This webinar is part of the Virginia Master Naturalist program's Continuing Education webinar series.

In your VMN experiences, have you led a community group on a wildflower walk in the woods, either on trail or off?  Hiked off-trail to retrieve a wildlife camera?  Been to a remote corner of your county for a bird or frog survey?  Some VMN volunteers spend a lot of time outdoors, occasionally in remote places.  Whenever you are going into the field, no matter how short or long of a distance, it’s important to plan ahead and prepare to help you and everyone in your group stay safe.  In this session, we’ll learn from an expert about how to plan ahead for your field experiences, as well as what safety-related items to carry with you.  While this session won’t substitute for an in-person first aid class, it will help you think through likely risks you might encounter in the field and how to prepare for them.

Presenter: Matt Rosefsky is a certified Wilderness EMT and Geo Medic.  He has been a wilderness medicine instructor for MEDIC SOLO Disaster + Wilderness Medical School since 2007, teaching more than 200 courses and more than 3,000 students.  He is a volunteer with Blue Ridge Mountain Rescue Group and the Medical Reserve Corps.  Over 19 years he has led hundreds of outdoor adventures through groups such as Outdoors at UVA, the Sierra Club, and the Outdoor Adventure Social Club.  Backpacking is Matt's favorite outdoor activity.