Current News

Call for Virtual Volunteer Fair projects

Texas Master Naturalists – please share the following with your conservation partners and natural resource organizations . . . .

Have a project idea but need help doing it? Do you have field data to collect? Computer research to do? If it can be done by volunteers, we can help!

Our volunteers are back to work and asking for more! Our Texas Master Naturalist Volunteers are dedicated to natural resource conservation work, but as a result of extreme circumstances during the pandemic our members were limited in conducting many of their typical outreach, technical guidance and community stewardship service projects which limited their ability to obtain their required volunteer service hours. When the health and safety restrictions of the pandemic persisted we thought outside of the box and developed the TMN Virtual Volunteer Fair (VVF) as an opportunity for our partner conservation organizations to present service projects that needed volunteers from a distance or virtually! After two successful TMN VVF events our members are asking for more! This time with the intent to provide virtual service during the hottest months of the year when service in the field becomes less desirable and hits a typical lull until cooler months come around.

We are seeking your “Virtual” and “Distanced Service” project opportunities to add to our Texas Master Naturalist Program’s “Virtual Volunteer Service Fair”! You will present your project(s) online to our statewide membership of Texas Master Naturalist volunteers on August 31st or September 1st, 2021 with short 5-9 minute spotlight presentations to highlight the tasks, expertise and help you need. We will offer time during the event to answer questions and opportunities for volunteers to sign up too! *Note, presentations will run on 10-minute time blocks, if you would like time for Q&A, please consider keeping your presentation under 9 minutes. Volunteers will be able to sign up for projects during the event.

Consider this when developing your project ideas – How could a natural resource trained volunteer help ease your workload or fulfill virtual tasks? Master Naturalists are seeking more ways to volunteer virtually during the hottest months of the year. Try to connect their training and skills with your project needs that can be completed by volunteers working remotely 3 to 5 hours a week.

More information on our website – https://txmn.tamu.edu/virtual-volunteer-fair-august-2021/

What are “Virtual” Projects for Master Naturalist volunteers?

-Any natural resource service that can be done from a computer.

“Virtual” Project Ideas:

• Recruiting curators for needed Texas Nature Tracker projects.

• Develop flora or fauna guides from collected photos or data

• Develop social media content (informational posts, videos, public interaction prompts)

• Perform accessibility reviews on our web pages.

• Review web pages for accuracy, information updates, broken links, etc.

• Technical Guidance video transcriptions

• Literature reviews covering the next Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) species you will be focusing on.

• Mining field resource data

• Writing short article spotlights on species of concern or management practices

What are “Distanced Service” Projects for Master Naturalist volunteers?

-Any natural resource service that can be done independently (field work or otherwise)

-Any natural resource service that can be done from a vehicle/road

-Any natural resource service that can be conducted with social distancing protocols in place. (i.e Groups of 10 or less, social distance practices followed and mask mandates adhered to if required.)

Note – those that are place-based “distanced service” projects (i.e hosted at a nature center or state park) will be initially deferred to the local TMN chapter(s) servicing that county/region. However, there may be “distanced service” projects that are open to statewide volunteer input (i.e water quality testing that can occur in the TMN volunteer’s local county/region territory) and these will also be considered for presentation at the virtual volunteer fair.

“Distanced Service” Project Ideas:

• TMN Chapters adopt Wildlife Viewing Trail maintenance and surveys

• Water Quality testing at specific waterbodies

• Pollinator surveys at public native garden spaces

• Invasive species control at place-based sites (i.e state parks or nature centers)

Virtual Volunteer Fair Logistics:

Using the link below, we will be collecting short written proposals from our conservation partners from across the state of Texas who have volunteer projects that fit the criteria of the Texas Master Naturalist Program volunteer service projects. The submission deadline is Friday July 16^th, 2020. Submissions will be marketed to the 6,000 active TMN volunteer members.

Finally, on Tuesday August 31^st & Wednesday September 1^st, 2021, we will host our Virtual Volunteer Fair through WebEx with short project overview presentations.

What to include in your Written Proposal?

