BEAT WINTER DOLDRUMS WITH NATURE ACTIVITIES

Getting cabin fever yet? How about going for a hike or drive in Shenandoah National Park? The park is waiving the entrance fee on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Jan. 15). Or check out the free walks and talks offered by the Piedmont Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society starting this month:

➤ FERRY HILL SECOND SUNDAY WALK (Jan. 14, 1 p.m.): Rod Simmons, Alexandria Natural Resource Manager and Plant Ecologist, leads a walk through an old-age forest on limestone bedrock above the Potomac and C&O Canal at Ferry Hill Plantation in Maryland, across the Potomac from Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The forest features many large trees and ferns.

➤ VIRGINIA WORKING LANDSCAPES TALK (Jan. 21, 2 p.m.): In this talk, part of the chapter’s Winter Speaker Series, VWL program director Amy Johnson talk about this Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute program. The program promotes the conservation of native-species biodiversity and sustainable land-use through research, education and community engagement, partnering with a network of government agencies and nongovernmental organizations supporting conservation, regional landowners and citizen scientists. Includes refreshments; at Emmanuel Episcopal Church Parish Hall, 9668 Maidstone Rd., Delaplane.

Other winter Second Sunday Walks feature an arboretum in Warrenton, and at Thompson Wildlife Management Area (in northwestern Fauquier County), skunk cabbage and perhaps other early bloomers in a rare Central Appalachian Basic Seepage Swamp near the Appalachian Trail. The Winter Speaker Series continues with a talk on managing invasive plants (Feb. 18) and concludes with a talk on the effort to provide habitat for pollinators at Sky Meadows State Park (March 18).

For more information on the Piedmont chapter walks, email piedmontvnps@gmail.com. To see all the public activities offered by VNPS chapters across Virginia, check the events calendar on the VNPS website (vnps.org).