The Mission: To develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities. Many communities and organizations rely on such citizen volunteers for implementing youth education programs; for operating parks, nature centers, and natural areas; and for providing leadership in local natural resource conservation efforts. In fact, a short supply of dedicated and well-informed volunteers is often cited as a limiting factor for community-based conservation efforts.
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Become a Master Naturalist
Texas Master Naturalists not only get their feet wet and their hands dirty, but while doing so they spend time in a natural setting, learn about different plant and animal species, and maybe even find something new: One member, in fact, discovered a new plant species.
To become a Texas Master Naturalist, each volunteer:
- Goes through an approved training program with at least 40 hours of combined field and classroom instruction, plus 8 hours of approved advanced training
- Donates 40 hours of volunteer service back to the state and community. Trainees can complete their 40 hours of volunteer service and 8 hours of advanced training within a year after their initial training.
- Completes another 8 hours of advanced training and donates 40 hours of volunteer service every year after the first one.
Interested in joining? If you can’t find a chapter near you, contact the Texas Master Naturalist coordinator, a local office of Texas Parks and Wildlife or a local county Extension agent.
Become A Master Naturalist
Want to know more?
Here’s some facts:
Since the organization’s founding in 1998,
Texas Master Naturalists have contributed
more than 1,003,409 hours of service on
90,000 acres of wildlife and native plant
habitats, and reached more than 1.2
million Texas residents of all ages.
These volunteer efforts are worth
more than $20 million.
Currently 5,306 Texas Master Naturalist™
volunteers serve in 39 local chapters across
the state, and new chapters are opening
all the time.
The program has earned the Wildlife
Management Institute’s Presidents’
2000 Award, the National Audubon
Society’s 2001 Habitat Hero’s Award,
the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission’s 2001 Environmental
Excellence Award, and Texas A&M
University’s 2001 Vice Chancellor’s
Award of Excellence in Partnership.
In 2005 program earned the U.S.
Department of Interior’s “Take Pride
in America” award.