Project title
Short Project description or narrative
Will additional training (Advanced Training – AT) be needed in order to carry the service out? If yes, how many hours of AT would be needed?
Any expertise or experience needed?
Expectations of how and when the service would be carried out?
Why it’s needed, what are the expected outcomes? How will what is being done be used?
Is there any equipment needed by the volunteers? If so, what and how would they need to obtain it?
What is the potential total time commitment of the project? Likely time commitment of volunteers (# of hours/week or per month) and total length of commitment per volunteer. Are hours flexible? Is the time period of the job flexible?

Submit Your Project Here!

The submission deadline is Friday July 16^th, 2020.

Have More Questions?

This continues to be a new opportunity for us and for our volunteers – please let us know if you have any additional questions by emailing us:

Judit Green – Texas Parks & Wildlife Department – Judit.Green@tpwd.texas.gov

Michelle Haggerty – Texas Parks & Wildlife Department – Michelle.Haggerty@tpwd.texas.gov

Mary Pearl Meuth – Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – mpmeuth@tamu.edu

Thank you for considering our Texas Master Naturalist Volunteers for your natural resource conservation service project needs! This venue has served them well over the past year, and they want to continue with this type of work– from a distance! All project proposals will be considered and evaluated based on their virtual or distanced service opportunities. All proposals accepted, regardless of whether presented or not, will be shared with MN volunteers. Also, please feel free to submit as many virtual and distanced service project proposals as you would like.

Texas Master Naturalist – http://txmn.org

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.

Current News Heard VH

VH OPPORTUNITY: Docent in Heard Butterfly House May 20 – October 3

BPTMN Members:

Are you interested in volunteering as a docent in the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary Butterfly House?

The Heard is currently looking for people interesting in becoming docents for the Butterfly House for the current season, May 29 to October 3, 2021.

To become a docent in the Butterfly House you need to do the following:

To be a Butterfly House docent, you must be a Heard Volunteer. If you are not currently a Heard Volunteer, complete an online application: Adult General Volunteer Application.
Attend Docent Training at the Heard Butterfly House on Saturday, June 26, 2021, at 9:30 APM. Contact Joyce Wilson to RSVP for the training at thewilsons@tx.rr.com.

Logging AT: Log docent training for Heard Butterfly House as AT: BPTMN: Other Pre-approved Training with “Butterfly House Docent Training” in comments.

Logging VH: Log docent volunteer time in the Butterfly House as Heard: Butterfly House Docent/Pinning.

If you have questions, contact Joyce Wilson at thewilsons@tx.rr.com.

Get more information about the Heard Butterfly House: https://www.heardmuseum.org/native-texas-butterfly-house-garden/

Linda Nixon
BPTMN Communications Director

Class Current News General

Blackland Prairie TMN Graduation 2021

Photos by Charlise Hill-Larson

AgriLife Extension Current News Photography

Collin County Photography Contest

Collin County Extension Office is hosting our first open photography contest this summer. The theme for this year’s contest is Texas Agriculture, and is open to any resident of Collin County. We have an adult and youth category.

The winners and top picks will also have their photos printed and displayed in an exhibit at the Schimelpfenig Library in plano, as well as at our Ag Expo/Networking Night in November. Information and submissions can be made online at: https://collin.agrilife.org/collin-county-photography-contest/

AT Be the Change Current News

Be the Change | Alex Bailey of Black Outside

Tuesday, May 18, 12PM CST

From Awareness to Allyship: An intro to Black Outside, Inc and engaging BIPOC communities.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 and increased awareness of racial injustice, outdoor participation within black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities has increased. What does this increase mean for outdoor education? In what ways can one act in allyship to ensure a more inclusive outdoors in Texas? Learn from TEDxSan Antonio speaker and founder of Black Outside, Inc who will share more about the work of Black Outside, Inc and explore what it means to be in allyship with BIPOC communities in nature.

Prior to the session, Alex invites you to listen to his TED Talk linked here. Want to know more about Black Outside, Inc? Check out their amazing work here.

