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The 2015 Awards Ceremony and Silent Auction
Feb. 15 Awards Ceremony First off, I have to brag about the sheer NUMBER of people who attended this event. We had 75 CAMNers and family members attend the show, held this year at what was probably the perfect venue, the Redbud Center at LCRA. With its impressive water-wise demo gardens, model of the Highland…
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Texas Amphibian Watch Monitoring in 2014
By Sandie Mayfield, Sue Anderson, Beth Duncan, and Kathy McCormack The Capital Area Master Naturalists (CAMN) had five teams performing TPWD’s Texas Amphibian Watch (TAW) Adopt-A-Frog-Pond monitoring in 2014. Nocturnal frog and toad calls were monitored on a monthly basis at Bauerle Ranch Park (formerly Slaughter Creek Greenbelt) and Mary Moore Searight Park in south…
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Central Texas Gardener
In addition to being stewards of natural habitat and resources, Texas Master Naturalists are often gardeners, too. Sometimes they are also a part of the Texas Master Gardeners Association, a parallel program for training volunteers in local horticulture. As such, there is a lot of overlap in our areas of expertise, with a curiosity about all…
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Trail Building at the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve
Nine hard-working members of the Central Texas Trail Tamers and Capital Area Master Naturalists had a fun and productive day at the City of Austin’s BCP Reicher Tract Saturday, February 14th (Valentine’s Day). We worked on an old trail originally put in by volunteer groups in the 1990’s. Frequently used for docent-led hikes (many of…
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Blanco River–Trinity Aquifer-Barton Springs Connection
Nico Hauwert, CoA’s Watershed Protection Department senior hydrologist and teacher of Geology for the current CAMN trainees, provided us some links concerning the connections between the Hays County instance of the Trinity Aquifer, the Blanco River, and their roles in keeping area springs – including Barton – flowing during times of drought. Previous thinking linked Barton…
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Volunteer Opportunities
A question came in from one of the new trainees in the Class of 2015 about whether some work they would do could count toward their 2015 requirements. I didn’t actually know offhand. (I often don’t know the answer to a lot of good questions, but fortunately I’m surrounded by a lot of smart advisors). The…
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2015 Geology and Soils class recap
This past Saturday saw the CAMN trainees for the class of 2015 visiting the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center for an overview of geology and soils in Central Texas. Jon Brandt, soils scientist with the Railroad Commission of Texas and a longtime CAMN member, coordinated the class. This was Jon’s 15th and last year as coordinator, as…
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Canyon Lake Gorge Advanced Training Trip Recap
Eighteen CAMN’ers and enthusiastic friends and family members had a successful Advanced Training trip to the Canyon Lake Gorge Saturday, 1/24. We were hosted by the Gorge Preservation Society. Great hike and lecture on the canyon and its geology. Thanks to Jaynellen Ladd at the Society for helping set this up. And a special shout-out…
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Bull Creek Entrance Permit
This is a great way to earn a permit to hike an otherwise seasonally-closed (March 1 – July 31) trail in golden-cheeked warbler habitat. You’ll go on an orientation hike with a Wildlands staff member, and have access to online study materials for a 30-question quiz before earning the badge. If you’ve never been involved…
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Grow Green Wildlife Habitat Gardening Video
The Grow Green series of educational materials – developed in partnership between The City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, Texas Agrilife Extension, and others – is a wealth of information for gardeners and naturalists alike. Encapsulated in this small subsection of the City website is an impressive list of informative videos, print publications, fact sheets, sample garden templates, searchable plant…
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