Dragonflies and Chigger Bites

Aside from the occasional Pilates and swimming class, it's been almost twenty years since I was a student, sitting in a classroom, notebook open, pen in hand. That changed two weeks ago when I began training to become a Texas Master Naturalist. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I had never heard of the program until five years ago.  That's when I met a Master Naturalist for the first time. I don't remember her name, but she led my wife Susan and me on a tour of Bright Leaf Preserve, a pristine 200-acre section of wilderness smack dab in the middle of Austin.  

The Master Naturalist I Met at Bright Leaf

I noticed her name tag, which identified her as Master Naturalist, and asked her what that meant. She told me about the training she completed and the mission of the program, which, according to the TMN website, is as follows: "To develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities."  

Bright Leaf Preserve

Since that day, I have considered completing the training myself but pushed it off as one of those projects I would pursue in retirement, which is still several years off. In the last year Susan and I have done some volunteer work in Exploration Green, a 200-acre piece of land much closer to home, a park in Clear Lake. We have spent a few Saturdays working in the park's tree nursery, re-potting trees, weeding, and hooking up water lines to the saplings. It was there that I met another Master Naturalist, actually a trainee, who was completing volunteer hours. Forty are required before one earns certification, and an additional forty must be completed every year, along with eight hours of advanced training, to renew certification.

Posing with Other Volunteers in Exploration Green

I finally had the inspiration to begin training myself, so for twelve weeks I will attend weekly Tuesday evening classes and all-day weekend field trips to various natural sites in and around Houston, as a member of the Gulf Coast chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist program. I have already begun work on a class project, removing invasive plants, mostly dewberry brambles, from a reestablished native prairie in Hermann Park. That's where the chiggers come in. That first Saturday I was unprepared for them (despite the fact that we were warned to take precautions) and within a few hours was covered in chigger bites. Next time I will know better.

Equipment for Removing Dewberries

This Saturday my classmates and I are heading north to W. Goodrich Jones State Forest for our first field trip. We will spend the day studying forest ecosystems and entomology, and if we're lucky, we'll get to spot a red cockaded woodpecker. We have already learned about ecological concepts, Bayou Land Conservancy (an organization that does remarkable work preserving waterways north of Houston), and urbanization.

Course Curriculum

The six-inch binder my fellow trainees and I received the first night of training contains the course curriculum. It's a daunting packet of material, but I am eager to absorb as much of it as I can. The dragonfly on my name tag reminds me of the first time I saw the insignia that Saturday morning in Austin. The volunteer who led us on the tour proudly displayed her collection of dragonfly pins, which represented her years of service as a Texas Master Naturalist. Within a year I intend to earn my own dragonfly.