Monday, May 23, 2022

Episode 628 (5-23-22): Memorial Day’s Origin, from a Potomac River Perspective

CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (4:27).

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Extra Information
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).


Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-20-22.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the weeks of May 23 and May 30, 2022.  This episode, marking the Memorial Day holiday observed this year on May 30, repeats an episode first done in 2015.

MUSIC – ~17 sec – instrumental.

That tune, composed during the U.S. Civil War, sets the stage for a water-related exploration of the origin of Memorial Day.  Have a listen to the music for about 35 more seconds.

MUSIC – ~35 sec – instrumental.

You’ve been listening to a version of “All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight,” recorded by Chloe Benner and Stewart Scales.  The tune was composed in 1863 by John Hill Hewitt.  The title, and the lyrics associated with the tune, are from “The Picket Guard,” a poem by Ethel Lynn Beers, published in 1861.  The poem relates the loneliness, homesickness, and then sudden death of a rank-and-file soldier patrolling the dark, wooded, and deceptively quiet Potomac riverbank.  As a similar tragic fate befell tens of thousands of Civil War soldiers along rivers, ridges, and battle lines in Virginia and elsewhere, surviving family and friends began honoring fallen soldiers by decorating their graves with flowers, especially during spring.  The practice grew across both North and South, eventually becoming a spring tradition known as “Decoration Day.”

On May 5, 1868, Gen. John Logan called for Decoration Day to be an annual, national holiday on May 30, and the first national ceremony was held that year in Arlington National Cemetery, near the banks of the Potomac.  After World War I, the annual observance began to include honoring those who had died in all U.S. military conflicts.  In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day an official national holiday, to occur on the last Monday of May.

Memorial Day invokes very personal and local expressions of honor and remembrance, true to the holiday’s origin of individuals decorating Civil War graves with flowers.  In that spirit, we close this tribute to Memorial Day with about 25 seconds of “Flowers of the Forest,” by No Strings Attached, from their 2002 album, “Old Friend’s Waltz.”

MUSIC – ~26 sec – instrumental.

SHIP’S BELL 

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this episode.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This Virginia Water Radio episode revises and replaces Episode 215, 5-25-15, and Episode 318, 5-30-16.

The version of “All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight” heard in this Virginia Water Radio episode was performed by Chloe Benner and Stewart Scales, used with permission.  More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.  This music was used previously by Virginia Water Radio most recently in Episode 619, 3-7-22.  Another version of “All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight,” by Bobby Horton, was featured in Episode 101, 3-5-12.

Information on “All Quiet Along the Potomac,” about Ethel Beers, the author of the poem from which the song was derived, and about John Hill Hewitt, who composed the tune, is available from Bartleby.com, online at http://www.bartleby.com/270/13/474.html; from Britannica Encyclopedia, online at www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/58438/Ethel-Lynn-Beers; from Library of Congress, “All quiet along the Potomac to-night,” online at https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200002411/; and from Song of America, online at https://songofamerica.net/song/all-quiet-along-the-potomac-tonight/.

“Flowers of the Forest” and “Old Friend’s Waltz” are copyright by No Strings Attached and Enessay Music, used with permission.  More information about the now-retired, Blacksburg/Roanoke-based group No Strings Attached is available online at https://www.enessay.com/index.html.  This music was used previously by Virginia Water Radio most recently in Episode 573, 4-19-21.  Information on “Metsäkukkia,” the original Finnish tune on which the No Strings Attached selection was based, is available from Andrew Kuntz, “The Fiddler’s Companion,” online at http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/MER_MIC.htm; and from Jeremy Keith, “The Session,” online at http://thesession.org/tunes/4585.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (1 min./11 sec.) of the “Cripple Creek” arrangement/performance by Stewart Scales that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Scales and the group New Standard, with which Mr. Scales plays, is available online at http://newstandardbluegrass.com.

IMAGES

(Unless otherwise noted, photographs are by Virginia Water Radio.)

Looking towards the confluence of the Shenandoah River with the Potomac River at Harper’s Ferry, West Va., August 14, 2008.  Harper’s Ferry was a strategic location and the site of a federal arsenal during the Civil War era.

The confluence of Antietam Creek (foreground) with the Potomac River in Maryland, as seen from the C&O Canal Towpath, August 13, 2008.  The confluence is several miles downstream of where the creek flows through Sharpsburg, Md., the site of a major Civil War battle in 1862.      

EXTRA INFORMATION ON THE HISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY

The following information is quoted from the Library of Congress, “Today in History—May 30/Memorial Day,” online at https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-30/.

