A vernal pool is a seasonally flooded wetland usually ranging in size from small puddles to shallow lakes. Water from snowmelt and spring rain collects in depressions of bed rock or hard clay. They may dry up and refill throughout the season or not fill at all depending on spring precipitation. By summer they are usually dried up for the rest of the year. In dry seasons seeds, eggs, or cysts can lie dormant and grow and reproduce when the pools fill with water again.
AmeriCorps member serving with the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge shares their experience with bird banding.
This project began one day as I was sitting at my desk, looking around the museum. It suddenly struck me—there wasn’t a single mention of women lumber jills in our collection. That moment sparked a deep curiosity and led me to begin researching the role of women in the timber industry. Fittingly, my lumber jill display came together just in time for the 60th anniversary of the woodchopping festival in my town Webster Springs. The display will be featured in the upcoming Lumber jill documentary set to be released next year.
Each summer the Upshur County Historical Society cordially opens the doors of its History Center & Museum inviting the public to a new rendition of its annual summer exhibit. This year’s exhibit, Stories Told and Retold, highlights a selection of the county's key photographers, woven and quilted handicrafts, memorabilia, and industry, with stories drawn from UCHS’s vast and diverse artifacts collection.
Spring has arrived at the historic Sites Homestead, and our Heritage Garden is off to a great start. Everything we grow in the Heritage Garden connects back to our mission: to keep the history of this land and the people who lived here alive. We hope you’ll come by, take a walk through the garden, and see how it’s growing. There’s always something new to discover!
A vernal pool is a seasonally flooded wetland usually ranging in size from small puddles to shallow lakes. Water from snowmelt and spring rain collects in depressions of bed rock or hard clay. They may dry up and refill throughout the season or not fill at all depending on spring precipitation. By summer they are usually dried up for the rest of the year. In dry seasons seeds, eggs, or cysts can lie dormant and grow and reproduce when the pools fill with water again.
My AmeriCorps service has been an amazing journey. The experience of serving the Greenbrier Historical Society and especially the communities of the Meadow River Valley in western Greenbrier Valley through the Hidden History Project has been an eye-opening adventure that will hopefully continue into my future as well as the people and visitors to Greenbrier County.
Serving at the Elkins Depot Welcome Center through the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area has given me the opportunity to become a part of West Virginia’s booming tourism industry. As a lifelong West Virginia resident, I love being able to share the nature, history, art, and communities I love with others.
The Historic Beverly Lantern Tours is an annual series of tours led by long-time volunteer and contributor to the Beverly Heritage Center, Karl Mulac. As per tradition, the Lantern Tours were scheduled for four nights, across two weeks in October, and took visitors through the Beverly Historical District as they listened to tales of crime, tragedy, and mystery from the last three centuries, the way lit by kerosene lanterns and the occasional sprinkle of humor.
Serving With US Forest Service
The past eight years of my life have been defined by a recurring two weeks. Two weeks, a seemingly minute fraction of the year, has made all the difference in my life. Ten years old, with braids and braces, my mom drove me to summer camp, car winding down the country roads of Pocahontas County, tires crunching on gravel as we pulled through the gates. We were greeted by friendly smiles and welcoming words in eclectic accents. I was just a child, however on my first day at Camp Twin Creeks, a gut feeling told me that I was in a special place.
Two weeks later, my instincts were proven right. I had met friends from Washington D.C. to Tunisia, learned how to play cricket, woven friendship bracelets to adorn my wrists, sung songs that would be forever ingrained in my memory, and was fully immersed in the natural beauty of West Virginia. I realized that camp was not just a dot on a map, but a community, a family, a second home.
This is an excerpt from an essay I wrote seven years ago. A lot has changed in the past seven years, however one thing has, and always will, stay the same—my love for West Virginia and the community I have always found here. As written above, Camp Twin Creeks has been my second home since I was ten years old. It was at this special place that I was first introduced to river snorkeling in the wild and wonderful streams of West Virginia.
As a watershed and fisheries AmeriCorps member with the U.S. Forest Service, I had the privilege of returning to my favorite place to lead snorkeling events for the campers. It was truly a full-circle moment, as I saw their eyes light up when they surfaced from underwater after spotting mottled sculpin, smallmouth bass, northern hogsuckers, and fantail darters. I remember having the same feeling every summer at Camp.
This beautifully wild place is what fueled my passion for conservation and working in the wildlife and fisheries sector. In a world that is driven by technology, organizations like the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area, U.S. Forest Service, and Camp Twin Creeks provide an escape to the natural world.
It has been an incredible experience working to directly restore the watersheds of the place that has sculpted my life. At ten years old, this small piece of heaven nestled in the Appalachian Mountains became my sanctuary, and 15 years later, nothing has changed.
This project began one day as I was sitting at my desk, looking around the museum. It suddenly struck me—there wasn’t a single mention of women lumber jills in our collection. That moment sparked a deep curiosity and led me to begin researching the role of women in the timber industry. Fittingly, my lumber jill display came together just in time for the 60th anniversary of the woodchopping festival in my town Webster Springs. The display will be featured in the upcoming Lumber jill documentary set to be released next year.
Each summer the Upshur County Historical Society cordially opens the doors of its History Center & Museum inviting the public to a new rendition of its annual summer exhibit. This year’s exhibit, Stories Told and Retold, highlights a selection of the county's key photographers, woven and quilted handicrafts, memorabilia, and industry, with stories drawn from UCHS’s vast and diverse artifacts collection.
Spring has arrived at the historic Sites Homestead, and our Heritage Garden is off to a great start. Everything we grow in the Heritage Garden connects back to our mission: to keep the history of this land and the people who lived here alive. We hope you’ll come by, take a walk through the garden, and see how it’s growing. There’s always something new to discover!
Get ready for some outdoor fun! Discover Nature Day is an annual family-friendly event hosted by the USDA Forest Service at Seneca Rocks Discovery Center. People of all ages are welcome to get out and explore our natural world. This event will be held on Saturday, June 7th, from 10 am-3 pm and will be taking place rain or shine.
Historians say a medieval peasant would walk up to twenty miles in a day to reach a market. This single fact enraptured us since it was first mentioned by Tucker on a long trek through the bog of Dolly Sods one fall afternoon. While at first it gnawed benignly like a worm in the back of our heads, it swelled to an obsession during the winter until it burst into being on a warm afternoon in March as PeasantWalk 2025.
Part of my scope of service as an AmeriCorps member serving the Foundation is to aid in the expansion and outreach within our serviced communities. With a small staff and a large rural region to cover, maintaining personal connections with individual communities remains challenging—something that technology alone cannot fully address. The major project I recently completed consisted of eight nonprofit information sessions designed not only as a 101 course to community foundations and applying for grants, but as regenerative networking opportunities for volunteers and staff in the nonprofit sector who often experience isolation and burnout.
