How do I join the Texas Master Naturalists?
Every certified Texas Master NaturalistTM must complete a 40-hour training course on the region’s natural features and the impact people have on nature. Training courses are held twice per year for Coastal Prairie Chapter—each spring for day classes and each fall for evening classes. The course includes presentations by biologists, geologists, naturalists, and others from local, state, and federal agencies and universities.
To complete training, each must donate 40 hours of volunteer service and 8 hours of advanced training (which is conveniently built into the course) within a calendar year. To maintain the certification each year, another 40 hours of volunteer service and 8 hours of advanced training is required.
Advanced training enables Texas Master Naturalists to gain additional knowledge or learn particular skills needed to assist with different volunteer projects. Advanced training activities in the past have involved hands-on instruction, field trips to local natural areas, and lectures with such topics as Texas bats, Texas insects, Texas aquatic environments, wildscape development, and trail planning, among many others.
All volunteer service and advanced training activities must be approved by the Chapter Board of Directors and you must report hours digitally to get credit. Once all requirements are met, you will receive a certificate and dragonfly pin and will be certified as a Texas Master Naturalist Coastal Prairie Chapter!
When and where are the meetings?
Chapter membership meets each month for a training program and meeting on the first Thursday of the month at 7:00 PM, January through October. Please check our calendar for specific dates and locations, but in-person is typically held at the Rosenberg Convention Center on Hwy 36 with remote meeting via Zoom platform.
Field trips are offered to members several times per year which may be held on any day of the week. Check our calendar for details.
What are “dragonfly pins?”
The Master Naturalist program offers a series of beautifully crafted pins commemorating different milestone achievements within the program; volunteer service milestone hours are cumulative. Each milestone pin honors the volunteer who has donated:
- 250 hours (bronze dragonfly pin)
- 500 hours (silver dragonfly pin)
- 1,000 hours (gold dragonfly pin)
- 2,500 hours (polished silver dragonfly pin)
- 4,000 hours (polished gold dragonfly pin with ruby)
- 5,000 hours (gold dragonfly pin with a diamond)
- 10,000 hours (polished gold with emerald)