About

The Virginia Master Naturalist (VMN) program is a statewide corps of volunteers providing education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities.

Composed of 30 semi-independent, locally focused chapters, the program is actively supported, guided, and represented by the over-arching statewide VMN program.

Through their local chapters, VMN volunteers train and serve with the variety of partner groups and institutions who are already working in locally relevant natural resources education and outreach projects.

The success of the VMN program relies on these partnerships between chapters and organizations, state and local agencies, non-profits, and other citizen groups.

Formed in 2018, the Middle Peninsula Chapter of VMN serves Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, King and Queen, and King William Counties. Local partners include: Machicomoco State Park; Friends of Dragon Run; Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay – Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative; Gloucester County Parks, Recreation and Tourism; Gloucester County Public Schools; Gloucester Clean Community Office; Gloucester County Clean & Green Advisory Committee; Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority; Brent and Becky’s Bulbs; Historic Rivers Chapter VMN; Northern Neck Chapter VMN; Peninsula Chapter VMN; Northern Neck Audubon Society; Williamsburg Bird Club; Middle Peninsula Bird Club; Mathews Bird Club; Chesapeake Bay Foundation; Deltaville Maritime Museum and Holly Point Nature Park; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Association of Zoo and Aquariums; Akron Zoo, FrogWatch USA; Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network; Cornell Lab of Ornithology; National Audubon Society; North American Butterfly Association; University of Kansas, Monarch Watch; Virginia Commonwealth University; Virginia Native Plant Society; Gloucester Extension Master Gardeners; Bee City USA; The Center for Conservation Biology; Mass Audubon, Firefly Watch; NAACP, Gloucester Branch; and Blue Ridge PRISM.