Time to Restore Program
Presenter: David Gwin- State Coordinator for Time to Restore program.
David is available to talk to chapters about the program. This program looks at the disparity between pollinator migration and the plants they are using. Plants are more adaptable to changes in weather and climate, but the pollinator insects are not. The program is looking at whether the insects are appearing at the same time that the plants are available for pollination. There are priority nectar species that are tracked in Nature’s Notebook. We can identify those in the Pineywoods area and utilize Nature’s Notebook to track them. We need training on utilizing Nature’s Notebook (we already have a VMS code) and the program itself.
iNaturalist Miniseries
Presenter: Wendy Anderson is available to do presentations on Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). These can be plants or animals in our area that have been identified as species that need to be observed. They are using iNaturalist to run the program and track the data.
Presenter: Sam Kieschnick, State Urban Wildlife Biologist, put out a plea to go to local public parks and do a mini bioblitz to gather data. We will be doing this as a new project to be presented during our 2025 training class. We will look for a small park in each of our four counties and at least two volunteers to do a mini bioblitz once per season, Stay tuned for the Urban Park Bioblitz Project.
We will be adding the Winter’s Bayou trail to our trails, and starting with the next training class we will be offering training that includes conducting a mini-bioblitz on your walk and nature journaling.
Adopt-a-Loop Program
Presenter: Shelley Plante, Texas Parks and Wildlife. We will be adding the Winter’s Bayou trail to our trails, and starting with the next training class we will be offering training that includes conducting a mini-bioblitz on your walk and nature journaling.
Urban Wildlife in Backyards
Presenter: Jerrel Geisler, of the Heartwood chapter. Jerrel gave this presentation on how to co-exist with wildlife as we encroach on their territory. Again, it was emphasized that we need to note the changes in wildlife patterns around us. We are losing some species, but those that learn to cope with the changes start moving into human territory to survive.