It’s not easy to be a wild animal living in the city. Human development creates many challenges for wildlife and they must find a way to adapt in order to persist. In spite of this, our communities are filled with amazing species and breathtaking natural areas that are worthy of celebration and protection. This presentation will discuss the unique dynamics of urban ecosystems, how the fascinating creatures that live in urban areas manage to survive, and why they are so important.

Less well known than European Honeybees, Texas’ native bees are nevertheless vital components of a healthy environment, and can provide a new dimension of enjoyment in your home garden. This program will cover basic information on the current challenges all bee species are facing, and the tricks they use to survive natural challenges in Texas’ extremes. Learn why they are important to all of us, facts about gentle solitary native bees and their lifestyles, and photo examples of the many beautiful forms and colors of native bees.  We will include tips on what to plant and provide to attract them to your home landscape and help them survive there, and basic identification hints.  We’ll discuss simple homemade native bee nest sites and find out how to participate in nationwide citizen science tracking efforts.

Wildlife conservation has been and is key to the enrichment of the people, environment and economy.

Texas Master Naturalist volunteers have done a great job providing education, outreach, and natural resource management services to communities across the state. The population of our states has drastically increased and become more diverse over the last 30 years.

Along with environmental changes, shifts in our recreational, commercial and consumptive habits have made the importance of varied perspectives important to our conservations efforts. Taking actions to promote Diversity and Inclusion has become increasingly important to the sustainability of natural resources, our people, and our economy.

As our populations becomes more ethnically, gender, and age diverse, our challenge is how do we engage the changing demographic in more outdoor activities, and how do organizations who support and are engaged in conservation activities become relevant to this growing population without losing current participants and supporters?