Submitted photo The Tygart Valley Master Naturalist chapter will host two speakers Saturday at 9 a.m.

ELKINS –On Saturday, Nov. 8, the Tygart Valley Master Naturalist chapter will be hosting two speakers. Starting at 9 a.m., Kelly Smalley, former Outreach Coordinator, will be talking about “Watershed Management” as part of Save the Tygart Watershed Association.

At 1 p.m., Dr. Edwin D. Michael, author, wildlife biologist and former West Virginia University professor, will speak on the “Eagles in Canaan Valley.”

The programs are free and open to the public. The event will take place at the Elkins DNR Operations Center at 738 Ward Road and include information on the Master Naturalist Program. New classes start March 2026.

While a Wildlife Professor at WVU, Dr. Michael conducted extensive wildlife research Canaan Valley. For the last 25 years, he has been a part-time resident of Canaan Valley and continued to study the Valley’s wildlife. His primary focus has been bald eagle nesting behavior.

Bald eagles did not nest in West Virginia until 1981 and were not residents of Canaan Valley until 2015, but now can be classified as a successful breeding species in the area.

Dr. Michael discovered the first successful bald eagle nest in Canaan Valley in 2022 and has monitored that nest every year since. He has also monitored portions of Randolph County, especially those waterways adjoining Tucker County.

In his fact-based, historical novel, “Eagles over Canaan,” we experience the day-to-day behavior of a pair of bald eagles as they construct a nest, mate, and rear ever-hungry nestlings. We are rewarded with an insightful, in-depth glimpse of their lives and the challenges they face — capturing adequate numbers of prey to feed themselves and their offspring.

Dr. Michael spent thousands of hours observing bald eagles in Canaan Valley, and shares many of his personal observations (the rewarding and the disappointing) in this fascinating novel. The novel describes the many problems facing bald eagles in the Central Appalachians and provides an excellent understanding of their connectedness to the wetland ecosystems and diverse habitats of Canaan Valley.

Dr. Michael will have copies of his novels available for sale at the event.

Kelly Smalley was an AFNHA AmeriCorps member who served as the Outreach Coordinator for Save the Tygart Watershed Association (STTWA) from September 2024 – August 2025. During her time as an AmeriCorps, Smalley became a certified Save Our Streams monitor and Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) educator. She spent time traveling throughout the Tygart Valley River watershed learning about its history and conservation, monitoring streams, and providing training for future stream monitors. Smalley has always been interested in the outdoors and conservation. In 2017, she earned her degree in elementary education and taught in Chesapeake, Virginia for six years before moving to Philippi.

While serving with STTWA, Smalley shared her joy of teaching with children and adults alike through extensive educational outreach.

Her work included providing educational programming in Barbour County Public Schools K-2 classrooms, planning and managing Barbour County’s first 5th Grade Water Festival with the DEP, supporting Canaan Valley NWR’s “Wild School” and “Wild Wednesday” summer reading program, and volunteering at Randolph County Outdoors 3rd Grade Days.

Smalley also helped lead river snorkeling events throughout the Monongahela National Forest and managed educational displays at events such as the WV Science and Engineering Fair, Cheat Fest, Buckhannon RiverFest, and the Appalachian Flyfishing Festival, where she was also a presenter.

Although her AmeriCorps term has ended, Smalley continues to conduct stream monitoring and provide educational programming as part of Save the Tygart Watershed Association.

Do you love nature? Want to learn about WV’s flora, fauna, and unique habitats with others? Then the Master Naturalist program may be for you. The Program is designed to educate volunteers in nature interpretation and teaching and to instill the importance of responsible environmental stewardship.

For more information, go to mnofwv.org. Contact Tygart Valley Chapter coordinator Kay Hart at kaylhart24@gmail.com. New classes start in March 2026.