VT's College of Natural Resources and Environment and Primland will roll out some of their partnership projects at a special Tree House to Trails celebration July 22-24.

“A Field Guide to the Nature of Primland and the Blue Ridge Mountains� includes sections on habitat, wildlife viewing tips, and trail maps of Primland in addition to descriptions of plants and wildlife. BLACKSBURG, Va., July 7, 2011 – Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment and Primland, a 12,000-acre sporting retreat and resort near Meadows of Dan, Va., will roll out some of their partnership projects at a special Tree House to Trails celebration July 22-24. “A Field Guide to the Nature of Primland and the Blue Ridge Mountains� will make its debut, when Primland also shows off its new Golden Eagle Tree House and geocaching trails, with the founding Primat family in attendance. Scott Klopfer, executive director of the college’s Conservation Management Institute, and Michael St. Germain, a research associate at the institute, have co-authored a 145-page field guide that hikers and beginning naturalists can use to identify the plants and animals they see at Primland and in the Blue Ridge Mountains. St. Germain, who is also an artist known for some of the popular HokieBird sculptures in Blacksburg, drew the illustrations for the field guide. “We are always looking for ways to make the best better as well as to pay homage to Primland’s spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife,� said Primland Vice President Steve Helms. The field guide, which features many color photographs in addition to the 130 detailed drawings of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, butterflies, tree leaves, and wildflowers, covers forests, shrublands, grasslands, waterways, and other habitats, with sections on wildlife viewing tips, trail maps of Primland, and wildlife and plant identification. “The college is enjoying a special partnership with Primland, whose owners and senior management share with us the same passion and belief in managing and sustaining our natural resources for future generations,� said Paul Winistorfer, dean of the College of Natural Resources and Environment. “It is rewarding for us to watch a world-class organization in Patrick County, Va., demonstrate world-class efforts in sustainability,� Winistorfer added. “We are very excited about the completion of the field guide, a joint project between the college and Primland, as well as the geocache trails, our ongoing water quality work, golden eagle research, and other projects on the property.� David Kramar, a project associate a the Conservation Management Institute who has studied eagles for several years, found golden eagles at Primland, the furthest south they have been located in Virginia. He has been trapping the birds to measure mercury and lead contamination and to share data with the Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group. Before releasing the birds, he fits them with a telemetry device to track their migration. Scientists estimate that there are less than 2,000 golden eagles east of the Mississippi. In honor of the discovery that Primland is a wintering habitat for the birds, the Primat family has named its new tree house accommodations, the Golden Eagle Tree House, after the raptor. The collaborative work at Primland has also involved a number of Virginia Tech alumni. Forestry alumnus Carl McDaniel, who joined Primland in its early days and now supervises the resort’s hunting and outdoor activities, worked to identify potential undergraduate research topics of interest. Horticulture alumnus Scott Martin, now Primland’s horticulturalist, was instrumental in assisting with the cultural plant survey of the property. Agriculture alumnus Jason Turman, the trail master at Primland, leant his time and expertise to the cultural plant survey and the development of the field guide. In addition, Turman and biological sciences alumnus Aaron Teets, a field biologist at the Conservation Management Institute, designed and developed Primland’s two geocaching courses. Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity in which participants use a GPS receiver or other navigational techniques to find containers, called geocaches. A typical cache is a small waterproof container that holds a visitor log and other items. More than 1.2 million geocaches, published on various websites, have been placed in more than 100 countries around the world.