General Meeting and Advanced Training

Texas Master Naturalist
Cradle of Texas Chapter
General Meeting and Advanced Training
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
AgriLife Building, Angleton

8:30 am	Fun and Fellowship Refreshments will be provided by Barbara Burkhardt, Jerry Krampota, and Mary Helen Israel.
9:00 am	General Meeting This meeting is approved for 1.00 hour volunteer time.
9:30 am	Program:  Plankton. Speaker:  Dave Brandes. Dave is the Brazoria County Leader and Instructor for the NOAA Phytoplankton Monitoring Network.   Dave also serves our TMN chapter as Past President. This training is approved for Advanced Training credit.   Approved credit hours will be announced at the meeting, and will be available after the meeting at http://tinyurl.com/AT-Opportunities

The Texas Master Naturalists mission is 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.   Many communities and organizations rely on such citizen volunteers for implementing youth education programs; for operating parks, nature centers, and natural areas; and for providing leadership in local natural resource conservation efforts.   In fact, a short supply of dedicated and well-informed volunteers is often cited as a limiting factor for community-based conservation efforts.

When the Phytoplankton Monitoring Network worked with the TPWD in 2007 to train new volunteers along the Texas coast, the Texas Master Naturalists answered the call.   Nearly 30 TMN members attended the training sessions and helped establish over 20 new sampling sites.   Currently the TMN PMN members do not just monitor for the program, but some members also conduct new volunteer trainings all along the coast.   The TMN is playing a vital part in monitoring the Texas coast for potential Hazardous Algae Bloom (HAB) events.