Master Naturalist and current president, Chad Huckabee,
was chosen as one of the honorees, in the education category, by Coastal
Bend Bays and Estuaries Foundation 7th Annual Conservation and Environmental
Awards Program for 2009. This particular award honors "an individual
teacher's dedication and effectiveness in educating high school students
about the natural resources of the Coastal Bend." Chad is presently
teaching at Ingleside High School in Ingleside, Texas. The photo shows Chad
and vice-president, Winnie Shrum holding display objects used at the master
naturalists exhibition tables. Chad and Winnie were two of the 8
naturalists participating in the Annual Bayfest (Adventure Bay) community
event in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Recognized by City of New Braunfels
The Lindheimer Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist program was awarded the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Award by the city of New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Department. In a recent volunteer appreciation night at Landa Park, the City Manager, Mr. Mike Morrison, presented the Lindheimer Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist program, with this prestigious award. The award citation was read by Ms. Stacey Laird, Parks Director, as follows: "Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Award is awarded to the Lindheimer Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists. One of President Theodore Roosevelt's most lasting contributions to the world was the permanent preservation of the some of the most unique natural resources in the United States. During a convention address in 1907, the President noted "...The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others." Named in recognition of our 26th President, this award recognizes a citizen or group who advocates for studying, teaching, documenting and preserving the natural resources in New Braunfels. The Lindheimer Chapter of Master Naturalists has worked with the City of New Braunfels for many years. Their most recent efforts include improvements in Panther Canyon, where they have repaired footbridges, maintained nature paths, and identified plants. They have also been instrumental in assisting with the planning of Fisher Park." Mr. Arthur Williams from the Lindheimer Chapter has led the Chapter's involvement in Landa Park and organized Chapter volunteers to participate in the activities cited in the award. The Lindheimer Chapter looks forward to their continued relationship with the City of New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Department and appreciates an opportunity to serve the community. Story by: Diane Schaule Photo Caption: Mr. Mike Morrison, City Manager, presents the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Award to Diane Schaule, accepting for the Lindheimer Chapter, Texas Master Naturalist program. Photo courtesy of New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Department.

members of the Texas Master Naturalist program assist with activities at the opening of the Wildlife Refuge at Caddo Lake.

The Cypress Basin Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist at the opening of the Wildlife Refuge at Caddo Lake. Check out  pictures of the event!

Master Naturalists and citizen scientists for the Texas Invasives Program, Grace Lopez and Chad Huckabee assisted Mike Murphrey with a Texas Invasives training program for Moody HS teachers. On August 12th,
we met with Mike at the TAMUCC bay trail to survey the area for invasive
plants. We were able locate stands of Guinea grass, Kleberg Bluestem,
Johnson's grass, Buffelgrass, Giant Cane, Tamarix, and Popinac and Brazilian
Pepperbush. On August 14th, we met the teachers at the trail and led them
to identify, get a GPS reading and document each of the invasives on the
trail.
(Grace Lopez is standing second from left in first standing row. Chad
is 2nd from the right on the last row. Ist photo; Mike Murphrey is 3rd
from the left (with white T-shirt) in standing row.)

Texas Master Naturalist, Anita Ashford presented a three-hour lesson to 5th, 6th and 7th graders at the W. Goodrich Jones State Forest near Conroe/The Woodlands.

Anita and Urban District Forester, John Warner challenged and engaged students with hands-on lessons pertaining to endangered species, habitats, nature observations and sketching.
For information on upcoming learning opportunities visit www.heartwoodtmn.org or email jonesstateforest@tfs.tamu.edu

South Texas Master Naturalists Garden Workday with the Boy Scouts.
The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History sponsors an annual boy scout camp. South Texas Master Naturalists have been invited to participate for the last several years. To comply with community service project goals, the boy scouts assist master naturalists with summer maintenance of the Santa Maria Plaza Bird n' Butterfly Garden, a project of South Texas Master Naturalists. The boys and their sponsors worked side by side with master naturalists on a day that can only be described as extremely hot, humid and with little or no breeze. As naturalists trimmed shrubs, the boy scouts carried debris to the dumpster, raked, and spread a truckload of mulch in the garden beds. They worked enthusiastically and relentlessly. Their only reprieve from the heat were frequent rest, water and shade breaks with intermittent head drenching with the water hose. Needless to say, the head drenching was a hit and the boys came back for more.

