Saturday, March 1, 7:30 am
Join us for an early morning bird walk with John Zimmerman of the Monticello Bird Club. Beginners always welcome.

Thursday, March 6, 7:00 pm
At our first meeting of the year Mark Bennett from the Lynchburg branch of Dadant & Sons Beekeeping Equipment will make a presentation on innovations in beekeeping equipment. All meetings are free and open to the public.

Wednesday, March 12, 7:30 pm
Pat Broady will present a program about the rich native flora of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada at the monthly meeting of the Jefferson Chapter. Open to the public. Meet in the Education Building.

Thursday, March 13, 7:30 pm
Bob Anderson will give a presentation called "Time Travel in Faulkner's Big Woods: Encounters with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the Choctawhatchee River basin of Florida and Bayou de View, Arkansas". Open to the public. Meet in the Education Building.

Thursday, March 20, 7:00 pm
Victoria Dye, professional nature photographer, will teach a workshop about digital nature photography in the Education Building. Free and open to the public.

Thursday, March 27, 10:00 am
Enjoy a read-aloud and trail walk for three to five year old toddlers at Ivy Creek. Volunteer guide Rachel Bush will host, starting in the Education Building. The event is free.

Thursday, March 27, 7:00 pm
Learn the importance of building and maintaining stream buffers for high water quality in the county. Andrea Terry, Watershed Manager at Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority and Tamara Ambler, Natural Resources Manager for Albemarle County will discuss the specifics of Buck Mountain Creek and the county waters small and large and how you can help improve their quality. We’ll also discuss Meadow Creek improvements.

Please join the Southern Environmental Law Center in welcoming H. Emerson Blake, Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning Orion magazine and executive director of Orion Society, to a panel of the Virginia Festival of the Book, March 28 at 2 p.m. Blake will explore how literature and the arts go hand-in-hand with policy and legislation in the effort to protect the environment. An ecologist and former editor at Milkweed Editions, Blake has worked with the country's foremost environmental writers and thinkers on hundreds of essays, articles and books. He serves as a judge for SELC's annual Reed Writing Award. Winners of the 2008 award will be announced at the event, hosted at SELC offices on Charlottesville's historic downtown mall. (434) 977-4090; www.SouthernEnvironment.org/reed.htm

Saturday, March 29, 2:00 pm
Come enjoy the barn at Ivy Creek Natural Area. This was formerly the showpiece of the working farm known as River View Farm. This is a rare afternoon with the barn open to the public.

Sunday, March 30, 2:00 pm
Professor Kip Robisch will explore the difference between the words environment and ecology and the political rhetoric that confuses them. As a professor of English at Purdue University he focuses on the roles of place and region, species interaction, and environmental issues in literature. He is currently writing a book called Big Holy Dog: The Wolf in North American Literature. (Cosponsored by Brown College of University of Virginia.) All events are free.

Wednesday, April 2, 7:00 pm
What better way to celebrate the new season than to learn the sounds of spring. Michelle Prysby will present a program on local frogs and toads and how to identify their songs and calls. This training can prepare volunteers with Frogwatch USA established in recent years to monitor amphibian population decline.

Thursday, April 3, 7:00 pm
Beginners welcome. Free and open to the public.

Saturday, April 5, 7:30 am
Spring migration will be the highlight of our April bird walk with Stauffer Miller of the Monticello Bird Club. Meet in the parking lot. Beginners welcome.

Saturday, April 5, 11:30 am
Learn how to set up a beehive from the Central Virginia Beekeepers Association. Meet in the parking lot.

Wednesday, April 9, 7:30 pm
Fran Boninti, Charlottesville's premier native gardener, will give a talk "Native Plants from Soil to Blossom" at the monthly meeting of the Jefferson Chapter. Open to the public. Meet in the Education Building.

Thursday, April 10, 7:30 pm
Come enjoy "Backyard Birding in Kenya, East Africa" by Liz and Sam Williams. This will be a presentation of sightings and birding experiences during four visits to Kenya since 1990. Kenya has close to 1600 species compared to approximately 725 in all of North America! Open to the public. Meet in the Education Building.

13 Saturday and Sunday, April 12-13, 8:30-5:30 pm each day
Learn how to deal with medical emergency when you are out on the trail. Registration required. Fee includes books, handouts, and certification. For more information call (434) 760-HIKE or go to http://www.outdoorsocial.com/wfa.htm. Ten percent of fee becomes a donation to the Ivy Creek Foundation.

