Recent Articles from BRMC Newsletters

Trail Talk

Wow, the past two months have certainly been a nice change of pace for me! Much different than a routine office job. In June, I joined the BRMC staff as Naturalist and Natural Resource Manager. My husband Ben, my cat Ty, and myself have moved into the Mountain House, but are still not completely unpacked. We come to BRMC from Kansas City, Philadelphia, and most recently Alexandria. Hiking is our favorite thing to do, so we figure we are in the right spot.

My first week on the job happened to be the first week of Herpetology camp. During both sessions, field herpetologist Marty Martin led the camp up to High Point Mountain where we saw a copperhead and rattlesnake out in the wild. During the rest of the camp we fished for amphibians and tried to catch salamanders.

We also just finished two sessions of Summer Nature camp. These week-long camps were devoted to studying nature inside and out. Virginia state entomologist Art Evans demonstrated for campers how to set up moth and beetle traps and then explained all about arthropods. During the camp, Art trapped two beetles at BRMC that he had not found here before. The rest of the week we learned about geology, history, herpetology, birds, and vegetation. We saw several five-lined skinks, four lizards, many box turtles, many American toads, a green frog, a wood frog, deer, and even two copperheads at High Point. We concluded the week’s activities with watermelon and a water balloon fight...always ending with the leaders getting attacked the most! I’d say it was a successful camp!

I look forward to meeting BRMC members here at the Mountain House and out in the woods.

I'll see you on the trails.

Hiking the Bull Run Mountains at Summer Nature Camp.

Setting up beetle and moth traps with state entomologist Art Evans.

Two copperheads under a rock at High Point Mountain.

Back to Articles Page