Dragonflyer 65 final - North Texas Master Naturalist4 The Dragonflyer Volume 65, August/September...

Volume 65 August/September 2016

Announcements 2 President’s Page 3 Quarterly Volunteer Winner 5 Summer Social 7 Member Milestones 9 VMS 10 Nominating Committee 11 City Hall Garden 12 Prairie Tour 13 Chapter Administration 17

David Parrish Article on page 5

Masthead Photo Thanks to Stalin SM, this lovely photo was

captured during the Native Prairies Association of Texas

“Prairie Tour”. See page 13 for a special article and more

beautiful pictures courtesy of Stalin.

Texas Master Naturalist 17th Annual Meeting

October 21-23, 2016 Register at:

http://txmn.org/2016-annual-meeting/

More details on the next page

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The Dragonflyer Volume 65, August/September 2016

Announcements Chapter Meetings Time, Location and Speaker Wednesday, August 31 (This is our September meeting) 6:30-8:30 PM Meadows Conference Center Oak Corner Conference Room 2900 Live Oak St. Dallas, TX 75204 Gilbert Martinez “Common Amphibians of North Texas”

The Dragonflyer has respectfully added this section to honor members who have passed.

Please forward information and obituaries to [email protected]

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Find us on Facebook www.facebook.com /northtexasmasternaturalists or join our group “NT Master Naturalist Members” (members only)

2016 Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting

October 21-23, 2016 (Friday to Sunday)

AT and VH Hours

Emphasis on Advanced Training Scholarships are available.

Registration and details are found on:

Texas Master Naturalist 17th Annual Meeting-RegOnline.com

La Torretta Lake Resort and Spa

Lake Conroe Montgomery, Texas

Wednesday, October 5 6:30-8:30 PM Walnut Hill United Methodist Church 10066 Marsh Lane Dallas, TX 75252 Dr. Denis Benjamin will speak about mushrooms. He is the Resident Mycologist for BRIT in Ft. Worth.

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Bruce Stewart, Chapter President 2016

Volume 65, August/September 2016 The Dragonflyer

President’s Page

You have opinions: about fracking, mosquito control to manage Zika, the upcoming election, Fair Park privatization and so forth. You probably have researched the topic and have facts to support your arguments one way or the other. As a Master Naturalist, family members, neighbors, or even members of the press may ask you your opinion. They believe that you are knowledgeable about affairs of the environment. They know that you have been certified as someone who knows about these things. You have spent a lot of time and effort to become a certified Master Naturalist, so at times it is difficult not to speak out without identifying yourself as a Master Naturalist. It’s a good thing that you have studied these issues. It’s a good thing that you know the facts and can make judgments about how you think things should be resolved. It’s not a good thing, however, to declare online or in an interview that you are speaking as a Master Naturalist about these issues. We are a 501(c)(3) recognized by the state and federal authorities as a nonprofit organization. As a non-profit, we are not allowed to speak for or against issues. We can’t sway public opinion with our association with the Texas Master Naturalist Program. If you are a well-known Master Naturalist, it may be difficult to speak freely about certain topics. A number of members of the North Texas Master Naturalist program have given up their memberships in the program so they may speak out more freely about controversial topics. For most of us, not so well known, we simply have to be careful not to introduce ourselves as Master Naturalists when discussing controversial topics affecting the natural world.

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President’s Page continued

North Texas Giving Day North Texas Giving Day is an online event to enable people to come together to raise money for North Texas nonprofits. Active since 2009, North Texas Giving Day has injected more than $119 million into the North Texas community. The North Texas Master Naturalists have participated in North Texas Giving Day for the past few years and will again this September 22. We encourage members and their friends and family to donate to NTMN through Giving Day. As participants, we are eligible for prizes awarded to organizations. Some prizes are based upon participation and others are simply randomly awarded. We have added a Donate tab to our Members homepage, so you may donate to the North Texas Master Naturalists at any time by check or credit card (through PayPal). We are a nonprofit organization so you may deduct your contribution at tax time. By Bruce Stewart


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David Parrish Quarterly Volunteer Award Winner