“In 1868, Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order Number 11 designating May 30 as a memorial day for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. 

“The first national celebration of the holiday took place May 30, 1868, at Arlington National Cemetery, where both Confederate and Union soldiers were buried.  Originally known as Decoration Day, at the turn of the century it was designated as Memorial Day.  In many American towns, the day is celebrated with a parade.

“Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War’s end.  Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day.  Songs in the Duke University collection Historic American Sheet Music include hymns published in the South such as these two from 1867: ‘Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping,’ dedicated to ‘The Ladies of the South Who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead,’ and ‘Memorial Flowers,’ dedicated ‘To the Memory of Our Dead Heroes.’

“When a women’s memorial association in Columbus, Mississippi, decorated the graves of both Confederate and Union soldiers on April 25, 1866, this act of generosity and reconciliation prompted an editorial piece, published by Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune, and a poem by Francis Miles Finch, ‘The Blue and the Grey,’ published in the Atlantic Monthly.  The practice of strewing flowers on soldiers’ graves soon became popular throughout the reunited nation.

“President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed Waterloo, New York, as the ‘Birthplace of Memorial Day,’ because it began a formal observance on May 5, 1866.  However, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, also claims to have held the first observance, based on an observance dating back to October 1864.  Indeed, many other towns also lay claim to being the first to hold an observance.

“In 1971, federal law changed the observance of the holiday to the last Monday in May and extended the honor to all soldiers who died in American wars.  A few states continue to celebrate Memorial Day on May 30.

“Today, national observance of the holiday still takes place at Arlington National Cemetery with the placing of a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the decoration of each grave with a small American flag.  Protocol for flying the American flag on Memorial Day includes raising it quickly to the top of the pole at sunrise, immediately lowering it to half-staff until noon, and displaying it at full staff from noon until sunset. …

“Many veterans of the Vietnam War, and relatives and friends of those who fought in that conflict, make a pilgrimage over Memorial Day weekend to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., where they pay their respects to another generation of fallen soldiers.”

SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE INFORMATION

On the History of Memorial Day

Library of Congress, “Today in History—May 30/Memorial Day,” online at https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-30/.

Smithsonian Institution/National Museum of American History, “You asked, we Answered: Why do we celebrate Memorial Day?”, by Ryan Lintelman, May 24, 2013; available online at http://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2013/05/you-asked-we-answered-why-do-we-celebrate-memorial-day.html.

Public Broadcasting System, “National Memorial Day Concert/History of Memorial Day,” online at http://www.pbs.org/national-memorial-day-concert/memorial-day/history/.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs:
“America’s Wars,” online (as a PDF) at http://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf;
“Memorial Day,” online at https://www.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday; and
“Memorial Day Order,” by Gen. John A. Logan, May 6, 1868, online at https://www.cem.va.gov/history/memdayorder.asp.

On Rivers and Other Water Bodies in the U.S. Civil War

The History PlaceTM, “The U.S. Civil War,” online at http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/

USA Civil War Web Site, “Civil War Rivers and Streams,” online at http://usa-civil-war.com/CW_Rivers/rivers.html

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “History” subject category.

Following are links to some other episodes on Virginia waters in history related to military conflicts.

Battle of Yorktown in the Revolutionary War – Episode 390, 10-6-17.
Bull Run’s present and Civil War past – Episode 223, 7-21-14.
Civil War Battle of the Ironclads – Episode 412, 3-19-18.
Lincoln’s James River trip to Richmond at the end of the Civil War – Episode 459, 2-11-19.
Potomac River in the Civil War – Episode 101, 3-5-12.
Rivers and attempts to capture Richmond in the Civil War – Episode 164, 6-3-13 (for Memorial Day 2013).
River origins of Virginia signers of Declaration of Independence – Episode 220, 6-30-14.
Various waters involved in the Revolutionary War – Episode 168, 7-1-13.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

Following are some Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) that may be supported by this episode’s audio/transcript, sources, or other information included in this post.

2020 Music SOLs 

SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2015 Social Studies SOLs

Grades K-3 History Theme
1.2 – Virginia history and life in present-day Virginia.
1.4 – Lives of people associated with major holidays.
2.5 – Lives of people associated with major holidays.

Virginia Studies Course
VS.1 – Impact of geographic features on people, places, and events in Virginia history.
VS.7 – Civil War issues and events, including the role of Virginia and the role of various ethnic groups. 

United States History to 1865 Course
USI.2 – Major land and water features of North America, including their importance in history.
USI.9 – Causes, events, and effects of the Civil War.

