Become a “Master Naturalist” through UDC

by Marlene Berlin

One of the great joys in five years of publishing Forest Hills Connection has been finding, in our email, one of Marjorie Rachlin’s Backyard Nature pieces, or a neighbor’s photo of a chance wildlife encounter. The site has also been a vehicle for sightings and observations from my many walks of the neighborhood. (Ed. note: You might recall Marlene’s fungus obsession.)

So I am sure it will not take you long to guess who signed up for the new DC Master Naturalist course, brought to us by UDC’s College of Agriculture Urban Sustainability and Environmental Studies (CAUSES) at the Van Ness campus. I am so excited that I want to share it with you.

Here’s the class description:

The program consists of two components: an intensive volunteer training that offers a comprehensive overview of natural history; followed by a year-long period in which the trainees give 40 hours of volunteer service to pre-approved projects and sites that fulfills the program’s mission “to promote awareness, understanding, and conservation of the District’s natural environment through a community of trained volunteers.”

Each class is taught by a local expert and is approximately three hours long, consisting of a presentation/lecture that is followed by a hands-on or field activity. Trainees will also have a minimum of eight hours of field trips in the course of their training.

(UDC’s popular Master Gardener program works similarly.)

And oh, the classes. I could not resist the line up of topics, which include climate, soils, geology, water, human impact… and fungi. View the class list here.

Classes begin Tuesday, January 22nd for the evening program (taught Tuesdays, 6 to 9 p.m. with Saturday morning field trips); and on Monday, January 22nd for the daytime program (taught on Mondays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with an hour break for lunch).

The program costs $250 and payment can be brought to the first class. But first, you must register here. Direct questions about the program to [email protected].

And come January, perhaps I’ll see you in class!