2026 National Forest Appreciation Day
Venue: Pandapas Pond, Blacksburg
Date: Saturday, June 27, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Event Types: Miscellaneous, Family Friendly
Cost: Free
Description:
The New River Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society presents the Annual National Forest Appreciation Day on Saturday, June 27, 2026 at Pandapas Pond in the lower parking lot next to the pond.

National Forest Appreciation Day is a special educational outreach that the New River Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society hosts each year at Pandapas Pond. They choose a different subject each year, and then put up a table and talk to whoever shows up that day and is curious to learn about the topic. This year the topic is native shrubs.

In addition to marked shrubs around the pond, there will be shrubs at the pollinator garden (located 0.4 miles down the woods and field trail at the far end of the parking lot above the pond) which you can see from now thru June 30th. Each will have signs with them in a self-guided trail.

In 2017, the president of the New River Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS), Mary Rhoades, suggested to the mayor of Blacksburg that the town create a local event to promote the nearby Jefferson National Forest as a place to visit and appreciate. The mayor signed a proclamation that the last Saturday in June is National Appreciation Forest Day.

All are welcome.

Pandapas Pond is located at Forest Service Road 808 in Blacksburg, VA.

For more information contact Mary Rhoades at mrhoades@vt.edu for the VNPS part and Barbara Walker at babayaya@gmail.com for the pollinator garden part.