We are Carla and Alex, two trainees in the 2015 Texas Master Naturalist class, and we’d like to welcome you to our blog!
Over the next three months, we’ll be writing about our classes and field experiences, interviewing other newbies, and sharing recipes for the delicious snacks at our meetings. We hope you enjoy taking this journey with us, but first, we’d like to answer some questions about who we are and why we want to become Master Naturalists.
Tell us a little about yourself.
CARLA: I grew up in the Houston area where I spent my summers and weekends on the bays and beaches of the Gulf Coast. In 2000, I earned a BA in history and English from the University of Houston and also got married! We spent the next decade hiking, traveling and working all over the world before settling in a little house in downtown Bastrop in 2010. I’ve been a waitress, a teacher, and a tour guide, but mostly I play in my garden, paddle the Colorado, walk my dog around the local trails, read lots of books, and drink too much coffee.
ALEX: First and foremost, I’m a wife to my lovely husband, Bruce, and a dog-mom to my naughty Shiba Inu, Saskia. Together, we’ve traveled far and wide, and we’ve spent countless hours biking, hiking through state and national parks, and reveling in all that the outdoors offer. In 2007, we moved to Bastrop where we bought acreage in the beautiful Lost Pines and spent several years building two off-the-grid yurts. We lived on our property throughout the building process, but after losing one of the yurts and most of our pine trees to the fires, we decided to move to downtown Bastrop. We met and fell in love with a small community of friends here that make living as enjoyable as can be imagined! Currently, I’ve taken a leave of absence from my job as a flight attendant to earn a B.S. in Mathematics and a high school teaching certificate from the University of Texas. I enjoy being a student again, and as I see it, the Texas Master Naturalists have offered me the opportunity to continue my life as such: a student!
How did you hear about Texas Master Naturalists?
CARLA: I met two Lost Pines Chapter members, Cat and Frank May, at a restaurant in downtown Bastrop. They’d spent the morning with friends clearing trails and cleaning up trash, and they told me all about the Colorado River Refuge, the Lost Pines Nature Trail, and other volunteer projects they do with the Master Naturalists. Before long, they became some of my favorite people, and I wanted to meet more people like them.
ALEX: For me, joining the Texas Master Naturalists is a way to meet similar-minded people with compatible interests and goals. When Cat told me about the program, it sounded like something I’d really enjoy. This is an opportunity for me to continue my education about the natural world through monthly lectures and interactions with biologists, professors, and professionals across a variety of domains.
What Texas Master Naturalist projects are you hoping to join?
CARLA: There are a lot of choices! I’m excited to help out with the Colorado River Refuge. I’ve been paddling from Fisherman’s Park to the outlet in Tahitian Village for several years, so I’ve watched its evolution from a sometimes trashy and undeveloped mud pit to a beautiful clean space with trails and a road. It’s inspirational and empowering to hear the story of how a handful of motivated and persistent volunteers made such an impact in their community.
ALEX: I’m looking forward to leading some interpretive hikes at Bastrop and Buescher State Parks. I spend a lot of time outdoors hiking and biking, and I’d love to be able to walk the trails with some understanding of what I am looking at and how the natural processes around me take place. Additionally, I would really enjoy helping to groom and build trails in the surrounding areas so I hope to join the Bridge Maniacs. My husband is a professional trail builder, and we’d both love to see our trail network grow and improve in the coming years!
Why do you think the Texas Master Naturalist program is important?
CARLA: I love to be outdoors, and well-managed outdoor spaces improve the health of the community- the wildlife as well as the people. The Master Naturalist projects increase the opportunities for people to become engaged with the outdoors. For example, it’s easier and more pleasant now to take my canoe out at the Lost Pine Nature Trail since I don’t have to worry about my car getting stuck!
ALEX: People will take their kids and their dogs for long walks if they have beautiful and comfortable places to do it. Once we get outdoors, we enjoy the experience more if we understand what we are looking at, so I think the interpretive hikes and nature classes for children and adults are really important.
What are your first impressions of the program?
CARLA: Both the trainees and the mentors are enthusiastic and interesting people from all walks of life, and I’m happy to be around people who want to focus on real things in our immediate environment.The demands of modern work, family and commuting require us to do so much future-planning, online work and multi-tasking that I spend a lot of time disconnected from the here and now.
ALEX: Yes, it’s an amazing group of people! It’s refreshing to join a group that wants to talk about birds, bugs and the weather! Plus, there are snacks!
What do you hope to learn during your training?
CARLA: In a couple of weeks, I’m going to learn to use a chainsaw! Since I’ve been attracting birds to my own yard for years, I’m curious to learn more about local birds. Also, I’ve always wanted to look up at the night sky and be able to name the stars and the constellations, so I hope to find an astronomy class for my advanced training hours. Generally, I just want to learn to better see the world around me.
ALEX: I hope to learn more about the wildlife and plants not only in the surrounding state parks but also on my own land, not far from Buesher State Park. At the first meeting, someone stated that anytime you learn something new, it opens a door to new ways of experiencing the world, and that is something I absolutely agree with.