Lynnhaven River NOW E-News
 		July 19, 2012 
10th Anniversary Seal
Lynnhaven River NOW
Celebrating our 10th year of working for a cleaner Lynnhaven River.
In This Issue
Pearl Homes
Free Trees
Pleasure House Point
New Pearl Home Challenge
Oyster Gardeners
What to look for this month
Pearl Homes Count 
The number of Pearl Homes keeps growing.  We are currently at 627 and hope you will help us get to 1000. 
Do you "scoop the poop" and use reusable grocery bags?  Have you reduced your lawn and planted natives?  Are you an oyster gardener?  Or have you installed a rain barrel?  You may already qualify to be a Pearl Home.  
Be the first person on your block to fly a Pearl Home flag.  You can pick up an application at our office or check it out on our website, www.LRNow.org.  Thank you to everyone who is already proudly flying the Pearl Home flag!
 Pearl Home Flag
 
Free Trees Available to Good Homes
Virginia Pines 
LRNowVirginia Pine has two year old, two foot tall Virginia Pine trees in 3 gallon containers available for free to good homes.  Contact Helen at
Helen@LRNow.org or 757-962-5398 if you are interested in one or more trees. 
Thank you to Bob Carroll and his students who grew these trees from bare root seedlings.

 

Family Dinner  

Our baby osprey are fledging this month! 

Community Events

Saturday, August 4, HANDS ACROSS THE SAND, Virginia Beach and Hampton

Join Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Surfrider Foundation and Oceana for our 3rd annual HANDS ACROSS THE SAND.  Join us as we line up on the beach in both Virginia Beach and Hampton's Buckroe Beach to say "NO" to offshore drilling and "YES" to offshore wind. Meet at the 17th Street Park area in Virginia Beach.  To RSVP--eileen.levandowski@sierraclub.org

 

Tap VS Bottled Water 

Choose tap vs bottled water.  Fill a pitcher with tap water and keep it in the refrigerator.  Get in the habit of always using a refillable water bottle when you're on the move. 

The oil and energy required for the production and distribution of bottled water is staggering.  In the United States we buy more than two billion bottles of water each month, and fewer than 25% of those bottles actually get recycled. 

 
 
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Pleasure House Point

Take the Survey 


The champagne glasses were clinking on July 10th when the City of Virginia Beach took ownership of the Pleasure House Point property, making many people's dreams come true.  If you aren't familar with Pleasure House Point (PHP), it is the last large undeveloped tract of land on the Lynnhaven River, is 119 acres of water, tidal marsh, maritime forest and scrub-shrub habitat and is located on the western shore of the Lynnhaven Inlet south of Shore Drive.

Lynnhaven River NOW is excited about the potential for wetlands and oyster restoration, environmental education and public access to the learn about and appreciate the Lynnhaven River and its rich flora and fauna.

A management plan for the PHP property is in development and you can have a voice in the plan priorities.  Please take a few minutes to complete the online survey.  You can reach it by going to vbgov.com/pleasurehousepoint and click on User Survey under Related Information or to go directly to the survey, click here.

Mark your calendars now for the grand opening celebration, LRNow's Fall Festival at Pleasure House Point on October 13th.

We are so appreciative of the many people who have worked really hard to make aquisition of this property for the community a reality. 

Pleasure House Point
   
New Pearl Home Challenge
Be the First
Be the First Garden Club in Virginia Beach to get all of your members enrolled in the Pearl Homes program.  Our education staff would be happy to come to one of your meetings and explain the program and sign people up. 
The Garden Clubs have been such good Pearl Home partners.  We would love to see a club have 100% participation. 

You Can Be A CBF Oyster Gardener

Summer Workshops and Roundups  

Have you wondered how you might get more involved with Lynnhaven River restoration?  Oyster gardening may be just the opportunity that you have been looking for.  It takes about an hour of time each month to keep your oyster bag clean and healthy and your baby oysters will help greatly to rebuild the oyster population in the Lynnhaven River.Oyster Baskets More information about oyster gardening can be found on our website at www.LRNow.org/need-oyster-growers or you can call our office at 757-962-5398.

If you would like to get started as on oyster gardener, plan to attend our Taylor Float workshop where you can build your own float and get all the equipment you will need.  If you would rather not build a float, you can purchase an assembled float with all the equipment from LRNow for $100.  You will also need to attend a CBF New Citizen Oyster Gardener Workshop where you will learn everything you will need to know about caring for your oysters over the next year.  Pre-registration is required for both the LRNow Tayor Float workshop and the CBF New Citizen Gardener Workshop.

If you are already an oyster gardener, we thank you for your work during this past year caring for your oysters and look forward to seeing you at one of the Round-Ups this summer.  Remember to pre-register for the CBF Round-Up so that you will be able to take home your new baby oysters that day.

Here are the dates and the registration information:
LRNow Taylor Float Workshop --
Thursday, July 26, 6-7:30 PM, at the LRNow office at 1608 Pleasure House Road, Suite 108.  Cost for all supplies is $75.
To register call 757-962-5398 or email kris@lrnow.org

CBF New Citizen Oyster Gardeners Workshop
Thursday, August 2, 6-7:30 PM at the Great Neck Rescue Squad on Bayne Drive
Thursday, September 6, 6-7:30 PM at Virginia Wesleyan College
Cost:  $30 for your bag of 1000 baby oysters
Pre-registration required with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at www.cbf.org/virginiaoysters or call 757-622-1964.

CBF Oyster Round-Ups
Saturday, July 28, 9-11 AM
Saturday, September 8, 9-11 AM
Both are at First Landing State Park, 64th Street entrance, the Narrows
Be sure to pre-register with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at www.cbf.org/virginiaoysters or call 757-622-1964.
Cost: $30 for your bag of 1000 baby oysters.

 

If you have a dock and would be willing to let someone use it to do oyster gardening, please contact our office.  We always have interested potential gardeners who do not have access to the water on their property.

The Oyster Gardening Project is offered in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Lynnhaven oysters larvae settle on reefs and become spat about three weeks after spawning.  This is occurring in July, August and September.
 
Oysters in Long Creek