Thursday, February 2, 2012

Texas Master Naturalist to-be


For the past year or so, I'd thought how cool it'd be to take the Texas Master Naturalist training and get certified. Why not this year? But by the time I pulled up the website and found a chapter, I saw that I might be too late to apply. By chance, the Highland Lakes chapter had ONE spot left in the 2012 Training Program (limit 20 students). And I MADE IT!

Yesterday, I attended my first advanced training session and monthly meeting in Kingsland. Paul Dorman, hatchery manager at the Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery, gave the presentation. As part of certification, Master Naturalists must put in 40 hours of volunteer service, which many do at the hatchery. As part of our spring training, we'll visit the hatchery in March. 

Speaking of which, training consists of at least 40 hours of classroom and field work along with eight hours of advance training, too. We'll meet once a week from March 1 through May 11.

Yesterday, I shared a car ride to Kingsland with master naturalists Ann Cook and Joanne Fischer, both from Blanco. Along the way, we talked about native plants and other nature-related topics. I felt like I was among my people! Bliss!

2 comments:

Marilyn Kircus said...

Way to go Sheryl. I've been a Master Naturalist for many years. Now I'm retired and working in other states so my hours don't count in Texas. But I've volunteered over2000 hours in the last year.

Sheryl Smith-Rodgers said...

Wow, that's a LOT of hours! Way to go!

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