2022 Annual Report
The Highlights
What we’ve been up to in 2022:
- working with local schools in Nelson, Albemarle, etc.
- updating our website & membership donor software
- enjoying successful programs
- an in-person May Spring Wildflower Symposium
- a virtual Love for the Land Auction in June
- our 29th annual Sara Ott Memorial Golf Classic in September with over 30 teams & sponsors, & special events for members & donors over the holidays
Our greenhouse had its most successful year yet! Our 50% increase in sales from 2021 is thanks to our plant propagation team’s hard work and endless devotion to ensure we have the best native plants to offer 50+ different varieties of wildflowers plus a large selection of native woody shrubs). This team maintains our Founder’s Overlook as well as the Johnson, butterfly, and native gardens. – Morgan Lohr, Gift Shoppe and Greenhouse Manager
Our 2022 summer intern, Zoe Hessian, discovered a baby bat that the parent had dropped iust outside Trillium House. The baby bat was taken to rehab & turned out to be an endangered northern long-eared bat. While we were not able to locate the likely parent, one of the unused Trillium Chimneys may have been a hibernaculum this vear.
A small but hardworking & dedicated staff accomplishes much within our mission & strategic plan. We have two new staff.
- Morgan Lohr (Gift Shoppe & Greenhouse Manager) and
- Katrina Broughman (Special Events. Marketing. & Membership Outreach Coordinator).
Endowment 2025 Campaign
By the end of 2022, we will reach the half way point of our $4 million dollar Endowment Campaign. Below are those who have generously given, believing that the work of The Foundation needs to endure. This to assure that the next generation has same level protection & appreciation of nature that we’ve been privileged to enjoy.
Your strong donor support has empowered us to continue forward. Endowment 2025 will provide the funds needed to sustain TNFW’s work well into the future, allowing us to expand our environmental education, research & conservation work plus maintain our facilities.
More individuals are being added to this list weekly but this is our best year-to-date list at this time or publication.
Research
 | Our scientists continue to advise us on research possibilities within the Central Blue Ridge region. Our Board’s diligent efforts have kept TNFW visible & financially secure. For instance, Emily Ferguson & Janet Steven met with Dr. Stuart Davis, Smithsonian, global lead for international Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) sites on Crawford’s Knob while considering Wintergreen as a new ForestGEO site. |
| Don Felling, Catherine Hulshof & Smithsonian’s Dr. Scott Miller stood in front of a huge tree on a thirty-acre parcel near the top of Crawford’s Knob, a site recommended to the Smithsonian for the ForestGEO project, potentially contributing to a worldwide study of forest change. More study & funding is necessary, but this project has thepotential to bring research at Wintergreen to a new level of recognition. Watch for progress on this exciting possibility! |  |
 | Thanks to a National Science Foundation grant, we worked with Catherine Hulshof, PhD, a biology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University to establish plots from bottom to top of Crawford’s Knob to stud moth & butterfly populations as well as their host plants in order to spot population decline associated with climate change. |
We also assisted with a short-term milkweed climate study with graduate students from the College of William & Mary to see if two similar mountain milkweed species were hybridizing & whether this was associated with climate change. | |
We’ve continued to accomplish tasks to study & protect the ecosystems in Wintergreen’s forests. For instance, TNFW Forester Josh Palumbo recently set a Smithsonian camera to track pollinators who come to a yellow lady slipper orchid. The continued work with Smithsonian associated with the National Orchid research project continues. New efforts are being made to discover who the pollinators are of the rare orchid on Crawford’s Knob. |  |
Education
Be sure to check out Doug’s video message to new & existing homeowners called “A Sense of Place” on our YouTube page. 
Bringing Research & Education together: Staff & volunteers took part in a summer camp project with teachers and high school students called STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math). They spent several weeks studying water.
TNFW co-sponsored its first STEAM Summer Camp called “Kids Grow Green” successfully with Nelson County Schools. This was showcased at The VA Association of School Superintendents Fall Conference as an exemplary environmental summer camp. 55 students grade 3-5 learned about gardening & agriculture through hands-on, outdoor activities which ended with a tour of Sweetbriar College’s Center of Human & Environmental Sustainability, pollinator garden, apiary & lunch in the college cafeteria.
Making New Connections
Early this year, a unique package landed on our desk accompanied by a letter from a member. The letter said: “These pressed botanical specimens were lovingly preserved by my great great grandmother. I found them while cleaning out my grandmother’s home. I hoped they’d be of interest to you. Feel free to use as you see fit or let them go.” The box contained beautifully preserved botanical specimens collected in West Chester County PA in 1891. What a time capsule showing what grew there over 130 years ago! Doug Coleman, our Executive Director, got the opportunity to examine the specimens. Then we contacted the Philadelphia Academy of Science & were referred to Dr. Walter Meshaka, Biologist & Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Museum of Natural History. Dr. Meshaka was delighted to receive them. He later inquired of research opportunities here for further study and even became a TNFW member!
The Foundation currently has approximately 800 members. Thank you. We couldn’t do it without you!
2021 Sources of Revenue
2021 Purposes of Revenue
Figures reflect the 2021 audit conducted in 2022.