Author: Marc Opperman

  • Meet our 2018 Training Class

    Saturday, we welcomed our newest members to the Capital Area Chapter for class orientation. Such great smiles seen on the patio of the Laura Bush Community Library. We look forward to meeting  you out in the field, and learning of all the great work you do!

  • Master Naturalists Abroad

    Master Naturalists Abroad

    (Or at least outside Austin!) On April 22 (Earth Day, a super-holiday for conservationists), I had the chance to travel east to the Caddo Lakes region of Texas – nearly Louisiana – and meet up with some of the Texas Master Naturalists in the Cypress Basin Chapter. Their event – the 5th Annual Flotilla held in Uncertain, […]

  • Site Factors Involved in Texas Tree Mortality During Drought – Beth Crouchet

    On Wednesday night, CAMN member and recent Master’s degree recipient, Beth Crouchet, presented her research at our monthly public meeting. She outlined her methods of collecting field data over two years from 64 sites spread across Texas, focusing eventually on mostly Central Texas and o 9 tree species, including live oak (Quercus fusiformis), yaupon holly […]

  • Grass Seed Collecting on WQPL

    Grass seed collecting at an Austin Water Water Quality Protection Land preserve yielded a nice collection of Silver Bluestem, Tridens, and Sideoats Gamma. Eleven volunteers, with some representing the Capital Area and Hays County Master Naturalists chapters, worked two hours on a sunny mid-day. Volunteers are trained to collect ripe seed from native forbs and grasses. The seed is […]

  • Enhancing Rainwater for Native Plants on an Austin Preserve

    Some people think I, as president, do nothing in CAMN but send emails and run some meetings. Today I offer a spot of proof to prove otherwise. I was photographed in the wild at a work session on Austin Water/Wildland Conservation Division’s Vireo Preserve at the completion of one of the last steps of finishing our […]

  • Honey Bee Swarms, and Other Stinging Insects

    The European honey bee (Apis mellifera) may not be a species endemic to Central Texas, but there is no disputing the powerhouse role they play in pollinating our native flora and our agricultural crops. It’s no wonder seeing them in action is quite fascinating to many naturalists, be they curious adults or schoolchildren. As such, the Austin Nature and […]

  • On finding our volunteer motivations…

    (Adapted from our internal newsletter for members.) CAMN is an incredibly diverse group, with not only a lot of moving organizational parts, but dedicated people who take on many tasks to help run our business. Some of them serve on the board. But many without recognized titles quietly help with organizational tasks like reviewing applications, […]

  • Wildland Restoration, and the World of Talking Trees

    On one particular 209-acre preserve in West Austin – one that abuts the well-known Wild Basin Preserve – a City of Austin biologist, Jim O’Donnell, has been leading almost-weekly volunteer work groups to restore natural areas that had been historically mismanaged by clear-cutting and scorching fires that damaged the soils. Jim has been following the […]

  • 2017 Class Application To Open August 1

    Want to be a Texas Master Naturalist in the Austin area? Capital Area Master Naturalist (CAMN) volunteers learn from experts in the natural sciences – including Texas Parks and Wildlife natural resource scientists, City of Austin hydrologists, University of Texas mammalogists, and NOAA meteorologists – about the unique characteristics of the Central Texas ecoregion and […]

  • Our Desired Future, a Story of Texas Water

    Sharlene Leurig, Director, Texas Environmental Flows, brought a compelling story of Texas water to our Monthly Meeting last night, documented beautifully in the multimedia project, Our Desired Future. The rich photography, deep fact-based writing, familiar locations, original charts and graphs, animations, and movies tell the story of our water from deep underground to its life at the […]