By Jim Folger Congratulations to David Parrish, this year’s second winner of the Quarterly Volunteer Award. Since completing his training in the 2015 class, David has been extremely active in several volunteer projects, and is described as a tireless worker. He accrued 172 volunteer hours in 2015, and has thus far logged 168 hours in 2016. David graduated from Oklahoma State University with a B.S. degree in Zoology (Ecology) and worked as a research associate at OSU before joining EPA Region 6 in Dallas, Texas in 1978. At EPA he worked in water quality monitoring, emergency response, information resources management, geographic information systems (GIS), and Data.gov. He retired in January 2015, after 36 years. David has been actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America organization since the 1960s and, in the most recent 15 years, has accumulated over 600 volunteer hours in various positions. After retirement, David joined the Friends of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in Denison and Spring Creek Forest Preservation Society in Garland. He and his wife, Sharon, who is also retired from the EPA, enjoy their family, community service, traveling, canoeing, and their home away from home at Lake Texoma. Barbara Baynham comments that David has been “a great advocate for the environment.” He has been on the board of the Preservation Society for Spring Creek Forest, and has helped several Eagle Scouts on their projects in the Preserve. He has also participated in the Leadership Garland program, and was recently appointed to the City of Garland Parks and Recreation advisory board where he can advocate for NTMN’s nature goals. Dana Wilson describes David as an asset to any activity, saying, “He always brings energy, enthusiasm, knowledge, and determination” to the task at hand. She goes on to say: “The quality that stands out most to me is his natural diplomacy. David has a sort of innate knack for bringing differing groups and opinions together, for finding the "make it work" approach which will get the job done with every participant feeling respected and rewarded. He sees the big picture of any challenge or opportunity and offers constructive, tactful advice which leads to getting it done.” David is a true fan of the Cowboys (make that Oklahoma State Cowboys), we are fortunate that David decided to be a part of our North Texas area, and contribute to the ongoing success of our chapter.

Quarterly Volunteer Award Winner

David Parrish

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Quarterly Volunteer Award Winner continued

David and his son, Jared, at the N. Garland plant rescue

David (back to us) removing part of the Subaru from Spring Creek Forest

David and Dana Wilson (left back row) celebrating the empty spot in the woods after the car was removed


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Summer Social 2016

The Annual NTMN Summer Social was a successful evening of fun, food and games. The event was held on July 13 at Texas Discovery Gardens. Enjoy the pictures!

Photos on this page courtesy of David Rogers

Summer Social 2016 continued

Photos on this page courtesy of Carroll Mayhew


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Our volunteer service hours continue to climb!

Volunteer hours as of 8/23/16 are 13,021 and the total Advanced Training hours are 1,588. As of 8/23/16, 50 members have re-certified with the required 40 service hours and 8 AT hours.

2 members from the Class of 2015 and 9 members from the Class of 2016 have certified. All class, field trips, and hours requirements have been met.

Congratulations to the following members

who have reached new milestones as of 8/23/16

Thank you to Nelda Reid for collecting this information

Volunteer Hours and Milestones

250 Hours Stan Altschuler Gary Barton Don Farmer Michael Gaffney Kristi Kerr Leonard Jo Lynne Merrill David Parrish Elizabeth Rosenauer Wendy Stewart

500 Hours Dana Wilson Laura Kimberly Connie Koval Charlie Tobin Linda Donnelly

1000 hours Sharon Bauer Donald Thornbury Annemarie Bristow Michael Kahle Whitney Wolf

Initial Certification Vicki Adcock Henry Aschner Judy Aschner Larry Ball Maureen Bly Adriana Comini Samuel Hudson Don Pearson Shannon Richardson Elaine White John White


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Have a question about how to report an Advanced Training or Volunteer opportunity in VMS? Mary Mamantov, our Volunteer Activities Director, has compiled a new tool to help you. Just in case you haven’t found it yet, here is how to get there. Go to the Members side of the NTMN website. Log in using your NTMN username and password. Click on the “Report Hours” button. You will land on the Volunteer Management System Portal. Under North Texas Master Naturalists VMS Documents, scroll down to VH/AT Opportunities and click on the link. This will bring up a spreadsheet with the appropriate VMS item to select for each opportunity. For the AT opportunities, the approved hours for each is also shown.