Virginia and United States History Course
VUS.7 – Knowledge of the Civil War and Reconstruction eras.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15
– on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15
– on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.
Episode 483, 7-29-19 – on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.
Episode 524, 5-11-20 – on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school through high school.
Episode 531, 6-29-20 – on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd and 4th grade.
Episode 539, 8-24-20 – on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources, for 4th and 6th grade.
Episode 606, 12-6-21 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.

Monday, May 9, 2022

Episode 627 (5-9-22): A Trio of Songbirds with Tree Nests Near Water

CLICK HERE to listen to episode audio (5:05).

Sections below are the following:
Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Extra Information
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.).


Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 5-6-22.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the weeks of May 9 and May 16, 2022.   This episode from is part of a series this year of episodes related to trees and shrubs.

MUSIC – ~14 sec – instrumental. 

That’s part of “New Spring Waltz,” by the late Madeline MacNeil, who was a well-known and highly regarded musician based in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

Each new spring brings a chance to focus on the life cycles of wildlife.  This mid-spring episode of Water Radio explores some connections among nesting birds, trees, and water.  Have a listen for about 30 seconds to three mystery sounds, and see if you know these three bird species who nest in trees near water, either always or at least sometimes.  And here’s a hint: you’ll be singing a melodious trill, if you hit this mystery out of the park.

SOUNDS  - 29 sec.

If you guessed two warblers and an oriole, you’re right!  And you get bodacious bird bragging rights if you recognized, first, the Prothonotary Warbler; second, the Northern Parula, also a kind of warbler; and third, the bird for which Baltimore’s baseball team is named, the Baltimore Oriole.  All three of these songbirds are found in Virginia in the spring and summer breeding season.  During that period, the Prothonotary Warbler is common in Virginia’s central and southern Coastal Plain and can occasionally be found in some other parts of the Commonwealth; the Baltimore Oriole is common outside of the Coastal Plain; and the Northern Parula is common statewide.  The three species show a range of attachment to water-side trees as their nesting habitat.  The Prothonotary Warbler is particularly known for nesting in cavities in trees around water; in fact, the bird is sometimes called the “Swamp Warbler” in the southeastern United States.  The Northern Parula typically nests in trees along rivers and wetlands, especially in areas where it can find the materials it prefers for making its hanging nests: Spanish Moss or a kind of stringy lichen; this bird is also known to make nests out of debris left in trees after floods.  The Baltimore Oriole is the least water-attached of these three species, being found nesting high in trees in many areas outside of deep woods, including parks and yards; however, streamsides are among the species preferred areas for the bird’s fibrous, hanging nests.

If you’re near streams, rivers, or wetlands and you see or hear any of these three birds, look to nearby trees for cavities or hanging materials that may be harboring the birds’ next generation.

Thanks to Lang Elliott for permission to use the bird sounds, from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs.  Thanks also to Janita Baker of Blue Lion Dulcimers and Guitars for permission to use Madeline MacNeil’s music, and we close with about 25 more seconds of “New Spring Waltz.”

MUSIC – ~26 sec – instrumental.

SHIP’S BELL 

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” to open and close this episode.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

“New Spring Waltz” is from Madeline MacNeil’s 2002 album “Songs of Earth & Sea”; copyright held by Janita Baker, used with permission.  More information about Madeline MacNeil is available from Ms. Baker’s “Blue Lion Dulcimers & Guitars” Web site, online at https://www.bluelioninstruments.com/Maddie.html.

The sounds of the Baltimore Oriole, Northern Parula, and Prothonotary Warbler were from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs-Eastern Region CD set, by Lang Elliott with Donald and Lillian Stokes (Time Warner Audio Books, copyright 1997), used with permission of Lang Elliott.  Lang Elliot’s work is available online at the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/.

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGES

Baltimore Oriole at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, W. Va., August 2015.  Photo by Michelle Smith, made available for public use by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov; the specific URL for the photograph was https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/17342/rec/2, as of 5-9-22.


Northern Parula at Kennebago Lake in Maine, July 2011.  Photo by Bill Thompson, made available for public use by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov; the specific URL for the photograph was https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/12961/rec/1, as of 5-9-22.

Prothonotary Warbler bringing food to its nest in South Carolina, March 2012.  Photo by Mark Musselman, made available for public use by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov; the specific URL for the photograph was https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/14152/rec/3, as of 5-9-22.

EXTRA INFORMATION ABOUT THE BIRDS IN THIS EPISODE

The scientific names of the birds in this episode are as follows:

Baltimore Oriole – Icterus galbula;
Northern Parula – Setophaga Americana (formerly Parula americana);
Prothonotary Warbler – Protonotaria citrea.