With approximately 50 workhorse boy scouts, we were able to complete the garden work within two hours. We almost beat the 109 degree heat index for that day. These boys were a great inspiration for us, and we are very grateful for their help in achieving our task.

Captions:

1. Master naturalist, David Griffin, works with boy scouts trimming and raking Esperanza bed outside the garden gate in first photo.

2. A group of boy scouts pose by the MN garden sign in the second photo and enjoy a head drenching in the last photo.

3. Other naturalists that participated were Ellen Anderson, Jeannie O'Leary, Sibyl Deacon, Chad Huckabee and Grace Lopez

members celebrate accomplishments during the June monthly meeting.

According to member Sue Kesey 38 Salamander 2009 re-certification pins were awarded and recipients are pictured. The new class trainees are not in the picture as we have a special graduation party this evening and they will receive theirs at the party with name badges and initial certification dragonfly pin. But 38 is our total so far.

We gave out 500 hours pins to Terry Bartoli, Judy Bloomquist, Ann Cook, Jerry Stacy and Jerry Stone.
250 hour pins go to Betsy Bouchard, Cliff Stripling, Terri Whaley and Phillip Wyde.
Pamela Simek received the 2008 Sage pin due to reporting hours later than our December presentation.
Initial Certification and Dragonfly pins (16) go to Connie Barron, Sherry Bixler, Mike Childers, Sammye Childers, Blair Feller, Billie Gunther, Melanie Huff, Lee Kinard, Marilynn Lageman, Ed Lilley, Sue Lilley, Ed Myatt, Gayla Peeples, Marilynn Ruiz, Pamela Simek and Joyce Smith.

Our chapter continues to grow and enjoy the Master Naturalist program.

Our motto is "Learning, Exploring and Discovery never end at the Jones State Forest". See the crop of full grown Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) caterpillars on host plant, bronze fennel, at Jones State Forest Wildscape Gardens. The Wildscape Gardens are an outdoor education project of Heartwood Chapter Texas Master Naturalists, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Pineywoods Native Plant Center, and Texas Forest Service.

are active in many facets of the community. In April, master naturalists participated in Earth Day/Bay Day activities in Corpus Christi for the sixth consecutive year. With an array of terrestrial and marine animal and plant specimens, naturalists provide local habitat education and outreach to hundreds of children and adults each year. In June, the South Texas chapter has been invited to participate in the World of Water event sponsored by the city's Water Department.
In May, master naturalists joined forces with members of the Audubon Outdoor club Blucher Bunch to control the spread of Catclawvine, Macfadyena, at Blucher Park, a renown birding site in Corpus Christi. Macfadyena is a Texas invasive that can quickly smother native vegetation. The project will continue periodically throughout the year.

Note: Caption 1:Chad Huckabee works with children at the Earth Day/Bay Day festival.

Caption 2: Karl Kirksmeyer, John McElroy, Olga Beaber and Cliff Beaber and Grace Lopez (not included) form the Catclawvine eradication team in May.

Kelly Beckman, Amanda Macallister, and Jessica Macallister (College Park High School - The Woodlands) and Prianna Pathak (The John Cooper School -The Woodlands)
Possible future careers in science, environmental education, ecology, natural resources, and forestry attracted these four soon-to-be 12th graders to work as interns through the Education for Tomorrow Alliance (EfTA) at the William Goodrich Jones State Forest this summer.

Both Amanda and Jessica Macallister's interest in forestry was peaked from their involvement at the Science and Technology Academy which conducted research and data collection at the William Goodrich Jones State Forest.

Prianna Pathak's curiosity in natural science grew from her being part of the winning EnviroThon team at her high school while Kelly Beckman's inquisitiveness led her to desire a better understanding of how humans relate to nature and the environment.

The Student Internship Program is designed to give students real-world experiences while they are still in high school. During the summer preceding their senior year, students work 80 hours alongside mentors at local businesses to better understand their profession of interest. Each year approximately 100 students are placed in a variety of positions at some 75 businesses and organizations in Montgomery county. The program concludes at the Woodlands Resort and Conference Center in a half-day development conference for students, after which they are escorted by their business host to the June South Montgomery County Woodlands Chamber Monthly Business Luncheon. Participants may use their experience for academic credit or as part of a project for the Texas Distinguished Achievement Program Designation.

John Warner, urban district forester and Dawn Vollmer, forester, will be mentoring these students. Interns will be exposed to a diversity of program areas, partnerships and valuable networking skills that is unique to the Conroe District. Working alongside Texas Forest Service in this distinctive program are partners and mentors Tamberly Conway with Amigos del Bosque/Urban Connections at Stephen F. Austin State University and US Forest Service; Diana Foss, Texas Parks &Wildlife; and Teri McArthur and Anita Ashford with Texas Master Naturalists.

