About the Martinsville-Henry County Community Nature Initiative

With the support of The Harvest Foundation of the Piedmont, Virginia Museum of Natural History and its partners, Dr. Denny Casey and Tamara Poles developed a new nature and outdoor initiative entitled the Martinsville Henry County Community Nature Initiative (MHC CNI). The CNI will serve as a clearinghouse for environmental information, use nature as a way to stimulate learning, develop opportunities for quality family time in the outdoors, and position VMNH as a leader in environmental education. CNI will serve as a means to provide hands-on, real-world opportunities for children, educators, and families to increase appreciation for nature and as an effective means to better understand and address community environmental issues.

Click the above CNI logo for official website and to access your Earth Week Passport!

Earth Week 2010 Highlights

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Screen on the Green



The last Friday of the month from April to September M-HC CNI partners with Martinsville Parks and Recreation to show an outdoor movie. This month we showed an IMAX movie called "T-Rex Back to the Cretaceous." We had over a dozen people participate in our crafts and our exciting movie. More pictures to come soon!

Outdoor Fun Festival 2010



On June 12, 2010 in Frank Wilson Park was our Second Annual Outdoor Fun Festival. This festival had over 369 people attend. I first would like to extend a huge thanks to all of the organizations and volunteers that helped in making the Outdoor Fun Festival of 2010 a success! ! We had a lot for our participants to take part in such as a disc golf tournament, basketball tournament (Around the World, and Horse), horseshoe tournament, moon bounce, an inflatable rock wall, guided trail hikes, a sidewalk chalk competition, carnival games, live animals, and live music!

The organizations that were present during this event were; YMCA, Martinsville Fire & Rescue, Civil Air Patrol, Tactfully Teamed, Starting Place,VMNH, Southwestern Piedmont Master Naturalists, Trout Unlimited, Friends of Frank Wilson Park, Martinsville Parks and Recreation, Martinsville Mustangs, Friends of Philpott, National College, Smith River Sports Complex, Bath Fitters, Friends of Fairystone, Smokey Pig, and Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

Due to inclement weather the Outdoor Fun Festival had to end early however everyone enjoyed the festival.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Sharing Nature Workshop


On Thursday, June 10, 2010 we hosted a Sharing Nature Workshop presented by Greg Traymar. The Sharing Nature book series was developed by Joseph Cornell consists of techniques and activities that encourage getting children involved in the outdoors and with nature. The workshop demonstrated to participants the effectiveness of flow learning and teh Sharing Nature activities. Greg Traymar was an enthusiastic instructor who kept the participants engaged and energized.

For more information about Sharing Nature go to http://www.sharingnature.com/