Excitement for Eco Explorers!

Excitement for Eco Explorers! By Kathy Boys, Class of 2023

Wow! What a wild and wonderful fall season of exploring we had with Girl Scout youth and their leaders and parents. We more than doubled the interest when compared to our inaugural events in the fall of 2023. Every single event this fall had a long waiting list of girls wanting to attend. How we wish we were able to accommodate more girls.

Just the facts: We took 121 Girl Scouts and 60 adults on four amazing adventures to Connemara, the Frisco Commons, and Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve. We added Marla Layne to our BPTMN leadership team of Kathy and Randy Boys, Vicki Sanders, and Kim Montange. I want to give a big SHOUT OUT! to new and previous BPTMN guides and speakers who joined us and shared their knowledge with the Girl Scouts, including Daniel Miranda, Cyndy Spangrud, Jane Palmer, Ann Imig, and Katie Potter. Cyndy has been specifically helping with guiding the Daisy level Girl Scouts at 3 of the 4 events. Daniel guided us at Oak Point Park, Katie at the Frisco Commons, and Jane and Ann assisted with our inaugural Night Hike and Star Party at Connemara, which was a rousing success.

Thanks to, in part, our BPTMN grant money, Eco Explorers also started a fun patch program this year which has been well received. The first time a girl attends an event she receives the center round ‘nature’ patch, and then for each additional event she attends, she earns a rocker (see photo). We already have girls that have earned 3 rockers! Fun patches are a great reminder of the event and knowledge gathered. At the end of every event, we do an evaluation, and the reviews have been great despite the 2 events that happened in record heat … so we know we are on to something (and have been fine tuning our activities). The girls have really enjoyed using the equipment, such as the hand lenses and bug boxes that we also purchased with grant money! It’s fun to see their enthusiasm when they observe nature closely. For many, it is the first time doing so!

Topics this fall were very diverse, but all included a talk about the Blackland Prairie and its unique ecosystem and our BPTMN program. This season’s first event focused on shapes in nature: symmetry and bilateral symmetry in nature (butterflies and leaves), tessellations (snake skin, honeycombs and wasp homes), nature shape data collection through observation, how spider webs are shaped, the Fibonacci sequence (pine cones, sun flowers), and fractals in nature (tree branching and lightning). Girls were able to observe these concepts in the natural world around us as we took our nature walk. The topic of the Frisco Commons event was Ecology, taught through a series of formal age-appropriate Girl Scout ‘badges’ from kindergarten through 8^th grade. Girls learned about the flora and fauna in the Blackland Prairie and how to respect and protect nature through good environmental stewardship practices. We covered numerous topics such as the impact of littering; waterway pollution and water testing; prairie restoration; staying on trails; not disturbing animal homes; the Leave No Trace principles; and how to observe nature and leave it how you found it to have minimal impact. Topics at the Oak Point Park event included animal observation and animal habitats as well as trees. On our nature walk we identified animals and their homes, types of trees and other plants and the animals that rely on them for food and homes, how to locate the homes, and how to take field notes as well as draw the flora and fauna. The night hike at Connemara was a special event focusing on using your senses at night on a night hike, which animals are active at night, and how they use their senses. We heard the noises that switch grass and other grasses and tree leaves make in a breeze, smelled the earthy smell as we reached the riparian area and listened to running water in the creek, and listened for the sounds of coyotes and night birds such as the barred owl. We also talked about the full moon (Beaver Moon on that night); the stars and constellations; and light pollution and how it can mess with bird migration and other night animal senses.

It is our hope we will inspire a budding wildlife biologist or other nature scientist. We also hope that we helped adults and girls connect with the natural world around them through observation and knowledge and learn to appreciate it. Perhaps we will inspire them (and others) to protect the Blackland Prairie and other ecosystems, or even become one of us…. a Texas Master Naturalist. Come join us in our mission of inspiring young minds to grow up to make the world a better place, as well as inspiring their adults to support them in their endeavors.