A hearty congratulations to the Texas Master Naturalist Class of 2025 on your graduation! Your dedication and hard work are an inspiration, and we’re so excited to welcome you to the community of stewards making a real difference for Texas’ natural wonders.
Shaking the Trees
From Isolation to Inspiration: Celebrating 60 Editions of Shaking the Trees
It is amazing that we are celebrating the 60th edition of Shaking the Trees. As we found ourselves thrown into the glum alienation of COVID, I thought it was imperative that we celebrate accomplishments and become familiar with the uniqueness of every member.
Train the Trainer workshops-teaching about Monarchs any time anywhere with two posters and a stick
Carol Clark, Class of 2010 – Train the Trainer workshops-teaching about Monarchs any time anywhere with two posters and a stick. It worked! With a small starter grant from the Blackland Prairie chapter, a successful workshop series was born.
Making Your Yard A Safe Haven For Opossums And Other Wildlife
Renee Dowhaniuk, Class of 2023 – Plant bushes, trees, and vines next to your fence to allow the opossum to climb down into your yard for a visit. Once your trees mature, allow some branches with leaves to hang down upon the fence, which will become the opossum’s highway along its nightly route, visiting different yards.
Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area (LLELA) Volunteer Opportunities for 2025
Angela Lewallen, Friends of LLELA – I wanted to share some updated information about the volunteer opportunities at LLELA for our BPTMN volunteers. I’ve attached a one-pager for download that lists all the events and contact information at LLELA.
Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman: A Book Review by the Chapter Librarian
Linder Orourke, Class of 2023 – This story is one long tale of Kaufman’s obsession with birds and the magic he experienced when finding rare ones. Every one of his forays into the wilds of America and Mexico and Canada in search of ornithological wonders was funded by his odd jobs like apple picking.
Introducing…the HOME Program
Are you interested in introducing native plants to your yard or attracting butterflies? Would you like to save time and money watering your plants? If so, we encourage you to explore Program HOME.
Rare Coyote on trail cam
Paul Napper, Class of 2015 – Black Coyotes (melanistic) comprise about 5.7% of the coyote population.
The first one I’ve ever seen appeared on my trail cams this year. Over the years, I’ve had many coyotes on trail cams but never a melanistic one. I set up three or four trail cams on deer trails and deer scrapes yearly. The goal is to find where and when the bigger bucks are moving.
Class of 2025 Week 6 – Topic: Botany Speaker: Dr. George Diggs
If plants are your special interest – you would have loved our Week 6 training class on botany. Dr. George Diggs taught us about coevolution and using a dichotomous key. We’ll also never look at flowers the same way.
Class of 2025 Week 4 – Topic: Mammalogy Speaker: Bryon Clark
Cali Bakker, Class of 2024 – What a great class! Our Topic for week 4 was Mammalogy taught by our chapter’s own, Bryon Clark.