Event Date	Tuesday May 18th, 2021
Event Time	12:00 PM Central Daylight Time (Chicago, GMT -0:500)
Registration Link	https://tpwdevents3000.webex.com/tpwdevents3000/onstage/g.php?MTID=ed2dfa4c90f68c61a098ab93df571101f

Current News VH

ONE YEAR LATER Texas Master Naturalist ‘Nature Reflections’ video diary project

One year ago this month as our state and the world progressed into the full realization of the global pandemic and following lockdowns, the Texas Master Naturalist Program took a moment to ask you, our naturalists, to reflect on the benefits of nature in your lives. The Nature Reflections video diary project took life from an idea of a fellow master naturalist program in Oregon and we received an incredible variety of submissions from videos to poems and even an original song! If you haven’t checked these out, please watch these shared videos. They truly are inspiring! https://txmn.tamu.edu/about-the-texas-master-naturalist-program/nature-reflections/

2020 became the year that no one expected. Society entered lockdown, programs were cancelled, gatherings suspended and we were all forced into isolation in quarantine. In true persevering & innovator fashion however, our Texas Master Naturalists adapted and overcame. Meetings and trainings moved to virtual platforms. New communication tools were engaged. And we all still found our moments in nature.

Pausing again in reflection this year, we’re re-launching the Nature Reflections Video Project In celebration of you and your true perseverance, innovation and grit throughout the past year’s trials and tribulations. We invite you to contribute to our One Year Later Nature Reflections Video Project and contribute your naturalist stories and testimonials about the restorative power of Nature and being a Texas Master Naturalist.

As you consider your video contribution please reflect on the following question:

“Reflect upon how nature and specifically, the Texas Master Naturalist Program, has given you refuge or provided benefits in this past year.”

Here are the logistics:

Record your thoughts in a video on your phone or tablet, laptop or computer webcam. This is a video diary project that will be shared on the Texas Master Naturalist website for people to see, enjoy, relate to, and maybe even take comfort in.
On the video, please tell us your name, chapter and what city you live in. If you don’t feel comfortable including your name, chapter and/or city, you do not have to.
Please wear your TMN name badge, shirt or swag!
Please keep your recordings to no longer than up 1 minute if at all possible. Generally, I won’t be editing your video for content, and short videos are viewed much more than long videos.
If you’d rather write your thoughts and reflections rather than recording a video, feel free to share those words with us below.
Follow all locally mandated health requirements and recommendations. Your backyard, kitchen table or living room is just fine. While it might be tempting to take your thoughts to your favorite trail or natural area, please stay safe and abide by these health and safety restrictions.
Please record and upload your video by Monday June 15th using the form below.
Please remember: This doesn’t have to be a polished video – no one expects you to produce a professional-quality video. You don’t need a script, unless you want to write your thoughts down. Just speak from your heart.
And you can earn a little bit of Volunteer Service Hour credit logged under Chapter Admin – limit up to .5 hours please at maximum.
If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. While this is a video exercise, if you would rather share your written thoughts, a meaningful poem or quote relevant to this task, and/or a nature photo you took, please share those as well!
Again, stay safe and healthy, and thank you for your participation in this exercise!
NOTE – If you have any issues with uploading your submission or want to submit in a different avenue (i.e Google Drive or Drop Box), please send Mary Pearl an email – mpmeuth@tamu.edu

Click Here to Submit your Video Submission

Current News Flora and Fauna Trees

Oak Trees are Still Recovering from the Winter Storm

More than two months following the record cold temperatures of Winter Storm Uri, Texans are noticing that some oak trees are still struggling to recover. This has left many of our state’s experts wondering why.

Even Neil Sperry, a Texas gardening and horticulture expert known across the country, has been stunned by the variability, and the scope, of damage left behind by the freeze. Followers of his Facebook page have submitted over 2,000 photos of struggling oak trees, including all varieties of species and from every single region of the state.

“I have been in this business professionally since 1970, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Sperry. “We think of oaks as permanent as concrete and steel, and for them to selectively be affected by this freeze is particularly odd.”

