“The best place to study nature is at one’s own home –
on the farm, in the mountains, by the sea –
wherever that may be.”
by American Naturalist John Burroughs
Nature At Its Best!
We have a very rich web site chock full of fascinating information about the natural world in which we live, especially here in our beloved Milam County – home of many beautiful natural treasures and abundant wildlife. Let us share it all with you.
Please see our full Website Table of Contents tab above, and be sure to visit some of our major offerings. Here’s an outline.
- Calendar and Current Events – our Calendar as maintained on Google Calendar showing highlights, and the latest weekly events email “ECRMN This Week” that is emailed to everyone.
- Organization tells you who we are and how to contact us, what the Master Naturalist program is all about, how to join, and more.
- Natural Areas of Interest – pick your favorite area of nature and see what we have for you in terms of definitions, copies of class and advanced training presentations, recommended web sites and our favorite books and guides. This is one of the richest contents on our website.
- Chapter Projects – See all our past and current projects, such fun, great education.
- Volunteer Project Guidelines includes project requirements, guidelines, approval process and more
- Our “Nature at It’s Best” Newsletters has all our quarterly Newsletters from the beginning of our chapter in 2008 until recently, with several being awarded “Best Newsletter” at the Annual Conferences. We now have a very active Blog for distributing news, events and discoveries.
- Nature Festivals for “kids” of all ages held for 5 years in a row in Cameron and Rockdale, with great projects and education for youth and adults.
- Photos provided by members and others, and neat slide shows on nature, includes various photos of classes, our member photo gallery so you can place names with faces, some really great powerpoint slide shows about nature in general. The link is there to our Chapter photo albums on Google Photos which contains a huge variety of photos of past and current events.
- Nature of Milam County Projects covers numerous special documentation on Milam County features, local birds, mammals, trees, wildflowers and more.
- Special Projects describes past and current local efforts to document and share some unique goodies, including our present “Bring Back the Monarchs” project with our own Monarch Way Station and Garden.
- Training, Advanced Training and hours tells about our classes and advanced training opportunities and how to claim hours, including our past and current class curriculums, field trips and more.
- Library is our collection of chapter guidelines, Bylaws, meeting minutes, reporting templates, and other operating documents.
- Members Area is a password controlled login area for members only documents: such as our members phone numbers and email / mail addresses, directions to members homes, and financial statements, etc. that are not open to the public.
- Website Table of Contents is a complete listing of all our pages.
Our Mission:
To develop a corps of well-educated “Master Volunteers” to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated toward the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities.
Method:
The program will furnish participants with essential information and strategies to restore and conserve our indigenous species and habitats, on their own land, or anywhere in the County or State. Throughout training, area experts will cover interesting topics about our natural resources and lead hands-on field trips to area ecosystems.
Projects:
Texas Master Naturalist trainees may select from a wide variety of approved local projects to volunteer their time, including habitat restoration, native plant rescues, wildlife management, school educational projects, public educational presentations, and projects of their own design. The opportunities are limited only by your imagination.
Interested in learning more about the overall program and how to join, Program overview page and How to Join.