are active in many facets of the community. In April, master naturalists participated in Earth Day/Bay Day activities in Corpus Christi for the sixth consecutive year. With an array of terrestrial and marine animal and plant specimens, naturalists provide local habitat education and outreach to hundreds of children and adults each year. In June, the South Texas chapter has been invited to participate in the World of Water event sponsored by the city’s Water Department.
In May, master naturalists joined forces with members of the Audubon Outdoor club Blucher Bunch to control the spread of Catclawvine, Macfadyena, at Blucher Park, a renown birding site in Corpus Christi. Macfadyena is a Texas invasive that can quickly smother native vegetation. The project will continue periodically throughout the year.
Master Naturalists and citizen scientists for the Texas Invasives Program, Grace Lopez and Chad Huckabee assisted Mike Murphrey with a Texas Invasives training program for Moody HS teachers. On August 12th,
we met with Mike at the TAMUCC bay trail to survey the area for invasive
plants. We were able locate stands of Guinea grass, Kleberg Bluestem,
Johnson’s grass, Buffelgrass, Giant Cane, Tamarix, and Popinac and Brazilian Pepperbush. On August 14th, we met the teachers at the trail and led them to identify, get a GPS reading and document each of the invasives on the trail.
(Grace Lopez is standing second from left in first standing row. Chad
is 2nd from the right on the last row. Ist photo; Mike Murphrey is 3rd
from the left (with white T-shirt) in standing row.)
South Texas Master Naturalists Garden Workday with the Boy Scouts.
The Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History sponsors an annual boy scout camp. South Texas Master Naturalists have been invited to participate for the last several years. To comply with community service project goals, the boy scouts assist master naturalists with summer maintenance of the Santa Maria Plaza Bird n’ Butterfly Garden, a project of South Texas Master Naturalists. The boys and their sponsors worked side by side with master naturalists on a day that can only be described as extremely hot, humid and with little or no breeze. As naturalists trimmed shrubs, the boy scouts carried debris to the dumpster, raked, and spread a truckload of mulch in the garden beds. They worked enthusiastically and relentlessly. Their only reprieve from the heat were frequent rest, water and shade breaks with intermittent head drenching with the water hose. Needless to say, the head drenching was a hit and the boys came back for more.
With approximately 50 workhorse boy scouts, we were able to complete the garden work within two hours. We almost beat the 109 degree heat index for that day. These boys were a great inspiration for us, and we are very grateful for their help in achieving our task.
1. Master naturalist, David Griffin, works with boy scouts trimming and raking Esperanza bed outside the garden gate in first photo.
2. A group of boy scouts pose by the MN garden sign in the second photo and enjoy a head drenching in the last photo.
3. Other naturalists that participated were Ellen Anderson, Jeannie O’Leary, Sibyl Deacon, Chad Huckabee and Grace Lopez
are active in many facets of the community. In April, master naturalists participated in Earth Day/Bay Day activities in Corpus Christi for the sixth consecutive year. With an array of terrestrial and marine animal and plant specimens, naturalists provide local habitat education and outreach to hundreds of children and adults each year. In June, the South Texas chapter has been invited to participate in the World of Water event sponsored by the city’s Water Department.
In May, master naturalists joined forces with members of the Audubon Outdoor club Blucher Bunch to control the spread of Catclawvine, Macfadyena, at Blucher Park, a renown birding site in Corpus Christi. Macfadyena is a Texas invasive that can quickly smother native vegetation. The project will continue periodically throughout the year.
Note: Caption
1:Chad Huckabee works with children at the Earth Day/Bay Day festival.
Caption 2: Karl Kirksmeyer, John McElroy, Olga Beaber and Cliff Beaber and Grace Lopez (not included) form the Catclawvine eradication team in May.