North Texas Master Naturalists at Mountain View College

To join the class, apply now at NTMN How to Join

I am thrilled to relay a sneak peek at our speaker series for this fall class:

North Texas Chapter president, Bruce Stewart (and my favorite dry comedian) kicks off the August 30th class with an introduction of our chapter, the number of our projects, and our growth and participation rates to further illustrate our increasing impact. Then Sam Kieschnick, our chapter’s Texas Parks and Wildlife advisor and urban wildlife biologist, will present Ecosystem Concepts. Sam holds a Masters Degree from Tarleton State University and has previously worked as a nature educator for the City of Mansfield, a naturalist at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, a science interpreter with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, a biologist with BRIT, and as an instructor at Weatherford College. Find his contributions to citizen science on iNaturalist under the handle sambiology. On a November big chapter project at Mountain View College, Sam was pleased when he saw such a nice pocket prairie out there:

"Win! I know that battling privet feels like an exercise in futility, but it’s so important that we try our best to do something — without any action, it easily engulfs a prairie and prevents so many of those native prairie plants from flourishing."

Our rockstar line up continues with Tiana Franklin Rehman, Botanical Research Institute of Texas Herbarium Collections Manager. Tiana joined the BRIT staff in 2003 as Herbarium Collections Assistant, having previously volunteered with the BRIT Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program. Tiana has been the Collections Manager of the BRIT herbarium since 2009, and as such facilitates the care, usage and growth of the plant collection housed in the BRIT herbarium, as well as its interpretation for the public. Tiana’s interests in collections management include the task of keeping the myriad physical and virtual data elements that contribute to project-based research both current and accessible. Tiana’s M.S. in Environmental Science from Texas Christian University was earned while working at BRIT, and her thesis addressed the diversity and small-scale distribution of members of the Myristicaceae (nutmeg family of plants) at the Los Amigos Biological Station in Madre de Dios, Peru. She continues to be an active field botanist and has contributed specimens to local (Texas) and international (Peru, Costa Rica, Jamaica) floristics projects. Additionally, Tiana has interests in photography, microscopy and biodiversity informatics (e.g. Atrium Biodiversity Information System, Apiary Project). She will teach local Botany Thursday night, September 13th.

Flying in from Austin October 11th, Dr. Tania Homayoun will share her expert knowledge on Ornithology. Tania is an urban conservation biologist who is dedicated to developing and implementing conservation solutions that create biodiverse, resilient, and healthy cities and suburbs for the human and natural communities that share them. Whether working on a planning project or an outreach program, she is passionate about connecting urban residents with nature, in particular birds and native plants. Unsurprisingly, she is an avid birder and always seems to find room in her garden for one more plant.

Did I mention you could apply now at NTMN How to Join?

V. Rose Mercer serves at Vice President of Texas Master Naturalists North Texas Chapter and volunteers her efforts to extend this education and expand the volunteer base in southern Dallas County.