According to John Warner, "The goal of our partnership with EfTA is to expose these interns to as much these professions have to offer during their limited time with us. They will be working alongside some of the best urban and wildlife biologists, urban and community foresters, and environmental educators in the state and assisting in community outreach programming to minority and underserved populations." For more information about Education for Tomorrow Alliance visit www.efta-us.org.

In November John Warner, knowing of her interest in birding, asked member
Susan Gardner if she would be willing to gather supplies for a project he had
in mind. Warner is a Heartwood chapter advisor and a Urban District Forester
for the Texas Forest Service.

John had solicited and received donations for 9 monocular scopes suitable
for the use of young children in studying birds or plants and an additional
8 pairs of binoculars.

John's idea was to have these, along with pamphlets about the forest and
birding supplied by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife, paper,
pencils, and miscellaneous supplies, placed into tote bags that could be
checked out by beginning birders visiting Jones State Forest in groups or as
individuals.

Susan Gardner recruited Sara Barra to assist in this project. Susan had enough donated upholstery fabric to produce the tote bags. Sara and she planned the production of the bags and worked together to make them. This turned out to be easy for the two to develop an "assembly line" or sorts. They enjoyed working together toward a goal that would benefit the forest and Heartwood members. Their combined hours for this project were over twenty not including additional time to stitch on the patches that John provided. The totes were presented at the Heartwood chapter meeting on February 3, 1009. The women were thrilled by the completion of the effort, each feeling that since they had been asked to do it, their product would be appreciated and used.

The Rolling Plains Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist is partnering with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to monitor prairie dogs colonies in North Texas. Currently the chapter has adopted three locations and will be adding more. One of the sites in Clay County is also home to several burrowing owls.   Our mission is to share with the public about the importance of prairie dogs as a keystone species. Until the black-tailed prairie dog is added to the endangered species list, our role is to change public opinion about them.

“Nine different wildlife species depend on the prairie dog and their habitat for their survival. The prairie dog is a critical component to healthy North American grasslands.”                                                           

Charter members of the Cypress Basin Chapter following the certification ceremony in 2008. The chapter recently began class number two with 13 trainees enrolled. The Cypress Basin chapter includes Harrison and Marion counties.

Texas Master Naturalists from the Red River Chapter participated in the annual Bald Eagle Survey at Pat Mayse Lake near Paris, Texas.

Under the direction of Pat Mayse Park Ranger Jeff Paskin, Red River Texas Master Naturalists surveyed the 5900 acre lake from the water and land positions.

One mature and six immature bald eagles were observed during the survey.

Pictured are RRTMN Elouise Prater, Gloria Cox, Velma Davidson, James Davidson, David Cook, Park Ranger Jeff Paskin, Lueron Erickson, Sheri Schwed and Janet Phillips.

The Red River Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist is sponsoring a wild bird identification seminar on Monday, January 19, 2009.

The seminar will be conducted by renowned birder, Dr. Rob Wiedenmann, professor and Department Head of the Department of Entomology at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Wiedenmann has traveled all over the world "birding" and will share his knowledge at a half-day (or longer) seminar for the local Texas Master Naturalists and anyone else interested in birds.

The seminar will begin at 8:00 am and be held in the Greenwood community, north of Clarksville, on a beautiful 1800-acre private ranch managed for wildlife abundance and diversity. Habitats at Greenwood include mixed riparian forest, wetlands, oxbow lakes, beaver impoundments, spring fed creek, hardwood-pine woodlands and open meadows.

Dr. J.W. Smith, one of the founders of the local Texas Master Naturalist chapter said "Dr. Wiedenmann is an entertaining and excellent speaker, and very experienced birder. I am confident you will not want to miss his visit."

David Cook, another local Texas Master Naturalist Chapter member said "Having a professor and birding expert like Dr. Wiedenmann speaking about birding and bird watching in our area is an outstanding opportunity that should not be missed. We rarely get a chance to hear from an expert of his caliber." Cook also said, "Greenwood is a wonderful non-classroom setting at which to conduct this seminar, everyone will love being there."

For more information about the seminar and directions to the Greenwood community, please contact David Cook at 903-784-3798 (Paris area) or J.W. Smith at 903-966-2722 (Clarksville area).