When I was a kid, I spent countless hours outside, climbing trees, inspecting plants and insects, or just hanging out reading a book. I used to examine the pictures in…
NATURE CONNECTS, by Texas Master Naturalist Evelyn Penrod
Bythewood. That is the last name of my best friend since childhood. I am from East Texas, and she did live by the woods. I spent so much time at…
EXPLORING A NEW TRAIL IS HEAVEN ON EARTH, by Texas Master Naturalist Peter Joseph
My parents were transplants from West Texas who moved to San Antonio due to the consolidation of Air Force Bases in the 1950’s. I was the third child, but the…
TURF WARS OR: ECO CONSCIOUSNESS BEGINS AT HOME, by Texas Master Naturalist Amanda Love
When I was ten years old, I received a subscription to a National Geographic kids’ magazine called The World. This coincided with an education from my favorite school teacher about…
OUR PATHWAY TO BECOMING TEXAS MASTER NATURALISTS, by Pat and Becky McGuire, AAMN Class 43
We grew up as “free range” kids in central Minnesota. Becky’s family lived on a 125-acre tree farm with 100,000 planted trees in addition to the natural forested areas. She…
Fish, Ichthyology
Stephen Curtis Stephen Curtis is an Aquatic Biologist in the River Studies Program at Texas Parks & Wildlife Department based in San Marcos, TX. He received a B.S. in Wildlife…
TRAIL SITTING, by Texas Master Naturalist Jim Baker
I go RV camping at least once a month. Some months, I get lucky and go two or three times. It is something I yearn for. Even thinking about an…
NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR PASSIONS, by Texas Master Naturalist Vanessa Velazquez
Sanctuary: a place that provides safety or protection… When I first arrived at the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Sanctuary (WRRS) in Kendalia, Texas, a feeling of calm came over me….
THE GIFT GEOLOGY HAS GIVEN ME, by Texas Master Naturalist Gary Poole
As a boy, I, like many people in their childhoods, collected rocks. Or so I called it. Mostly it involved picking up unusual specimens, applying some fantastic origin story to…
WHERE’S WALDEN?, by Texas Master Naturalist Krin Van Tatenhove
After having it on my booklist for decades, I finally slogged my way through Walden. Thoreau can be obtuse, but the gems buried in his prose are worth the effort….