Rick Travis, Class of 2018
Wow! 2025 was a wonderful year for the Blackland Prairie chapter, with (continued) significant growth in both membership and volunteer hours contributed by our chapter!
As 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 2026 will Bring”. Here we go…
New Blood:
Class of 2025:
We added a great new group of Master Naturalists this year with the graduation of the Class of 2025. The 2025 class is loaded with energy and talent! 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, 36 of the 45 class graduates have achieved their initial certification, and 23 graduates also hit the recertification milestone requirements this year! This was an excellent class!
Transferees and Reactivations:
We had 12 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.
Recognition and Achievements
2025 will be another record-setting year for service hours and the number of members recording service hours, and advanced training! We’ll surpass 40,000hrs in volunteer service, and 4200 advanced training hours, both will be new records for our chapter!
Major Volunteer Milestones were achieved by several of our members in 2025: Georgette Guernsey, Tom Shackelford, and Marla Layne were awarded the 4000 volunteer hours pin. Lisa Travis, Karen Spaulding-Wright, and Linda Nixon were awarded the 5000 volunteer hours pin. And last (but certainly not least!), Karen Mitchell hit 20,000 volunteer hours!!!
New Programs and Innovations
We added several important programs and project updates in 2025. Here’s a sampling:
Birth of the Youth Engagement Team!
This team’s mission is to build activities for children that help them develop an understanding and relationship with our natural world (in a fun way!). This team has expanded the educational opportunities for children and families at several key chapter events, such as our mothing/blacklight events, and seasonal community events and activities.
Colmena Ranch Plant Rescue
Our chapter was given the opportunity to execute a plant rescue operation on a very large property slated for development in McKinney. Since the project started, our chapter has rescued thousands of plants and an untold amount of seed from the 2500-acre property. This project is ongoing and will continue until the graders arrive. Many thanks to our Colmena Ranch Rescue Project Manager, Kim Muzquiz, and all the folks that have participated in this great rescue opportunity.
Chapter Awarded a 2nd “Pollinators for Texas” Grant to Support the Monarch View Project
HEB awarded our chapter a 2nd grant in 2025 for $4000 to continue the great work being done to create a pollinator and wildlife habitat at Monarch View Park. To date over 4000 plants have been added to the park, and the plants have thrived due to the dedication and tireless persistence of Laura Kuwayama and a supporting cast of both BPTMN members and community volunteers.
There were additional innovations, continued projects and plant rescue efforts launched within our chapter in 2025, and for those involved in expanding our chapter’s reach and impact within our communities, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
In Memoriam
We lost a fellow Master Naturalist and great friend in 2025. Cissy St. James, Class of 2024, will be very much missed. Cissy donated a significant gift to our chapter, which will be utilized to honor her legacy as our chapter pursues its mission of education, restoration, and conservation of the natural resources in our area.
To the Future, and Beyond!
What will 2026 bring? There are a few things under our umbrella we can count on:
- Our chapter will have a new President effective Jan 1: Current Vice President Vicki Sanders was elected President for the 2026-2027 term via acclimation at the November chapter meeting.
- With Vicki’s move to President, I’m appointing our current Community Engagement Director, Marla Layne, as interim Vice President, to complete Vicki’s VP term in 2026.
- Tina Burke has been appointed as our 2026 Community Engagement Director.
- Dave Powell is stepping down as State Representative with the conclusion of this year. Tom Shackelford has been appointed as our chapter State Rep for 2026.
- Yours Truly will shift to the “Immediate Past President” position on the Board.
I want to thank Dave Powell and Mike Roome for serving on our Board these past years. They’ve been immensely valuable as experienced leaders on our Board, and their input and guidance will be greatly missed.
To wrap this summary in a purdy holiday bow, I’d like to share a couple of quotes that I try to personally follow as a Texas Master Naturalist. following.
This first is a quote from Naturalist and Bat Expert Merlin Tuttle. Merlin is renowned for developing productive relationships with organizations in creating conservation programs and efforts. In this quote he shares his simple approach:
“You can’t win battles without allies, and you can’t win allies if you fight with everyone who doesn’t agree with you.”
Here’s my 2nd quote, which I’ve shared 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 for the past 4 years.
2026, Here we come!!! Remember…our work as TMNs is important but be sure to have fun doing it!
Rick
