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Volunteer Opportunities

Numerous Chapter activities and Advanced Training opportunities (both in person and online) will be listed on the Chapter’s Calendar.                                      ********************************************************************************************

Chapter Partners

River Bend Nature Center is a small nature center located within Lucy Park, in Wichita Falls whose mission is to educate people about nature. They host many programs for youth in the area. Volunteer opportunities for the Butterfly Conservatory, along the trail, and helping educate local students.  Contact River Bend to schedule docent training at info@riverbendnaturecenter.org

River Bend Nature Center | In Wichita Falls, Texas - Cliparts.co

Wild Bird Rescue Inc. cares for orphaned and injured birds.  Their goal is the return them to the wild.  Birds that are unable to be released are used as Avian Ambassadors, helping to education the public on the plight of wild birds species.  Opportunities included caring for the birds, doing laundry and other housework, maintaining the grounds.  Please contact them at http://www.wildbirdrescueinc.org.

Lake Arrowhead State Park is located 20 minutes SE of Wichita Falls, in Clay County. Volunteer opportunities include trail maintenance, assisting park rangers with public events, and more.  https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/lake-arrowhead

Whiteside Museum of Natural History, located in Seymour, Baylor County, Texas,  is a small museum specializes in Permian Era fossils and North Texas Natural History. Not only do they exhibit fossils of such prehistoric creatures as Dimetrodon and Seymouria, but they also excavate the fossils from nearby fossil beds. This site is one of the few Permian fossil beds and many of the fossils found in this area had been shipped to many of the large museums in the East.  Finally, the fossils are staying local, where they can be viewed and learned about by the local population.  Many volunteer opportunities, including cleaning the fossils recovered.                          www.wmnh.org

Copper Breaks State Park is situated in the scenic and rugged redland country south of Quanah, Texas in Hardeman County, this remote state park is listed as an International Dark Sky Park.  Along with the standard state park activities, this park hosts part of the Official State of Texas Longhorn herd. 

Comanche Springs and Three Rivers Astronomy Campus is located west of Crowell, TX and is a dark sky location.  They house several large telescopes, with classrooms, nature trails and a beaver pond. They offer onsite facilities for camping, as well as individual cabins and bunkhouses.  You must have prior permission to visit this facility

Volunteer Opportunities

Adopt-a-Loop  /  Great Texas Wildlife Trail

This involves working with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with this project using iNaturalist and eBird, to track wildlife, plants at designated sites on the Great Texas Wildlife Trails in our region https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wildlife/wildlife-trails/ Photos must be uploaded to iNaturalist (must join the GTWT Project and enter location indentifier code) or eBird (include GTWT location identifier code when submitting checklist to ebird, and report checklist # on VMS).  You can do iNaturalist or eBird for each location on any given day, but not both.  Only location in our 10 county area are eligible for hours.   Penny Miller is our leader on this project. green.wichitafalls@gmail.com

North Central Texas Wild Bee Project

The NCTWBP is a new comprehensive program to survey the native bees of Archer, Baylor, Clay, Ford, Hardeman, Jack, Montague, Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young Counties in North Central Texas. Please fill out the form below to reserve to be notified about basic training for the NCTWBP. The training will hopefully be starting in December 2021, and followed by a full day field course in late March 2022. We are still working out the details but will keep you updated and have an introduction meeting ASAP.  https://www.blairramon.com/north-central-texaswildbeeproject

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Adopt-a-Highway Trash Cleanup

The Chapter currently cleans up a three mile stretch of FM 1954 along the western boundary of Lake Arrowhead State Park in Clay County.  Various dates for clean-ups will be posted on the Chapter’s Calendar.  Cleanups take place at least four times a year.

Monarch Tagging

This event takes place in late September into early October.  As the Monarch butterflies head south through our area, members capture them and place a small light-weight tag on their wings.  This allows them to be identified by researchers trying to save this imperiled species.

CoCoRaHS is a grassroots volunteer network of backyard weather observers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) in their local communities. By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, their aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. The only requirements to join are an enthusiasm for watching and reporting weather conditions and a desire to learn more about how weather can affect and impact our lives.  Data obtained is used by the National Weather Service, for the Drought Monitor maps, and many more projects.  TXMN members can record one hour per month for this project.       https://www.cocorahs.org/

Horned Lizard Surveys

Join Chapter members as they scout for Texas Horned Lizards in the local area.  Surveys are planned at various times during the summer, when Horned Lizards are most active.  Please contact Lynn at rollingplainschaptertmn@gmail.com for information or check the Calendar for published dates.

Texas Stream Team Water Testing

Texas Stream Team is a long-term collaboration of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, TCEQ, and EPA in an on-going statewide program of citizen water quality monitoring and water quality education and outreach.  This citizen scientist program increases public knowledge of water quality issues through trained volunteers who conduct water quality monitoring on their local lakes, rivers, streams, and estuaries across the state. The volunteers submit their data to a database maintained by the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment.  Check the calendar for dates.

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