network’s expert mentors include: a

professional ecologist, a nature education specialist, naturalist-

educators from the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and

Parks and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, a

professional forester, an

experienced teacher

mentor, and an educator

from the US Fish and

Wildlife Service.

Participants gather

at least monthly in an

outdoor setting to share

observations and

knowledge, and to explore

with one another. Smaller

groups—Naturalist

Teams—work together in

their neighborhoods and

nearby parks on projects

that will help them learn

and share with their

neighbors. During this

first year, the Teams are

establishing nature

pathways. These paths

may be sidewalks in

neighborhoods, paths in

parks, connections

between schools and parks,

or any pathway with

P a g e 3 S u m m e r 2 0 1 3

nature features to observe. The Naturalist Teams are beginning

their projects by identifying a series of trees along that path. In

addition to learning how to identify tree species along their chosen

path, these volunteer naturalists are observing and researching,

delving deeper to understand the ‘stories’ of each tree (i.e., physical

attributes, local and growth history, ecology, edibility, medicinal

uses, animal habitat, pests). Eventually, the teams will explore

other components of nature along that same pathway.

Each Naturalist Team’s project will serve the community.

Currently, the Teams are establishing a relationship with a place-

based organization in the neighborhood of their ‘tree trail’: a community association, retirement

community, school PTA, land trust, or watershed association. These neighborhood organizations

eventually will be the recipients of the Naturalist Teams’ projects, which could take many possible

forms: a trail guide to neighborhood trees; an ongoing column in their community association’s

newsletter; a tree game for the neighborhood scout troop; a nature blog or local radio show about

trees; an art exhibit; educational signage, or a lesson about trees for a class of children. The

purpose of these projects is to conserve the information about nature within the neighborhood.

Some of the participants joined the Network because they are already working on a

community education project and saw the benefits of having access to others in such a Network.

For instance, Butch Berry, of Friends of Springfield Woods, is improving a community forest so

that it can be used by the Wilson Park neighborhood and adjacent school. A recent monthly

gathering of the Network occurred there, and along with forest stewards from Baltimore Green

Space, community naturalists helped Butch identify the trees and herbaceous plants in the Woods.

The information will be conserved through a later tree-labeling project.

Community Naturalists cont.

P a g e 4 S u m m e r 2 0 1 3

Community Naturalists cont.

Sign up for our quarterly e-newsletter! Want to give back to the Natural History Society of Maryland but don’t have a lot of spare

change? Sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter via email and you will help us put more money

towards our programs and the Maryland Naturalist Center.

When you sign up for our e-newsletter, you can view the newsletter’s original color photos,

share it with your friends, and, of course, save some trees in the process. By providing us with your

current email address, you’ll also receive occasional updates about the Society and upcoming events.

Please email nhsm@marylandnature.org and write “Sign up for e-newsletter” in the subject

line. Not interested? We’re more than happy to continue sending you print copies of the newsletter.

The Maryland Community Naturalist Network

itself will continue indefinitely—supported by

volunteers at the Natural History Society and other

nature-oriented organizations, and by the volunteer

expert mentors. The Network will be perpetuated by

the increasing number of participants, the ongoing

neighborhood projects, the relationships among the

Naturalists, and new relationships within and across

neighborhoods. And it will be strengthened by the

Community Naturalists’ growing interest, enthusiasm,

and knowledge about the natural world.

The MCNN fills a gap in the region’s nature

education infrastructure: an ongoing Network of

support for Community Naturalists focused on the

nature of their own backyards, neighborhoods, and

parks, and mentored by experts as they reconnect

neighbors to one another and to nature.

If you live in Baltimore City and would like to

participate in the Network, contact Charlie Davis at

cdavis@marylandnature.org. We plan to expand this

Network to other parts of Maryland as volunteers,

mentors, and other resources become available. Please contact us if you are interested in helping

the Maryland Community Naturalist Network as it grows.

Websites of mentioned resources: http://extension.umd.edu/masternaturalist

http://friendsofspringfieldwoods.blogspot.com http://www.baltimoregreenspace.org

“I am participating in the Community Naturalist Network to continue on a never ending pursuit of nature knowledge. I'm learning a lot about trees and how important storytelling can be to help in retaining information. Besides getting to know a bunch of really nice people, my favorite thing so far has been learning that the leaf scars on butternut tree twigs look like monkey faces. I'll share a picture, but it comes with a warning: it is incredibly cute.” ~ Tami Bentz, graphic designer

© KP McFarland

Program Highlights Since the beginning of the year, the Natural History Society of Maryland’s volunteers

have offered over 30 programs; this doesn’t include programming related to the Maryland

Community Naturalist Network or the Maryland Amphibian and Reptile Atlas projects! We

are currently developing our Fall schedule and hope to send you a programs flyer in the near

future. Until then, enjoy some of this year’s program highlights so far.

