You know, we can always go, you know on the other side of the world there is
something that needs to be conserved, when there's actually things right
around the corner that need to be conserved
and are important to our natural resources.
Having been an urban biologist, it was always kind of a
challenge to kind of get people to think about what's right in their own backyard.
And the [Texas] Master Naturalists play an important role and being able to do that.
[Title: The Texas Master Naturalists]
What we as urban biologists began to realize very early in the inception of
the Urban Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife
was the need to clone ourselves, because we were absolutely in so much demand to
provide technical guidance on ecological systems that we could not fulfill the need.
We realized that if we didn't have a core of volunteers that we could draw on for
that, that it was going to be really difficult for us to reach very many people.
People working in conservation and
resource management at the city, county, state, and federal level will never have
enough staff to accomplish the work that that needs to be done,
so it's through a core of trained and dedicated volunteers,
you can really move the needle, really accomplish so much more.
We needed people to be urban biologists
who understood the ecosystems, who could go when we were not able,
to go to public meetings, to represent the prairies and the forests of of our state,
as well as having people be able to know what their local park needs from an
ecological perspective and be a voice for that local park.
And so it was from that desperate need that this program arose.
So the Urban Program was one of the main partners in creating
this Master Naturalist Program, along with San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department.
Rufus Stevens and Judit Gowen at the time, Judit Green now, they started
kicking around an idea of this program of ecologically-based extensive training
in return for volunteer service hours.
The idea of a Master Naturalist Program
came from a program in the City of Fort Collins, Colorado,
where they trained citizens within their local community to be stewards.
I think Rufus or Debbie were at a national conference where they learned
about this program and the idea for a similar program was born back in Texas.
Debbie Reid, who is working with San Antonio Parks and Rec, came to myself and
and Judit Green, and said, "I think we ought to start a program for conservation.
We should call it the [Texas] Master Naturalists."
We said, "We think that's a great idea!"
And so the three of them nursed that
idea, and then together they helped to form and guide to that first chapter
into what is now the [Texas] Master Naturalist Program.
The sky was the limit as to how
we put this together, had a lot of people with input, really great ideas to help
get us started. We were all committed to making it the best it could be.
All of us got to just to see it from its inception.
It was really a group effort, you know,
where there were all these people who came together that made it happen.
Well as we were putting the structure together for a program,
there was a lot of interest expressed from around the state.
The idea of a master naturalist program spoke to people.
It spoke to that there were lots of people that had that as an interest.
There was so much enthusiasm for what was happening in San Antonio.
There was a person who heard about it in Dallas
and already had begun to say, "We need this in Dallas."
There were a lot of people in the Dallas conservation community that said, "We want it now!"
And, so of course, I said, "Okay!"
Our Master Naturalist Program grew from the chapter in San Antonio
and the chapter in Dallas basically as a groundswell of volunteers
who heard about the program, who got their local [Texas] Parks and Wildlife [Department]
and [Texas AgriLife] Extension staff involved.
They said, "We'd like to bring this to our county or to our group of counties.
Will you help or will you allow us to do this?"
And at that point we realized that it was just going to take off.
Because right after that it was Houston and then Austin
and then we were off to the races.
We had just an exponential growth of chapters in the first couple of years
as more communities saw the power that this program
was going to be able to provide for their local conservation organizations,
their local conservation needs, and for their citizens as well.
Even today, this is how all of our chapter start -
with the interest of volunteers who work with their local community partners
to bring these resources and people in organizations together
to offer a [Texas] Master Naturalist Program in their local community.
Today, we have forty eight chapters scattered across the state.
We've trained about 12,000 Master Naturalists within the program to date.
When a Master Naturalist joins the program,
they're usually there to learn about what they see around them.
They want to know what these flowers are, they want to know what these birds are, what these bees are,
and they want to understand how all of these parts and pieces work together.
First they get a broad overview of Texas natural resources.
After that, their training really specializes on the local natural resources around them.
They learn about the land management, land use history.
They learn about the ecoregion that they're in, the plants, the wildlife,
the river and water systems, everything that makes that ecosystem what it is.
So they really become experts in their local natural resources.
Our volunteers give back over 430,000 hours of service on an annual basis.
They're providing management assistance or recommendations to small acreage landowners.
They're turning dirt and developing trails,
helping us with stewardship projects, research, outreach and education.
They provide an invaluable education for our public and for our
policymakers about the conservation needs of our state.
[Texas] Master Naturalists are having impact way beyond
what anyone ever would have thought 20 years ago.
When we think about impacts that the program is making
not only on the natural resource side - the acreage, the trail miles,
the people reached through outreach and education.
Those are some impacts, but there's the personal impacts.
There are the ones that bring the tears to my eyes.
From a mom who's suddenly become an empty nester
and they've said that this program has really given them
something that they can look forward to, give back to their community,
get back to their roots.
Other people I know have gone through the program
and found their soul mate.
We have Master Naturalists that have gotten married.
They're involved not only in the chapter itself, they take it far beyond.
It's become a real integral part of their life.
They do it not only through the projects in their community,
through teaching school kids or leading tours, but they take it home with them,
and they teach their neighbor, and their grandkids [laughter].
You just see that conservation ethic becoming generational.
Now we have so many people watching these Master Naturalists,
they can't help but fall in love with the resources as well.
I love quotes and I read a couple of books of quotes each morning,
and one of the quotes is by Sir Thomas Brown, and he says,
"We have within us the wonders that we seek around us."
And I think that Texas Master Naturalist Program
stimulates the wonders in us to seek things around us.
The Master Naturalist program simply amplifies what that person is in his or her spirit.
There's something innate about them, about their upbringing, about their experiences,
about their personal passion, that draws them to these projects
and the program simply helps them to thrive
and gives them the tools they need to show that passion to others.
I think there is an untapped pool of people who have
that passion for natural resources yet not the professional background.
And it's a great opportunity through this program to be able to tap into that.
I think that everybody has an interest in some facet of natural resources, you know,
be it slugs and snails, you know, that maybe your interest,
and it may be because you love escargot that you're interested in snails.
I couldn't foresee somebody saying, "Well, there's nothing here for me to volunteer on."
It will find you if you look for it.
Every Master Naturalist I know just has a special heart for our native ecosystems,
whether it's for plants or for wildlife or for geology, whatever that is,
there's just a love and a passion in their heart for that.
And it also just seems to kind of have to come out of them.
If you're around them and and there's a question about something
that you see, they're gonna be telling you what that is
and why it's there and what it's value is.
I just have tremendous respect for their knowledge, for their never-ending desire
to learn, and for their never-ending desire to want to be outside,
doing things for wildlife.
If they're out there working for our natural resources,
it's going to be okay.
[Title: Texas Master Naturalist 20th Anniversary]
[Title: Texas Parks and Wildlife; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension]
Title: Texas Master Naturalist]