Saturday, April 19
Ivy Creek Foundation will participate in the Earth Day Fair at Charlottesville High School football practice field. Come by and enjoy events planned by organizations from around the region. More information at www.earthweek.org.

Central Virginia Beekeepers Association announces a beekeeping short course on Saturday, April 19th by Rick Fell and Dewey Caron at the County Office Building Annex on Fifth Street Extended. For more information contact dana.tornabene@gmail.com

Thursday, April 24, 10:00 am
Enjoy a read-aloud and trail walk for three to five year old toddlers at Ivy Creek. Volunteer guide Rachel Bush will host, starting in the Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area. The event is free.

Saturday, April 26, 2:00 pm
Join us for a presentation and a hands-on demonstration of bird banding. We will do some mist netting and banding to document some of the migrants that use the natural area en route to their breeding ground. Meet in the Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area. The event is free.

Saturday, April 26, 3:30 pm
Come enjoy the barn after the bird banding at Ivy Creek Natural Area. This was formerly the showpiece of the working farm known as River View Farm. This is a rare afternoon with the barn open to the public.

Sunday, April 27, 1:00 pm
Don’t miss the unique opportunity to purchase garden grown native wildflowers, trees, and ferns from the Jefferson Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society. This year we’ve potted a bounty of choice natives totaling about 800 plants. Flats of our bread and butter bluebells and trilliums have been readied. We’ll have robust blue cohosh and doll’s eyes neither of which we’ve offered in years. Also returning after a long absence is columbine. New to our lineup will be the potted plugs of fire pink, hairy alumroot, heart leaved skullcap, purple muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris), three-leaved stone crop, beard tongue, and Jacob’s ladder which will increase our selection beyond the usual concentration of ephemerals. In quantity from potted plugs we’ll also have woodland hydrangea (’Annebelle’). But to really make a splash for a variety of plants beyond the fifteen mentioned we are counting on additional plants provided by members. The event is free.

Thursday, May 1, 7:00 pm
Keith Tignor, State Apiarist, will give the State Apiarist report, as well as provide an update on pests, diseases, and the Master Beekeeper program. Beginners welcome. Free and open to the public.

Saturday, May 3, 7:30 am
Walk with Peter Brask of the Monticello Bird Club at the peak of spring warbler migration. Beginners are always welcome. Meet in the parking lot.

Sunday, May 4, 2:00 pm
Ivy Creek conducts prescribed burns on the north and south fields to invigorate and maintain the warm season grasses. Samuel Lindblom, Fire Manager of The Nature Conservancy will explain.

Wednesday, May 7, 7:30 pm
Orchid experts George and Faye Tyler will speak about these unique and fascinating plants at the monthly meeting of the Jefferson Chapter. Open to the public. Meet in the Education Building.

Thursday, May 8, 7:30 pm
Join us for a special night as members present their own pictures and videos. Open to the public. Meet in the Education Building.

Saturday, May 10, 2:00 pm
This special event will be held in the Lane (main) Auditorium on the second floor of the Albemarle County Office Building at 401 McIntire Road.
Learn what a green roof is. Gregor Patsch and others will tell us how it saves energy, and filters water. Visit the county’s own green roof. Learn about upcoming green roofs at city hall. Also learn where you can find out how to make your own green roof.

Saturday, May 17, 2 pm
Learn from Dan Mahon, the Albemarle County Greenways Coordinator, how trails are being expanded in the county and how those expanding trail systems are being built and maintained. Dan will also talk about a youth trailbuilding camp proposal for this summer.

Sunday, May 18, 1:00 pm
Join Mike Scott for the first butterfly walk of 2008. Meet in the Education Building to see Mike’s impressive display of the butterflies of Ivy Creek and for an introduction to identification skills. Fun for the whole family.

Saturday, May 24, 2:00 pm
Come enjoy the barn at Ivy Creek Natural Area. This was formerly the showpiece of the working farm known as River View Farm. This is a rare afternoon with the barn open to the public.

Thursday, May 29, 10:00 am
Enjoy a read-aloud and trail walk for three to five year old toddlers at Ivy Creek. Volunteer guide Rachel Bush will host, starting in the Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area. The event is free.

Saturday, May 31, 7:30 pm
Learn from Peter Warren, the Cooperative Extension entomologist about the moths at Ivy Creek. We will begin with a presentation in the Education Building, then proceed to the barn to see what species we can gather using “black” lights and white sheets.