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"There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot."

Aldo Leopold, from the foreword of A Sand County Almanac

Chapter News & Announcements

  • 10 Year Anniversary

    Ten wonderful years! The Master Naturalist Program started here in San Antonio ten years ago with the formation of our chapter.

  • March Brings A New Beginning: Our 22nd Class Is In Session

    by J.W. Pieper

    J.W. Pieper

    By the time you read this, our Class 22 of aspiring Master Naturalists will be underway with an impressive background of accomplishments on their applications. The new training class started on February 28th and classes will be conducted every Thursday evening from 5:00 until 8:30 PM at the Extension Service offices on Cherry Ridge. Please volunteer to help Pam Ball, Prem Nored, and Liz Robbins - who are overseeing the class activities again - as we train a new group of members who will add to the reputation of recent classes as outstanding volunteers.

    The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo booth that we sponsored in February was a very popular volunteer outing for our members as we reached out to adults and youth with information about the great outdoors and about the Master Naturalist program. Our volunteers joined representatives of Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Texas Wildlife Association in staffing our booth. Arless Lenz coordinated the scheduling of volunteers for our booth and was successful in finding volunteers for all shifts. Everyone who has worked at the rodeo booth this year and in previous years has enjoyed the opportunity and looks forward to helping out the following year.

    The year 2008 is well underway and many of you are already accumulating many volunteer hours. We owe a debt of gratitude to Monta Zengerle and Wilt Shaw who have worked to document all of our member hours for the past four years. New job responsibilities have forced
    Monta to pass that assignment along to another AAMN member who will be posting hours for members with last names beginning in M through Z. We will post the contact information
    for you as soon as we confirm all the information with our new M-Z volunteer hours coordinator.

    For this month, we are asking that all members submit their hours to Wilt Shaw. Look for the updated M-Z contact information in next month’s newsletter.

    Please get in the habit of submitting your hours on a quarterly basis so that we can recognize those who reach the certification levels. This year, as members are certified or reach additional dragonfly award plateaus, we will recognize their accomplishments in the newsletter.

    Statewide Annual Meeting Friday through Sunday, October 12-14

    by J.W. Pieper

    J.W. Pieper

    Big things will be happening in October in San Antonio!

    Does that sound familiar? When it was announced in June that the Master Naturalist Statewide Annual Meeting would be held in San Antonio we were happy to share the news with you. Since then many of our members have done lots of work to help make this a memorable gathering for Master Naturalists from throughout Texas and some from other states who will gather in our city for the 8th Annual Statewide Meeting to commemorate ten years of the MN movement.

    We Will Recognize the Members of Class 1 and Class 2

    We will recognize the members of Class 1 and Class 2 at the banquet on Saturday night and those who worked hard to develop the Master Naturalist concept and implement those concepts. If you are a member of either of those classes and have not communicated with us so that we know if you will be there, please contact Thea Platz or me.

    Please Be Generous With Your Time

    The deadline for registering for the conference has closed, but you can still volunteer to help in many areas to ensure a successful gathering in San Antonio. Please be generous with your time, for we will need many local members lending a hand to make this happen in a way that will make all of us proud of our hospitality. Thea Platz can put you to work in an area where you are needed and where you will enjoy being a part of the big celebration.

    Our Class 21 Kicked Off on September 6th

    Our Class 21 kicked off on September 6th and we have a wonderfully diverse group of future Master Naturalists. They have jumped in to begin their volunteer activities and will be making a significant contribution to our Annual Meeting this month. Graduation for this group is scheduled for November 17th. As we have come to expect, our hard working Training Committee has put together a wonderful cadre of speakers for this class and are well organized to provide the required training to our new class. Plan to visit this class at Friedrich Park on any Thursday afternoon, and help us to honor them at their graduation with your presence.

    Mark Your Calendars Now For A Very Special Weekend In October

    by J.W. Pieper

    J.W. Pieper

    Big things will be happening in October in San Antonio!

    Master Naturalists from throughout Texas, and maybe some from other states, will gather in our city for the 8th Annual Statewide Meeting to commemorate ten years of the Texas Master Naturalists. Thea Platz, a member of class 1, is chairing the planning committee for the Alamo Area chapter and will be sharing with you some exciting plans to showcase our city and the Texas Hill Country. Email Thea Platz if you are interested in helping her out.

    We Need Many Local Members Lending A Hand

    Now more than ever, please be generous with your time for we need many local members lending a hand to make this happen in a way that will make all of us proud of our chapter’s hospitality. There will be committees formed and you will be notified on how to get involved in the many opportunities necessary to help make this a memorable occasion.

    Alamo City Plans

    All of the 38 chapters in Texas have been notified to make their plans to be in our Alamo City and to make the San Antonio Airport Hilton Hotel near the corner of Loop 410 and San Pedro their headquarters for the weekend event.

