Volunteer Service Opportunities

POMN Volunteer Service Opportunities—Revised 11/02/19

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To assist the TMN State Program in its administrative functions, Chapters are required to use the following Service Activity codes when reporting hours to the state.  The federal service activity codes are in the boxes below.  The items in bold are the POMN specific opportunities and will show up in the drop down menu boxes when you report your hours.  The red denotes information for completing the “Describe Your Service” box and for the bullet items the spelling MUST be exact.

Administration—Activities related to managing & running a Texas Master Naturalist Chapter & its committees

CB: Administrative Work

  • Chapter Meeting – activities relating to preparing for, presiding over, or setting up for a regular chapter meeting (other than hospitality activities – see Hospitality below)
  • Board/Committee Work – any activity in support of the chapter through your duties as a chapter recognized committee representative or your activities in conducting chapter business as a member of the Chapter Board of Directors
  • President Duties – any of the chapter activities which, as outlined in the Chapter Operating Handbook, are conducted in your official capacity as Chapter President (planning meeting agendas, interfacing with other chapters or agencies)
  • Vice President Duties- any of the chapter activities which, as outlined in the Chapter Operating Handbook, are conducted in your official capacity as Chapter Vice President (planning programs, interfacing with other chapters or agencies, conducting Chapter business in the President’s temporary absence)
  • Treasurer Duties – any of the chapter activities which, as outlined in the Chapter Operating Handbook, are conducted in your official capacity as the Chapter Treasurer (preparing a budget and budget reports, presenting budget related information to the chapter)
  • Secretary Duties – any of the chapter activities which, as outlined in the Chapter Operating Handbook, are conducted in your official capacity as Chapter Secretary
  • Hours Management – activities relating to the review and approval of submitted hours, the preparation of reports concerning AT and Service hours both to the chapter and the State Program Office; volunteers who are officially designated by the chapter leadership to enter hours for other volunteers when those volunteers are unable to do so themselves
  • Hospitality – those activities related to organizing others to prepare refreshments or the actual preparation of refreshments for chapter activities to include serving, delivery, setup and take down
  • Communications – activities relating to promoting the chapter news and events through the production of a newsletter (writing articles, preparing the newsletter, publishing the newsletter), preparing and publishing a chapter brochure, providing information to newspapers, radio, television and other media outlets
  • Website and Social Media – activities related to developing and maintaining a web site and/or Facebook site for the chapter or other social media outlets
  • Photographer – those activities performed by the person or persons designated by the chapter administration to document chapter functions by means of photography or videography
  • Programs – activities related to providing programs at chapter meetings that meet the criteria for Advanced training at a Chapter Meeting (other than actually presenting at a meeting–see the chapter opportunity for Presentations)
  • Project Management – volunteer time spent in organizing volunteers and preparing for the success of the project; accumulating and reporting the impact data for the activity; preparing needed materials
  • Recruiting – activities related to generating interest among potential eligible trainees in becoming a Texas Master Naturalist
  • Training Classes – activities related to supporting the Training Class though mentorship or as a class helper (distribute hand-outs); does not include presentation time
  • Fundraising –activities related to raising funds or obtaining/creating items for the chapter that can be used to generate funds for the chapter, or other such activities as grant writing for the chapter or State Program
  • Samaritan VMS Rollout – those activities related to the rollout of the VMS – for chapter personnel: preparing chapter data for conversion, training your volunteers; for the VMS Team: activities involving assistingchapterpersonnelwithanyaspectoftheconversiontoincludechaptertraining, troubleshooting and responding to Help Desk questions, editing chapter upload files
  • State Meeting – activities relating to the support of the State Annual Meeting (preparing chapter contest entries), working as a volunteer at the State Meeting; does not include presentations. Note: your chapter may have an opportunity specific to volunteering at the State Annual Meeting (“TMN Annual Meeting – Volunteer” or “AT: TMN Annual Meeting”)
  • State Program Office – activities relating to the support of state-wide projects like the Endowment Committee.

