Sunday, April 12 | 9:00am

Geology Hike

If you love rocks or would like to learn more about the geological make-up of the area, we hope you will join us for our geology hike on April 12. The participants will meet at the kiosk at 9:00 am. The hike includes climbing a hill, walking on rocky and uneven ground, as well as bending over to view rocks. This is free and open to the public, but space is limited to 15. Save your spot today here. 

Sunday, April 12 | 1:00pm

The Native Plant Gardens at Ivy Creek and Volunteer Opportunities

Are you interested in adding native plants to your garden?  Come learn about the four native plant gardens at the Ivy Creek Natural Area and hear about garden volunteer opportunities.

Thanks to the support of garden volunteers, Ivy Creek maintains four native plant gardens including Pollinator, Shade, Pocket Meadow and Hummingbird gardens. Following the presentation in the Education Building there will be a brief garden tour looking for spring ephemerals. If you don't know what a spring ephemeral is, this program might be for you!

For additional information contact Leigh Surdukowski at lsurdukowski@gmail.com. No registration required.

Sunday, April 12 | 5:30pm

Evening Bird Hike

Join us for an evening bird hike on April 12 at 5:30 PM where we will explore the different types of birds that make Ivy Creek their home or a stop on their migration route. This hike is for beginners! Space is limited. Register here.

Monday, April 13 | 10:00am

Little Naturalists

Introduce your three- to five-year-old to nature! Trained guides explore topics such as food chains, hibernation, how trees grow and more with 3 to 5 year olds and their accompanying adults. The program starts indoors for 20-30 minutes where the children engage with the guides through reading nature centered books and doing a hands-on activity related to the learning in the book.  This is followed with a moderate hike. Little Naturalists meet  on the second Mondays and third Saturdays. Gatherings are held from 10:00 to 11:30 am. We prefer that people preregister for these programs. The link to register for the next Monday program is here. Siblings are also welcome to attend.

Little Naturalists follow the weather cancellation policies for Albemarle County Schools.  When the schools are closed or there is a late opening, the Little Naturalists will not meet on that day.

Thursday, April 16 | 6:30pm

Frogs of Ivy Creek

When you take a stroll by the water in spring, do you wonder what all the peeps, croaks, and trills are?  We have only about a dozen frog species that call in the Rivanna watershed, and, with a little practice, you can easily learn to recognize them all.  In this session, we will discuss each of the species that you might hear in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area, listen to their calls, and practice different ways of remembering them. Afterwards, at dusk, we will hike down to the reservoir to determine what kinds of frogs we can hear (weather dependent).

Michelle Prysby is an Extension faculty member in the Virginia Tech Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, the Director of the Virginia Master Naturalist program, and a Certified Virginia Master Naturalist volunteer in the local Rivanna Chapter.

Registration: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/ivycreekfoundation/event/41626frogsofivycreek/

Saturday, April 18 | 9:00am

April Native Plant Walk

Join us for an Ivy Creek plant walk on Saturday, April 18, from 9:00-11:00, beginning from the kiosk. Given this year’s odd weather, it’s hard to predict what will be in flower in mid-April, but April is the month when many woodland wildflowers bloom. We may find yellow corydalis, yellow violets, heart-leaf ginger, rue anemone and star chickweed flowering as well as see adder’s tongue fern, an unusual fern that is usually gone by summer.

Co-sponsored by Ivy Creek and the Jefferson Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society.

Saturday, April 18 | 10:00am

Little Naturalists

Introduce your three- to five-year-old to nature! Trained guides explore topics such as food chains, hibernation, how trees grow and more with three- to five-year-olds and their accompanying adults. The program starts indoors for 20-30 minutes where the children engage with the guides through reading nature centered books and doing a hands-on activity related to the learning in the book. This is followed with a moderate hike. Little Naturalists meet  on the second Mondays and third Saturdays of every month. Gatherings are held from 10:00 to 11:30 am. We prefer that people preregister for these programs. The link to register for the next third Saturday is here.  Siblings are also welcome to attend.

Little Naturalists follow the weather cancellation policies for Albemarle County Schools.  When the schools are closed or there is a late opening, the Little Naturalists will not meet on that day.