Wood Turtle Benefit Concert

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy People and Wildlife Living in Harmony

Wood Turtle Program and Benefit Concert 2007

Citizen Science Environmental Monitoring

After Event Report: A Great Show of Community Support!

There were around 250-300 people present for the event. Dennis and Rita Desmond from Northern Virginia Reptile Rescue brought a great display of a variety of animals and did a terrific job at putting faces and stories to the animals with which we share this planet. (roll over the images below for other views)

Dennis explaining the lifecycles and habitat concerns for our reptiles

Dennis explains the lifecycles and habitat needs of reptiles

The special guests included a pair of wood turtles, a pair of eastern box turtles, a diamondback terrapin, a corn snake and an alligator.

Two Box Turtles

As Dennis explained, "We wanted to present a selection of animals that are facing threats in Virginia and one (the American alligator) that can be held up as a success story. As wood turtles are rapidly disappearing in Virginia, we also have to be cognizant that diamondback terrapins are in trouble on the coast, no corn snakes have been seen in Northern Virginia in about 30 years, and box turtles are under attack everywhere in the Commonwealth and will end up in the same category as spotted and wood turtles."

The Eastern Painted Turtle that joined the party

In addition to the turtles and other reptiles that Dennis and Rita brought, a wild Eastern Painted Turtle that lives at the Blue Ridge Center came up to the pavillion to join the party (word must have really gotten out!)

The Acoustic Burgoo

Following the program, the band started up! And the music was super - Acoustic Burgoo has such a great sound and they really kicked the night off on the right note. They were followed by Furnace Mountain which everyone also enjoyed. It was a perfect night - Fireflies lit up the fields and woods around the stage making a magical sight, combined with the new moon and Venus setting behind them. It was a great night.

Overall, we raised about $1400 and now look forward to starting up a wood turtle monitoring program.

Many thanks to all of our volunteers who helped in the weeks (really months) leading up to the event coordinating, planning and advertising and throughout the night manning the tables, parking the cars, cleaning up (Joe, Gray, Emily, Molly, Marianne, Lynn, Elizabeth, Laura, Liam, Gil, Shawna, Adam, Atilla) And special thanks to Ben, Allison, Melissa and the rest of the Acoustic Burgoo for coming up with the idea of a benefit concert, building the stage and backdrop, getting the lights and generator, organizing the whole art show as well as for getting Furnace Mountain into the show. Amazing! Also special thanks to Andrea and Bonnie for preparing the flier and the ads so we could get the word out.