 

DO: Direct Outreach—leading, organizing, developing, delivering instructing or staffing an educational activity where participants have a planned learning objective and generally stay for the full event (e.g., planned start and end times with a single agenda). Examples: Classroom instruction, developing & delivering training presentations, interpretive hikes

DO: POMN, Educating Others   Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

  • Acton Nature Center
  • Advanced Training for chapter
  • Community Presentations (examples: Gordon Garden Club, Master Gardeners’ meetings)
  • Dublin Library
  • Dinosaur Valley State Park
  • Fort Worth Nature Center
  • Initial Training Class
  • Lake Brownwood State Park
  • Lake Mineral Wells State Park
  • Native Plant Society of Texas Hikes
  • Palo Pinto Mountains State Park
  • Stephenville Library

 

DO: Possum Kingdom Fish Hatchery    Specify activities performed in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

DO: School Children    Specify school, location, and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

  • Comanche ISD
  • Lingleville ISD
  • Mineral Wells ISD
  • Gorman ISD

 

DO: Texas Wildlife Association    Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

FR: Field Research (Including Surveys & Citizen Science)—Planning leading or participating in data collection and/or analysis of natural resources where the results are intended to further scientific understanding.

FR: Bird Populations    Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

  • Cornell Project Feeder Watch
  • eBird
  • National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count
  • Nestbox monitoring

 

FR: iNaturalist    Specify location & project in “Describe your service”, when you report.

iNaturalist Cataloguing in public spaces within the state of Texas.

FR: POMN    Specify location, activities, & project in “Describe your service”, when you report.

For partners/organizations not separately listed.

  • Dinosaur Valley State Park
  • Palo Pinto Mountains State Park

 

FR: Citizen Science    Specify Citizen Science program, location & activity in “Describe your service”, when you report.

Planning, leading, or participating in Citizen Science programs not separately listed.

  • CoCoRaHs
  • Monarch Larva Monitoring Project
  • Texas Nature Trackers
  • Texas Stream Team

 

FR: Possum Kingdom Fish Hatchery    Specify activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

FR: Tarleton    Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

  • Tarleton Permaculture Research Farm
  • Tarleton graduate & undergraduate research projects (Pre-approval required)

NPA: Nature/Public Access—field-based activities that improve & manage the public’s access to natural areas or resources.  Creating &/or maintaining nature trails, Wildscapes &/or interpretive areas.

NPA: Bosque River Trail Nature Center    Specify activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

NPA: Palo Pinto Mountains State Park    Specify activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

NPA: POMN    Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

  • Acton Nature Center
  • Covia Nature Trail
  • Cleburne State Park
  • Dinosaur Valley State Park
  • Palo Pinto Mountains State Park

 

NPA: Pollinator Gardens    Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

  • Dublin Library
  • Lake Mineral Wells State Park
  • Gordon Community Center
  • Acton Nature Center
  • Lake Brownwood State Park

 

NPA: Possum Kingdom Fish Hatchery    Specify activities performed in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

OT: Other—Any activity approved by a Chapter not defined above.  In general, a Chapter should only have a small percentage of hours in this activity.  When this activity code is used, a Chapter should investigate the reason.  Time spent serving as a board or committee member of a natural resource organization partner i.e., NPSOT, Friends organizations.  Please note that hikes, events and other similar activities cannot be logged under friends groups and must fit into the other approved project categories.

 

  • Friends of Palo Pinto Mountains State Park
  • Friends of Acton Nature Center
  • Friends of Cleburne State Park
  • Friends of Dinosaur Valley State Park
  • Friends of Ft. Worth Nature Center

 

PO: Indirect Outreach (Public Outreach)—Leading, organizing, or staffing an educational activity where participants come and go & are able to inquire on a broad set of topics. <or> Writing an educational article or brochure.

 

PO: Outreach Writing    Specify activities & publication/organization in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

PO: POMN    Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

RM: Natural Resource Management (including Natural Resource Stewardship & Conservation)—Activities that improve the health of a public natural area or resource.  Natural resource management, restoration, rescue, & rehabilitation.

 

RM: POMN    Specify location and activities in “Describe your service” when you report.

 

RM: Possum Kingdom Fish Hatchery    Specify activities performed in “Describe your service” when you report.

Assist the staff in activities that include feeding and moving fish, cleaning and maintaining equipment, etc.

 

 

 

TG: Technical Guidance—Providing free, detailed natural resource management advice or assistance for any natural resource related program or related business.

TG: POMN

  • Forestry Service Firewise Program (ONLY technical guidance for native plants and habitats is approved)

Citizen Science Programs:

 

 

 

  • Globe Observer: Collect data on clouds, mosquitos, land cover, trees & sponsors challenges using an app on your phone https://observer.globe.gov/

 

 

    • Monarch Larva Monitoring Project:

https://www.citizenscience.gov/monitor-monarchs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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