Author: Marc Opperman

  • CAMN on Twitter: Supporting the Colorado River Alliance

    @CapAreaMN made a financial contribution to one of our great partners, @TXColoradoRiver. #txmn #txmasternaturalist #donate #River — CAMN (@CapAreaMN) March 4, 2016

  • A day of weather, climate and water birds at Hornsby Bend

    The 2016 Trainees completed their second class recently. It was held at Hornsby Bend’s Center for Environmental Research, a department of Austin Water Utility. Dr. Kevin Anderson (director of the CER) lectured on the history of ecology in the U.S. and Texas. Jon W. Zeitler (Science and Operations Officer, National Weather Service, Austin-San Antonio) spoke…

  • Class of 2016 Orientation

      With yesterday’s orientation at Discovery Hill, the CAMN Class of 2016 is officially underway. Meeting the new folks is always amazing, and a source of great inspiration to more experienced CAMN members. Learning what drives them to seek more involvement in natural resource conservation and outreach, what experiences they’ve had, and learning about connections…

  • Terry Southwell… Outstanding Service

    On Friday, November 6, City of Austin Mayor Steve Adler proclaimed the day Wildland Conservation Volunteer Day, and presented CAMN member Terry Southwell with the proclamation. On Saturday, Terry was recognized as Austin Water‘s Wildland Conservation Division Volunteer of the Year for his regular contributions to habitat restoration, stewardship and outreach on the Balcones Canyonlands Preserves…

  • 2016 Class Acceptance has been decided…

    Emails have gone out to those who were accepted to the 2016 Training Class, as well as to those who were not accepted. Please check your inbox (or possibly spam folder) if you were anxiously awaiting an answer about your application. Thank you to all who applied. For those who were accepted, we look forward…

  • CAMN at VIVA! Streets Austin

    A view of some CAMN volunteer outreach during VIVA! Streets Austin Sept. 13. Thank you to member Jessica for the tweet! @CapAreaMN spreading environmental awareness & #seedballs during #vivastreetsatx ! pic.twitter.com/oQacf9UtSz — Jessica Wilson (@JecaAustin) September 13, 2015

  • And that’s a wrap!

    With our 70th entry coming just 42 minutes before the witching hour, our 2016 class application has come to a close. We may have set a new record for the most applications for any class, and we did it all in one month. (Some years we’ve taken applications through September and early October.) Thank you to all…

  • CAMN and Diversity

    A couple weeks ago, I attended a lunchtime seminar hosted by the Hill Country Conservancy as part of a new series of talks aimed at promoting diversity in the ecological services. The Shades of Green learning series hosts panelists working toward diversity and inclusion in non-profits and educational settings. The panelists included Huston-Tillotson University’s Director of Community and Public…

  • A CAMN Reading List

    A CAMN Reading List

    One of our long-time members, Jeri P., has compiled a fabulous list of the books she loves as a Master Naturalist. Some of the books here are seminal works for the Texas Master Naturalist, as close to required reading as it gets. Like Roy Bedichek’s Adventures With A Texas Naturalist or Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac. Some…

  • Application for 2016 Class Still Open

    We put a lot of effort into making sure each year’s trainees have an amazing experience. Whether it’s meetings to work out all the details of all the classes, or discussions on what things to try to make things even better, our Curriculum Committee folks invest a lot of passion and love into this process.…