Fall Into the New - National River Cleanup Day

Saturday I took my wife Ann and our two kids out for a day supporting our county's effort to clean up the New River. We loaded up the canoe and splashed on the sunscreen before heading out.

Read all about it here...

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/174313

Some of the things we found and hauled off...
- old nasty carpet
- over 100 old tires
- golf balls!?
- a marble
- a baby doll
- piece of toilet
- plenty of beer bottles and cans
- fishing pole (lower half)
- Virginia Lottery sign

I was really impressed with the group that Emma Betz brought out from Blacksburg High School. They worked really hard all day and hauled in a fantastic amount of debris. Giles County did a terrific job of putting this well run event together. Thanks to everyone who came out!
--dB

57' below full... and dropping

Today I ventured out to take some pictures and observe what I could about the lake. I was surprised to see many small bass at the western side of the lake and one nice 8 pounder in the shallow water. There was plenty of activity - whenever the swallows would swoop down after bugs near the surface the fish would hit the surface going after whatever they dropped.

In the meadow and amongst the blooming flowers all around the lake I could hear the buzz of bees doing their job. Enjoy the pix!
--dB

Mountain Lake Teacher Workshop

The Mountain Lake Conservancy recently held a Teacher Workshop for Giles County Science teachers on July 23-24, 2008. This 2 day workshop was funded by the Mary Moody Northen Endowment and focused on inquiry-based learning in the classroom and in the schoolyard. The goal of this workshop training was to assist teachers in improving students' understanding of science. We had a total of 9 teachers attend this workshop from Narrows High School, Narrows Elementary & Middle, and home school parents from the surrounding area. The workshop instructor, Nancy Schultz, did a fabulous job planning and teaching this workshop and we felt it was a great success. Thanks to all who attended and worked hard to make this happen!

Hemlock Adoption

A special thanks to Linda Fountain and Frank Paxton for adopting Hemlock #153 near the Blueberry Ridge Cottages. Your contribution will help fund the treatments against the Wooly Adelgid.


For more information on the Wooly Adelgid, please visit www.MtnLakeConservancy.org- click on the Research tab- Forests.

Don't Tread On Me

This morning while beginning our Mountain Bike Skills class and riding out the Fitness Trail we were lucky enough to see my first Timber Rattlesnake of the year. She was stretched out along the edge of the trail as we rode along toward the stables. We had just passed a young doe 15 yards earlier grazing along the bank.

As we turned back to view the snake again she assumed a defensive posture - we did not get close enough to encourage her to rattle - snapped a couple pix with the cell phone and went on our way.
Beautiful snake and a neat experience for our guests.

In over 15 years of mountain biking, this was the second rattlesnake I have seen. Pretty amazing!

Adopt A Hemlock

A special thanks to Ted and Joy Reinhart from Williamsburg, Virginia. They recently adopted Hemlock number #594 along the Indian Trail. Their donation will help support the research and treatments of the 'woolly adelgid' that has ravaged the Eastern Hemlocks in the Appalachian Mountains. For more information on the woolly adelgid, please visit our website at www.MtnLakeConservancy.org and click on the 'Forests' link under the 'Research tab.

Natural History Elderhostel

We recently finished up our Elderhostel program, "The Natural History of Mountain Lake" from June 22-27, 2008. We had 13 participants here for the week from all over the country. They enjoyed over 11 miles of hiking to Bald Knob, Pond Drain, Wind Rock and to the Cascades waterfall. Throughout the week they learned about stream water ecology, geology, wildflowers, forests and other interesting aspects of Mountain Lake.