Photo by Bob Mione, Monarch butterfly on American Basketflower at Connemara Meadow Nature Preserve.

A Message from our President

In this quarter’s article, Scott writes of the importance the work our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) team is doing and how this work parallels the Be The Change program at the state level. He’s looking forward to seeing everyone in person at the Summer Social on July 7th and online at the Together We Dine event on June 10th. Read more here.

Project Spotlight: DFW Wildlife Coalition

The DFW Wildlife Coalition is an interface between a network of rehabbers and members of the public who want to help orphaned and injured wildlife. We need your support and volunteer hours. Once trained, volunteers staff the hotline and respond to emails/texts – all from home or wherever you have connectivity.  We especially need people to answer emails to the website and respond to voicemails. Read more about this important mission and how you can help here.

Volunteers Needed at the Herbarium

The Dallas County Herbarium at Texas Discovery Gardens, founded by NTMN members in 2012, houses plants collected exclusively in Dallas County. They are currently seeking volunteers to collect, identify, dry, press and mount new specimens. No prior experience is required. On the job training provided! Learn more about this opportunity here.

Quarterly Volunteer Awards

Congratulations to our Quarterly Award recipients for Q1 and Q2 of 2021, Bob Richie and Ginger Greatens.

Bob, class of 2012, won the First Quarter Award and has been involved in many efforts within the Chapter from Big Chapter Projects to Native Plants and Prairies Days to Winter Tree Identification classes. With an engaging personality and a relaxed teaching style, Bob exemplifies what it means to be a Texas Master Naturalist. Read more about Bob here.

Ginger, class of 2017, who won the Second Quarter Award, currently serves as Community Education Chair and leads the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She’s been instrumental in organizing, planning and executing Big Chapter Projects at Lakewood Outdoor Learning Area and Harry Moss Park, among others. She is a dedicated master naturalist who genuinely cares about the master naturalist mission, outreach, and making the program more accessible and relatable to the greater DFW community. Read all about Ginger and her accomplishments here.

Thoughts on Diversity and Inclusion

NTMN D&I Committee Member Blanca Reyna reminds us that we all have the capacity to learn and grow. Venturing into the unknown is sometimes a formidable challenge, but questions, thoughtfulness, and curiosity will lead to discovery and understanding. Read Blanca’s essay here.

Member News and Opinion

Congrats to Tiffany Lipsett PhD: One of NTMN’s own was recently named Executive Director of the Native Plant Society of Texas. Read about it here.
Remembering What’s Important: NTMN class of 2007 member Jim Folger has been thinking a lot during the pandemic about why he volunteers and has some ideas on how retain our members and reduce our turnover. Read more about his thoughts on the subject here.
Listening to Birdsong: Jane Manaster writes about the captivating antics and song of our native backyard birds here.
Welcome Wildlife with Native Plants: Elizabeth Wilkinson offers some great advice and interesting information on why native plants are so important to our wildlife. Read her story here.
Wow, That’s a Big Tree: Read about John Wilt’s chance encounter with the biggest recorded Post Oak in Dallas County.
So Much Dedication: Whitney Wolf has reached the incredible milestone of 4,000 volunteer hours. What an achievement!

Membership Survey Results

Around 60% of our members responded to the survey sent out earlier this year. Read the findings and potential implications here.

2020 Volunteer Projects Annual Report

2020 was a unique year as many of our activities were curtailed or cancelled due to the pandemic. But even with that large obstacle in our way, we volunteered close to 24,000 hours across 59 unique projects in 2020… an astounding result in a very difficult year!  If you’d like to see the activities and hours recorded, each project is detailed here (member sign in required). For 2020, we’ve included activities for both 2019 and 2020, to show members a “normal” year to compare to. Many thanks to our Project Leads for their organization and guidance, and a big THANK YOU to all our members, who made 2020 a very successful year!

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