About Vickie Shufer

Vickie Shufer is a naturalist, forager, and publisher who has been living in Virginia Beach since 1979. It was then that she began her career as a Naturalist/Interpreter for Virginia State Parks where she continues to do programs. She also works with a number of other agencies and organizations developing programs and leading field trips on edible and medicinal plants. She is the editor and publisher of The Wild Foods Forum newsletter since 1994 and has co-authored several river guide books for southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Just recently she has completed the “Everything Guide to Foraging” to be published by Adams Media in the near future (I’ll let you know when the publication date is as soon as I’m told).

An advocate of native plants, Vickie serves on the Board of Directors for the Virginia Native Plant Society in Virginia Beach. She also has a certified, 16-acre native nursery in northeastern North Carolina where she propagates coastal native plants and teaches groups how to use them for survival. A few years ago she went on a tour across Virginia to more than 20 state parks where she did workshops on wilderness survival skills, including using native plants. In the summer she leads groups on kayak tours at False Cape State Park through the fresh and saltwater marshes of Back Bay, where she identifies coastal plants and describes their uses. Using the park’s Environmental Education Center, she hosts weekend programs on Wilderness Survival Skills and Wild Women Weekends.

Vickie has been featured in a number of magazines, including Wilderness Way, Virginia Wildlife, and most recently, Garden & Guns.

Educational Experience:

• Certified Instructor for the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries, 8/24/2003.
• Field Ethnobotany with Dr. James Duke, Humboldt Field Research Institute, Maine, 9/2000.
• Advanced Medical Botany Mini Course with Dr. James Duke, University of Maryland, College Park, 1/1997.
• Pharmacy From the Rainforest Workshop, Amazon, Peru, 10/1994.
• Virginia Wildflower Symposium Workshops, Wintergreen, Va.
• Virginia Association for Environmental Education (VAEE) Workshops.
• Nature Scope Workshop Facilitator Training, National Wildlife Federation.
• Project Wild, Aquatic Wild, Project Learning Tree Workshops.
• Dismal Swamp Tour Guide Program Training, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.
• Interpretive Training, 1980, Virginia State Parks.
• B.S. Degree in Outdoor Recreation, University of Louisville, Ky. 1979, emphasis on Nature Studies.

Work Experience:

• Park Naturalist - False Cape State Park, Virginia Beach, VA
• Environmental Education Consultant
• Field Trip Leader/ Eco Tour Guide
• Speaker/Resource Person - Edible and Medicinal Plants
• Wilderness Skills Instructor - Plant Uses
• Wilderness Survival Program Leader - Virginia State Parks

Publications:

• Co-Authored The Wild River Guide to the North Landing River and its Tributaries, 2001, Wild River Guide to Dismal Swamp Water Trails, 2004, and Wild River Guide to Coastal Waterways, 2007.
  
• Editor/Publisher: The Wild Foods Forum newsletter since 1994.
• Author of Wild Healing Herbs with excerpts from the Edgar Cayce Readings, 2004.
• Scientific Paper Presented and Published: Dismal Swamp Ethnobotany, Dismal Swamp Symposium, Old Dominion University, 1998.
• Developed trail guides, brochures and other educational materials for Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve.
• Contributing Writer: "Your Backyard Classroom," Virginia State Parks
• Author/Illustrator: A Coastal Ecology Coloring Book, A Naturalist's Field Guide to Coastal Communities.