Martin Schmidt, author of Maryland’s Geology, gave a talk to

over 50 participants. “Martin spoke for over 2 hours to a rapt

audience. I don’t know where else I could have found an

equally informative and relevant talk on just the right level,”

commented Justine Schaeffer, naturalist at Benjamin Banneker

Historical Park.

The “Still Life with Nature” series provided a unique

opportunity for artists to sketch specimens from our natural

history collections as well as natural objects found around

Baltimore. Each month focused on a different themes such as

“Still Life in the Dead of Winter” and “Still Life in a Vernal

Pool”. This monthly offering will commence again this Fall.

We co-sponsored several plant walks with the Maryland

Native Plant Society to much success. Participants on a fern

walk used Dwight Johnson’s “Key to the Ferns of Maryland”

as they encountered 20 fern species along the Gunpowder

River.

Sold out!

P a g e 5 S u m m e r 2 0 1 3

A fascinating summer of Odonates! In July, Dr. Richard Orr,

president of the Mid-Atlantic Invertebrate Field Studies, gave

a talk at Cylburn Arboretum on the biology and ecology of

dragonflies and damselflies. Over a dozen participants later

joined Dr. Orr for a field trip to Patuxent Wildlife Research

Refuge, where they saw 25 species in pond and river habitats.

P a g e 6 S u m m e r 2 0 1 3

Naturalist News

The Society received two grants to support the Maryland Community Naturalists Network

(MCNN). The Koinonia Foundation, whose mission “is to empower, at a grass roots level, other

non-profit organizations that seek to improve the environment…”, approved a grant of $1000 for

MCNN. We also received a $1000 Margaret Rosch Jones grant from the Maryland Environmental

Trust’s Keep Maryland Beautiful program, which is funded by the State Highway Administration.

In February 1913, a group of ‘suffrage hikers’ walked

from New York City to Washington, D.C. to demand

that women receive the right to vote. Along the way

they stopped at the Overlea Town Hall—now home

to the Natural History Society of Maryland. In

honor of the 100th Anniversary of Women’s

Suffrage March in Overlea, we created an exhibit

showcasing Maryland’s notable women naturalists,

which is still on display at our building.

Moss diversity! Since January 2007, we have had at least 107 people

participate in our monthly moss workshop. No one else in Maryland is

teaching amateur naturalists to observe and identify mosses. Thanks to

everyone’s hard work we have created a voucher collection for the

Benjamin Banneker Historical Park, of which 20 out of 37 specimens have

been identified.

Special thanks to Ed Fistak of Cove Construction, who volunteered his time to repair the front of

our building earlier this summer.

News from the Collections

We’ve recently begun to reorganize our terrestrial and fresh-

water gastropod (snails, slugs, & mollusks) collections. There

are approximately 2000 vials containing up to 10,000 specimens.

Of note, there are specimens collected by Clyde F. Reed that

were used to determine the distribution of Cepaea nemoralis

(grove snail), an exotic species introduced from Europe and

purposely moved around the United States by snail shell

collectors.

Friday, August 23rd (rain-date August 24th) starting at 8:15 pm

Forget tweeting, this summer Maryland and D.C. will be CHIRPING! If you’ve ever listened to crickets singing on a summer night, then you’re

qualified to participate in Cricket Crawl 2013.

Cricket Crawl is an evening sound census of the late summer crickets and katydids, which will help scientists to document these often overlooked insects’ distribution. Just follow the steps below:

1. Go outside: Walk outside—in the city, your backyard, or at a local park—between 8:15 pm and midnight on August 23rd. Bring along your family, friends and neighbors—the more the merrier! Make note of your general location (street address, intersection, latitude/longitude).

2. Listen: Once you’ve picked a location, listen for one minute. 3. Identify: Did you hear one of our 8 target species? Each one has a unique call. You can learn the calls by going to our website (www.Discoverlife.org/cricket/DC) or attending a “Songs of Insects” walk (www.meetup.com/marylandnature) prior to the event. You only need to write down which species you heard; don’t need to count how many you think are out there.

4. Contact us: Send in your results immediately by calling: 707-820-7732 and leaving a voice message. You can text your observations: 707-820-7732. You can email your results, photos, sound files, etc.: speciesobs@gmail.com. Or send us a tweet: @speciesobs

5. Include this information: Your name; the location of your count (be specific: address or nearest intersection); list of species you detected; start time of the Count; and if you care to, a story or observation that you think people might like to know about.

6. Visit our website to see the data as it’s mapped in real time as you do your count. We hope to have the results go live during the night: www.Discoverlife.org/cricket/DC

Enjoy the sounds of summer and make a difference! Cricket Crawl 2013 is a collaborative partnership of the Natural History

Society of Maryland, the Audubon Naturalist Society, DiscoverLife.org, and

the U.S. Geological Survey. Photographs courtesy of Wil Hershberger and Lang Elliott.

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The Natural History Society of Maryland

P.O. Box 18750

6908 Belair Road

Baltimore, MD 21206

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