Texas Master Naturalists, Blackland Prairie Chapter!

2024: The Year in Review

2024 was a fabulous year for the Blackland Prairie chapter, punctuated by significant growth in both membership and volunteer hours contributed by our chapter!

As I’ve done with past year-end reviews, I’ve organized my thoughts into a handful of buckets: “New Blood”, “Member Achievements”, “New Programs and other Innovations”, a couple of “Special Mentions”, and, finally, gazing into my MN crystal ball, “What 2025 will Bring”. Here we go…

New Blood:

Class of 2024:

We added a fantastic new group of Master Naturalists this year with the graduation of the Class of 2024. There’s a lot of energy and a wide variety of skill sets found in this class, and I’m confident there are numerous members within this class that will assume leadership positions and/or make significant contributions to our chapter and community going forward. As of this writing, 42 of the 45 class graduates have achieved their initial certification, and 27 graduates also hit the recertification milestone requirements this year! This was an excellent class!

Transferees and Reactivations:

We had 23 Master Naturalists either transfer to Blackland Prairie from other chapters or reactivate their membership in 2024. These folks have brought immediate benefits to our chapter with their energy and talents! We’re truly fortunate, and grateful, for their contributions to the TMN program and our community.

Recognitions and Achievements

2024 will be another record-setting year for service hours and the number of members recording service hours, and advanced training! Here are the latest numbers, as of Dec. 1:

Year	2024 to-date	2023 final	2022 final	2021 final
Total number VH reported	35435	27935	25423	22441
Total members reporting VH	233	203	183	173
Total number of AT hours reported	4088	3616	2745	2812
Total members reporting AT	234	209	178	173
Total number of opportunities	102	104	100	95
Total members reporting VH/AT	241	211	186	185

Major Volunteer Milestones were achieved by four of our members in 2024: Karen Spaulding-Wright, Linda Nixon, and Carol Clark were awarded the Presidential Award for hitting 4000 Volunteer hours. Yours truly hit the 5000 hour mark this year.

New Programs and Innovations

We added several important programs and innovations in 2024:

Birth of the Moth Squad!

With our chapter’s involvement in more and more black light/moth-ing events, we’ve formed an “official” team of moth-ing nerds, with a uniform and everything!

Field Badge Program

The much less expensive (but very snappy looking) field badge manufactured by our own chapter member Scott Aldrich, was launched in January, and has experienced great, consistent demand.

Only $3 each, or two for $5…. such a deal!!! Here is the link – Field Badge Order Form

Texas Nature Trackers Bat Acoustic Monitoring Project

Our chapter participated in this year’s state-wide initiative to track Texas’ bat population, by species. This project required extensive coordination for the set-up of monitors in the field, and post-monitoring analysis. Many thanks to Linda Nixon for coordinating this effort, and all the chapter members that participated in the study.

New Municipal Native Area Restoration Programs

Our chapter has developed native ecosystem maintenance and restoration work programs with several organizations this year, including the city of Plano, city of Prosper, and Collin College. Such programs don’t just happen…it takes a significant amount of patience, time, and energy to initiate, coordinate, and communicate these projects as a start-up, and then as an ongoing program. Hats off to all our members that championed, and will continue to champion, these great new projects.

The chapter also began developing a couple of exciting Community Engagement initiatives late in the year:

Youth Engagement Committee

The intent of this program is to develop tools and programs that will introduce nature to the youth and children in our community, and all the benefits it provides. The committee was formed very recently and will explore ideas and implement youth programs in the coming year…. stay tuned!

Project HOME

This program will provide homeowners and landowners access to information, advice, and guidance for converting their property into native flora that attracts, vs repels, our local wildlife, and supports our native ecosystems. – Click the link to learn more about it – Program HOME – Environmental Consulting

In Memorium

We lost three great friends in 2024. They’re very much missed:
Beverly Carpenter – Class of 2013
Nick Nixon – Class of 2019
Bruce Evans – Husband of Sally Evans

To the Future, and Beyond!

What will 2025 bring? There are a few things under our umbrella we can count on:

• Our chapter will have three new members on the Board:
  • Vicki Sanders will serve as chapter Vice President.
  • Stephanie Gonzalez will serve as chapter Secretary.
  • Jean Higgins will serve as our chapter Membership Director.
  • Nancy Casillas will serve as Training Director for the Class of 2025.
  • I know all four will do a wonderful job in their positions, and I really appreciate their “stepping up” to assume these leadership roles.
  • I’d also like to thank the outgoing Board members: Stephanie Cleveland, Michelle Norris, Paulette Platko, and Lisa Travis, for their work in 2024. Stephanie, Michelle, Paulette, and Lisa were wonderful partners, and an immense help to me this year. We’ll miss you on the Board…and don’t be shocked if I ask you for some help and advice down the road!
• We plan to update some current programs and create new innovative approaches in the coming year that are intended to help our chapter’s ability to serve the very, very rapidly growing Collin/Hunt County area. Stay tuned!

To wrap this summary in a nice holiday bow, I’d like to share the following. I’ve shared this quote before, but I think it’s worth re-visiting. This was written by author Candace Savage, from her excellent book Prairie: A Natural History. I really like what she says here…personally it helps me keep focused on the job-at-hand as a Texas Master Naturalist in the DFW metroplex. Also, for me, while her quote is prairie-centric, it also applies to woodlands, aquatic systems…any of our natural areas.

“There is no way to hold back the future. But we can shape the course of events by engaging – fully, deeply, and passionately-with the present. The survival of the wild prairie and its creatures will depend, in no small part, on our ability to ensure their well-being right now. By protecting and enhancing wild prairie, and managing the working landscape for wildness, we can strengthen and enhance the ecosystem, in all its diversity and abundance, both for our sake, and for those who come after us. This approach is sometimes referred to as a strategy of “no regrets,” because the work is worth doing now, no matter what happens next.”   

Lastly, it’s been my pleasure, my honor, serving as your Chapter President this year.

2025, Here we come!!! Remember…our work as TMNs is important but be sure to have fun doing it!

Rick