In this session we will study the plant communities of the Eastern Coastal Plain, the successional changes that affect them, and techniques for guiding those changes. At the Preserve we will observe succession in its mature stages by examining a Chestnut Oak Forest, Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forest, Floodplain Forest, Tidal Hardwood Swamp, and the region’s most intact Freshwater Tidal Marsh.
The adjacent 132-acre site tells an entirely different story. Here, an upland forest was cleared for a development that was never built, leaving much of the land treeless and in an early successional stage with a mix of native and exotic species. The site is now home to the non-profit Crow’s Nest Research Center, who enlisted Larry Weaner Landscape Associates to develop a stewardship plan to guide the emerging process of succession. We will observe the results of that plan’s implementation as we traverse the panoramic native grasslands, wooded ravines, and coastal shrub thickets that exist there today.
Date & Time: Thursday, October 27th, 2022, 9 AM - 4:30 PM ET*
Location: Crow's Nest Research Center, 400 Marlborough Point Road, Stafford, VA 22554
Crow's Nest Natural Areas Preserve, Crow’s Nest Entry Road, 81 Raven Rd, Stafford, VA 22554
Fee: $235
Event Category: Professional
CEUs: APLD (3), ASLA/LACES (6), ISA (BCMA Science: 2; Certified Arborist: 6; Practice: 2; Utility Specialist: 2; Management: 2; Municipal Specialist: 6; Climber Specialist: 2; Aerial Lift Specialist: 2), NOFA (4)
See here for CEU instructions.
Register by: Thursday, October 20th, 2022 (1 week prior)
*Time listed above includes instructional time & breaks. There will be 6 session hours.
Light breakfast, lunch, and drinks are included in the registration fee.
Check-in & breakfast begin at 8:30 AM ET.
This session will be held entirely outdoors, limited attendance.
SPONSORED BY
Michael Lott is the Regional Supervisor for the Northern Region of the Virginia Natural Heritage Program which he joined in 2012. He works to protect rare species, natural communities and monitor ecological resources at the preserves in the Northern Region, particularly those found at Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve. Prior to moving to Virginia, Michael spent 8 years working on a variety of research projects in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. He has a M.S. in Environmental Science from Florida Atlantic University.
Sophie Lynn serves as executive director of the Crow’s Nest Research Center, a non-profit organization located in Stafford, Virginia and dedicated to conservation, wetlands research, and environmental education. Her prior career pursuits included work with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Council of Institutional Investors, and the U.S. Foreign Service.
Jenna Webster is a landscape designer and Senior Associate with Larry Weaner Landscape Associates (LWLA) where she works on master plans for residential properties and habitat restoration plans for parks, college campuses, and historic cemeteries. She also co-curates the New Directions in the American Landscape conference series and teaches at the Mt. Cuba Center certificate program in Hockessin, Delaware.
Larry Weaner, FAPLD, founded Larry Weaner Landscape Associates in 1982 and established NDAL in 1990. He is nationally recognized for combining expertise in horticulture, landscape design, and ecological restoration. His design and restoration work spans more than twenty U.S. states and the U.K., and has been profiled in numerous national publications. His book Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change (2016) received an American Horticultural Society Book Award in 2017, and in 2021 he received American Horticultural Society’s Landscape Design Award.