After spending weeks responding to residents and landowners who are concerned about the health and condition of their trees, Sperry decided to pull together a blue-ribbon panel of certified arborists, foresters, extension specialists, nursery leaders, horticulturists and garden communicators to send out a unified message. Their advice to those wondering what they should do, and whether they should cut down their valuable trees, is simple: just wait.

“If your tree is dead, there’s no rush to take it down,” said Courtney Blevins, a Fort Worth Forester with Texas A&M Forest Service. “That’s one big mistake people are making. They’re thinking it’s dangerous to leave a dead tree standing, and it’s not.”

There is no fixed date as to when you might know if your tree is going to survive or not, but Gretchen Riley—the Urban and Community Forestry Program Leader at Texas A&M Forest Service—is suggesting that, if your tree hasn’t produced a single leaf by July, it is most likely dead. For trees that are leafing out, but look scraggly or patchy in their canopy coverage, Riley and Blevins are more optimistic.

“I would wait until next spring to fully make a call on a tree that I care about,” said Riley. “Because they may struggle this year, but after a full year of normality, they may stabilize and come back healthy in the spring.”

With a prolonged deep freeze like the one brought on by Uri, Riley expected some kind of response from the trees – primarily fine-twig and branch dieback. The outermost branches and stems of even the most established trees lack insulation, and would die back in very low temperatures. This is a partial explanation as to why some trees have growth closer to their trunk and innermost branches, while the edges of their canopies remain bare – but it doesn’t explain why so many trees are leafing out late, or not at all.

One popular theory suggests that the trees that are struggling right now were likely stressed or struggling before the winter storm. Riley, for instance, attributes the potential mortality of mature oak trees to the 2011 drought and other pre-existing conditions, but she attributes the overall delay in leafing out to a more natural, physiological process that was interrupted by the freeze.

In mid-late February, Texas trees begin the process of pulling nutrients from their roots up into their branches and twigs. This combination of sugar, starches and water is then used to produce buds, which – over the course of a few weeks – become leaves, and supply the tree with food that can again be stored in the roots for the following winter. However, because there is a liquid component to this energy, it is susceptible to freeze damage. And once frozen, it cannot be repurposed.

“That super freeze froze back a lot of buds that were about to open up,” said Blevins. “Now, the trees that were preparing to bud out have to generate a whole new set of buds, and that takes time.”

While this helps explain the variability of the impact that Texans are seeing on their trees, most residents are more interested in how they can help their trees. Unfortunately, experts are saying there isn’t much you can do, and there is very little that you should do.

“When we get into the heat of the summer, especially if we have abnormal heat, one thing you might want to do is give them supplemental watering once or twice,” said Blevins.

Other than the occasional watering—and you don’t want to overwater your trees, and prevent them from getting the oxygen they need to breathe—Blevins recommends that you do nothing.

This information can be difficult for landowners and tree-lovers to absorb, since it is our tendency as stewards to want to do something. However, when it comes to our trees – especially our mature trees – often times, the more we do, the more harm we cause.

In any case, the consensus among professionals at Texas A&M Forest Service and across the state is simple and direct. Be patient.

“Just wait,” said Sperry. “These trees are coming back at their own pace. Some of them will be lost. But the important word continues to be ‘wait.’ Don’t start cutting those trees.”

For the full article, visit: https://bit.ly/3xOqMR5

If you’re concerned that the trees on your property are suffering from more than just stress, contact a certified arborist. You can find licensed professionals in your area through the Texas A&M Forest Service’s My Land Management Connector app, or at treesaregood.org/findanarborist.

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CONTACT:

Courtney Blevins, Staff Forester, Texas A&M Forest Service, cblevins@tfs.tamu.edu, (817) 531-3119

Gretchen Riley, Urban and Community Forestry Program Leader, Texas A&M Forest Service, griley@tfs.tamu.edu, (979) 458-6650

Stephen O’Shea, Communications Specialist, Texas A&M Forest Service, stephen.oshea@tfs.tamu.edu, (979) 458-6649