SOURCES 

Used for Audio

Chesapeake Bay Program, “Birds,” online at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/field-guide/all/birds/all.  The Baltimore Oriole entry is online at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/field-guide/entry/baltimore_oriole.

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, “All About Birds,” online at http://www.allaboutbirds.org.
The Baltimore Oriole entry is online at
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Baltimore_Oriole;
the Northern Parula entry is online at
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Parula/;
the Prothonotary Warbler entry is online at
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Prothonotary_Warbler.

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, “Birds of the World,” online at https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/home (subscription required).
The Baltimore Oriole entry is online at
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/balori/cur/introduction; the Northern Parula entry is online at https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/norpar/cur/introduction; the Prothonotary Warbler entry is online at https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/prowar/cur/introduction. 

Merriam-Webster, “Warble,” online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/warble.

Chandler S. Robbins et al. A Guide to Field Identification of Birds of North America, St. Martin’s Press, New York, N.Y., 2001.

Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (formerly Department of Game and Inland Fisheries):
“Fish and Wildlife Information Service,” online at https://services.dwr.virginia.gov/fwis/.
The Baltimore Oriole entry is online at https://services.dwr.virginia.gov/fwis/booklet.html?&bova=040348&Menu=_.Taxonomy&version=19117;
the Northern Parula entry is online at https://services.dwr.virginia.gov/fwis/booklet.html?&bova=040312&Menu=_.Taxonomy&version=19117;
the Prothonotary Warbler entry is online at https://services.dwr.virginia.gov/fwis/booklet.html?&bova=040303&Menu=_.Taxonomy&version=19117.

Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (formerly Department of Game and Inland Fisheries), “List of Native and Naturalized Fauna in Virginia, August 2020,” online (as a PDF) at https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/virginia-native-naturalized-species.pdf.

For More Information about Birds in Virginia and Elsewhere 

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, “Merlin Photo ID.”  The application for mobile devices allows users to submit a bird photograph to get identification of the bird. Information is available online at http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/.

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, “eBird,” online at https://ebird.org/home.  Here you can find locations of species observations made by contributors, and you can sign up to contribute your own observations.

Stan Tekiela, Birds of Virginia Field Guide, Adventure Publications, Inc., Cambridge, Minn., 2002.

University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, “Animal Diversity Web,” online at https://animaldiversity.org/.

Virginia Society of Ornithology, online at http://www.virginiabirds.org/.  The Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, conservation, and enjoyment of birds in the Commonwealth.

Xeno-canto Foundation, online at http://www.xeno-canto.org/.  This site provides bird songs from around the world. 

For More Information about Trees and Shrubs in Virginia and Elsewhere

Center for Watershed Protection, “Trees and Stormwater Runoff,” online at https://www.cwp.org/reducing-stormwater-runoff/.

Chesapeake Bay Program, “Field Guide: Plants and Trees,” online at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/field-guide/all/plants_trees/all.

eFloras.org, “Flora of North America,” online at http://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=1.

Sanglin Lee and Alan Raflo, “Trees and Water,” Virginia Water Resources Research Center, Virginia Water Central Newsletter, pages 13-18, online at https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/49367.   (A Virginia Cooperative Extension version of this article—“Trees and Water,” by Sanglin Lee, Alan Raflo, and Jennifer Gagnon, 2018—with some slight differences in the text is available online at https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/pubs_ext_vt_edu/en/ANR/ANR-18/ANR-18NP.html.)

Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension, “How Trees Grow,” online at https://agrilife.org/treecarekit/introduction-to-tree-care/how-trees-grow/.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Forests of Virginia, 2018, Resource Update FS-264, Asheville, N.C., 2020; available online at https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/59963.

U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Forest Service, “State and Private Forestry Fact Sheet—Virginia 2022,” online (as a PDF) at https://apps.fs.usda.gov/nicportal/temppdf/sfs/naweb/VA_std.pdf.

U.S. Department of Agriculture/Forest Service/Climate Change Resource Center, “Forest Tree Diseases and Climate Change,” online at https://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/forest-disease.

U.S. Department of Agriculture/Forest Service/Northern Research Station (Newtown Square, Penn.), “Forest Disturbance Processes/Invasive Species,” online at https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/disturbance/invasive_species/.”

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Natural Resources Conservation Service, “PLANTS Database,” online at https://plants.usda.gov.

Virginia Botanical Associates, “Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora,” online at http://www.vaplantatlas.org/index.php?do=start&search=Search.

Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation/Natural Heritage Division, online at https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/.