    Registration

    Registration information is being finalized: there will be different levels of registration to accommodate members whose schedules will not allow participation in every activity. If anyone would like to book a room at the Airport Hilton for that weekend, special rates are available when you use this code when making reservations: TPWD. Room costs are $85.00 per night and you may get this rate by booking by September 14. Call 1(888) 728-3031.

    Advanced Training and Community Project

    There will be a large selection of advanced training sessions offered and, as one of the highlights of our Annual Meetings, there will be a big community project to improve or enhance an area of the host city. This is always a very popular event, and in previous years has had over 50 Master Naturalists from around the state participating.

    More Information

    Watch your e-mail and watch our Web site for the latest information about this exciting event. The Web site has been greatly enhanced by our Webmaster Sam Glass in the past few months and everyone should take the time to investigate our site to see how well you are being represented to the world. Sam is always interested in receiving pictures to put on our site of chapter members in action. Who knows? Your picture may already be out there! There is also on our site a current calendar of volunteer opportunities to choose from.

    Class 20 Graduation

    In early June, our hard-working training committee oversaw the completion of spring training with the graduation of class 20, a truly outstanding group of new Master Naturalists joining our chapter ranks. My sincere congratulations to class 20 and a hearty “Job well done!” to this very active and volunteer-minded group of individuals!

  • March SAPAR Natural Areas Stewardship Activities

    by JayNe Neal

    JayNe Neal

    It is hard to believe that spring is just around the corner. Some plants, like the huisache tree, have already begun to bloom. Others, including the agarita and mountain laurel are covered in buds. These are just a few indicators that spring is right around the corner. Its arrival, however, cannot be marked without the presence of migrating songbirds such as the Golden-cheeked Warbler. Their return is an exciting event for San Antonio Parks and Recreation staff and local naturalists.Golden-cheeked Warblers begin to arrive at Friedrich Park and Crownridge Canyon Natural Area within the first couple of weeks in March (usually between the 4th and 10th). They migrate all the way from their wintering grounds in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras to central Texas to breed in the mixed woodlands that characterize canyons and ravines. Their nests are intricately woven from the bark of mature Ashe juniper trees and spider webs. While here, they lay 3-4 eggs, raise their young, and then leave in July to spend their winter south of the border. We are truly blessed to have this bird nest in our Natural Areas and to allow local and worldwide birders the opportunity to enjoy this amazing creature.

    As we listen and hope to catch a glimpse of Golden-cheeked Warblers, we will continue to do our mapping of passageways at Rancho Diana on Thursdays. Our goal is to flag ways that will help us move more efficiently once we start our vegetation surveys in May. To do the mapping, people need to be able to do rigorous hiking. Wendy also will be leading a Saturday work project at Rancho Diana. See the schedule in the newsletter. We will provide all the equipment and materials required to do all activities (if you have work gloves, please bring them). It is recommended that volunteers wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and hiking shoes or boots. Folks should also bring personal comfort items like water, and bring binoculars if you have them.

    If you have any questions or need directions to Rancho Diana, feel free to contact JayNe or Wendy Cooley

    .

  • The March Hot Tub Naturalist

    by Tony Hajek

    Anton Hajek

    It is February 3rd, Superbowl Sunday. I am wearing shorts as the day is warm. The weatherman says that the more warm days we have, the less of a chance of a freeze; the end of February marking the end of the San Antonio freezing season. He also says that we have received all of three inches of rain in the last five months when we should have had ten or twelve inches. No wonder there are grass fires everywhere! IH-10 closed north of Kerrville and thousands of acres burned in Cotulla. Except for human structures, the land will turn greener at the next rain.

    After two years of the farm lying fallow, we have a new sharecropper. He estimates we will pay $1000.00 in Roundup® to eliminate the undesirables growing since the last planting. After all, he did not ask for the weeds. A fair trade to have someone planting and keeping the agricultural exemption in place. Unfortunately, he decided to disk all the edge roads I enjoyed traveling on.

    My church men’s club has a fabulous wild game dinner. We slaughter our own animals. I have disposed of a good dozen carcasses on the farm prior to the new tenant. Yesterday, I counted 4 caracaras. And vultures. Yes, we have vultures. And a few coyotes. Innards, the intestines and stomach, disappear overnight. The spine takes a bit longer. It is fun to drive the farm roads and see what is out there eating!

    This evening, I saw a ´possum moving ver-r-ry slowly. I walked up to within 15 feet before it saw me and it held still, then resumed eating. Even my walking closer did not send it scurrying - no aggression. I figured it was sick to be in that much sunlight and to move so slowly. I let it live.

    Some coyote may enjoy a slow moving possum.

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