'Going Wild in Your Backyard'

Around 250 community members attended the “Going Wild in Your Background” wildlife habitat symposium held at Eastern View High School Saturday.

Madison-based Old Rag Master Naturalists put on the event, and outreach coordinator, Pam Owen, summed it up in one sentence — “It’s all about nature.”

Attendees perused through displays from around 20 conservation organizations, listened to informative presentations on how to promote biodiversity and native plant life on their property and participated in activities such as building birdfeeders.

“If people just looked around their backyards and put in the right plants, that’s where to start,” said Owen. She noted that native plants support native animals and in the long run, “It’s really important to keep the whole web of life going.”

With several activities for youngsters, Owen said, “We need to bring nature home to kids…it’s important for them to get dirty. It’s important for them to watch how animals live.”

The EVHS Envirothon team was on hand fundraising by selling snacks and giving tours of the environmentally friendly building and grounds. The annual Envirothon competition allows students to compete for recognition and scholarships while displaying their environmental science and natural resource skills in front of a panel of judges.

“I hope the community gets an appreciation for how inexpensive and easy it is to have a habitat in their own backyard,” said Envirothon coach Leslie Jones. Of the program she said, “The end goal is to teach students about environmental awareness.”

EVHS senior and team member Alex Ramey said, “I think a lot of people are coming to be aware that environmental health affects personal health.” She added that after high school, she wants to pursue a career as a park ranger.

Members of Virginia Working Landscapes promote sustainable use of Virginia landscapes for native diversity. They had conducted a study comparing biodiversity in native versus non-native grasses hoping to show how native grasses best enhance biodiversity.

“Native plants support a wider range of insect diversity,” Maria Van Dyke program coordinator for the organization. They had brought several types of bees they had collected during their studies that passersby could look at through a microscope. Van Dyke said it was too earlier in the process to say anything conclusive about the study but that they were hopeful that the results would eventually support the hypotheses that native grasses best promote biodiversity.

Owen said that overall she was pleased with the turnout and hoped people took away that “nature is all around them.”