Virginia Department of Forestry, “Virginia’s Forests,” online at https://dof.virginia.gov/.  Some of the useful pages at that site are the following:
“Benefits of Trees,” online at https://dof.virginia.gov/education-and-recreation/learn-about-education-recreation/benefits-of-tree/;
“Common Native Trees of Virginia,” 2020 edition, online (as a PDF) at https://dof.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/Common-Native-Trees-ID_pub.pdf;
“Forest Management and Health/Insects and Diseases,” online at
https://dof.virginia.gov/forest-management-health/forest-health/insects-and-diseases/;
Tree and Forest Health Guide, 2020, online (as a PDF) at https://dof.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/Tree-and-Forest-Health-Guide.pdf;
“Trees for Clean Water Program,” online at https://dof.virginia.gov/urban-community-forestry/urban-forestry-community-assistance/virginia-trees-for-clean-water-grant-program/;
“Virginia Statewide Assessment of Forest Resources,” November 2020, online (as a PDF) at https://www.stateforesters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2020-VA-Statewide-Assessment.pdf (see page 19 for statistics on forested land; p. 21 for economic benefits; and p. 23 for water quality benefits);
“Tree Identification,” online at https://dof.virginia.gov/education-and-recreation/learn-about-education-recreation/tree-identification/.

Virginia Forest Landowner Education Program, Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment, online at https://forestupdate.frec.vt.edu/.

Virginia Forest Products Association, online at https://www.vfpa.net/.

Virginia Native Plant Society, online at http://vnps.org/.

A.S. Weakley, J.C. Ludwig, and J.F. Townsend, Flora of Virginia, Bland Crowder, ed.  Copyright by the Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project, Inc., Richmond.  Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth, 2012.

Herbert S. Zim and Alexander C. Martin, as revised by Jonathan P. Latimer et al., Trees—A Guide to Familiar American Trees, St. Martin’s Press, New York, N.Y., 2001.

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Birds” and “Plants” subject categories. 

Following are links to other episodes on warblers or orioles.

Episode 264, 5-4-15
 – featuring the Baltimore Oriole.
Episode 520, 4-13-20
– on waterthrushes.
Episode 572, 4-12-21
– on warblers and spring bird migration generally.

Following are links to other episodes on trees and shrubs.

Introduction to trees and water – Episode 621, 3-21-22.
American Sycamore – Episode 624, 4-11-22.
American Witch Hazel – Episode 238, 10-31-14.
Ash trees – Episode 376, 7-10-17 and Episode 625, 4-18-22.
Early spring wildflowers in woodlands – Episode 573, 4-19-21.
Forest lands and work in Virginia – Episode 623, 4-4-22.
Maple trees – Episode 503, 12-16-19.
Photosynthesis – Episode 602, 11-8-21.
Poison Ivy and related plants, including the shrub Poison Sumac – Episode 535, 7-27-20.
Rhododendrons – Episode 574, 4-26-21.
Tree buds – Episode 622, 3-28-22.
Tree colors and changes in fall, including changes to water movement – Episode 285, 10-12-15.
Trees in watery habitats – Episode 626, 4-25-22.

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

Following are some Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) that may be supported by this episode’s audio/transcript, sources, or other information included in this post.

2020 Music SOLs

SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2018 Science SOLs

Grades K-4: Living Systems and Processes
K.7 – Plants and animals have basic needs and life processes.
1.5 – Animals, including humans, have basic life needs that allow them to survive.
2.4 – Plants and animals undergo a series of orderly changes as they grow and develop, including life cycles.
2.5 – Living things are part of a system.
3.4 – Adaptations allow organisms to satisfy life needs and respond to the environment.
3.5 – Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems support a diversity of organisms.
4.2 – Plants and animals have structures that distinguish them from one another and play vital roles in their ability to survive.
4.3 – Organisms, including humans, interact with one another and with the nonliving components in the ecosystem.

Grades K-5: Earth Resources
2.8 – Plants are important natural resources.
4.8 – Virginia has important natural resources.

Life Science
LS.6     – Populations in a biological community interact and are interdependent.
LS.7 – Adaptations support an organism’s survival in an ecosystem. 

Biology
BIO.8 – Dynamic equilibria exist within populations, communities, and ecosystems.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.


Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15
– on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15 – on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16 – on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16 – on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18 – on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 407, 2-12-18 – on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.
Episode 483, 7-29-19 – on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.
Episode 524, 5-11-20 – on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school through high school.
Episode 531, 6-29-20 – on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd and 4th grade.
Episode 539, 8-24-20 – on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources, for 4th and 6th grade.
Episode 606, 12-6-21 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.