Urgent Requirement to Update VMS Profile When we moved to the VMS reporting system at the beginning of the year, the Board voted to use Texas Parks & Wildlife service for background checks. The Board takes member background checks very seriously because we are committed to safe interactions in the communities we serve. TPWD provides annual background checks at no cost to our chapter. This is a great advantage to our chapter. Previously, we had to pay $10 per member, and someone had to constantly monitor when background checks were due. The announcement to Edit Your Profile to authorize a background check was first made at the January chapter meeting and was in the Announcements that were emailed after that meeting. When each member received their VMS User ID and Password, he/she received instructions for editing the profile. Several members remain out of compliance with this request. If you have not completed this process, which is required only one time and takes about 5 minutes, your status has now been changed to Inactive and all Opportunities have been temporarily removed until this update is complete. You will not have access to enter hours until this is resolved. If you need help on this issue, please email [email protected]. Thanks from Nelda, Joyce, and Elizabeth!

VMS

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Nominating Committee

The Nominating Committee, led by Judy Parsons, has begun its work to determine the slate of Officers and Directors which will be announced at the October General Meeting. The elections will be held at the November General Meeting. Nominations may be made by contacting Judy at [email protected] Positions which will be elected in November include Vice President, Secretary, Membership Director, State Representative, and Outreach Director. Several committees are also seeking chairs. They are Policy and Procedures, Partnership, and Educational Outreach. And we have a few open positions including Resource Manager, Trunk Resource Manager, and Big Chapter Project Lead. If you have any questions about these positions, please go to the Chapter Operating Handbook on the website under Chapter Documents or contact Judy.

Pollinator Trunk Training

On Saturday, August 27, NTMN members enjoyed the pollinator trunk training graciously hosted at the home of John and Elaine White.

Photos courtesy of Linda Cooke


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Volunteer Projects and Activities

City Hall Pollinator Garden By Jo Lynne Merrill

In March 2016, City of Dallas Mayor, Mike Rawlings, signed the National Wildlife Federation Mayors’ Monarch Pledge committing the City of Dallas to efforts to conserve and protect endangered Monarch butterflies and their habitat. Mayor Rawlings and the City of Dallas Office of Environmental Quality committed to planting a pollinator garden at City Hall to implement the pledge and Office of Environmental Quality employee Freddie Ortiz was given the project. In April, during Earth Day Dallas, Freddie approached NTMN member Rose Mercer to ask if NTMN was interested in partnering with the City to create the garden. Rose contacted Jo Lynne Merrill to follow up on the inquiry, and Jo Lynne enthusiastically presented the City Hall pollinator garden as a proposed new chapter project. The Board of Directors approved the project in May.

A planting plan for the City Hall pollinator garden was drafted by Roger Sanderson, horticulturist for the Texas Discovery Gardens, using native nectar and host plants including Turk’s cap, salvias, frostweed, butterfly ginger, mountain mint, columbine,

rock rose, giant coneflower, dwarf Mexican petunia, Gregg’s blue mistflower, and fern-leaf yarrow. The garden was planted according to Roger’s plan on July 21, with plants supplied by the Texas Discovery Gardens.

The following week, on July 28, members of NTMN, City of Dallas and Texas Discovery Garden employees met to mulch the new garden with mulch provided by Texas Discovery Gardens.

Photos courtesy of Jo Lynne Merrill

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Volunteer Projects and Activities

Prairie Tour The Native Prairies Association of Texas hosted a “Prairie Tour” of Northeast Texas in June, 2016. The tour included six native prairies: Clymer Meadow, Tridens Prairie, Smiley Woodfin Prairie, Gambill Goose Preserve, Mary Talbot Prairie, and Daphne Prairie. Stalin SM, a North Texas Master Naturalist, participated on this tour and recorded beautiful images, which are shared below and on the following pages. In addition, columnist Amy Martin, also joined the tour and reported on her experience. Her special article begins on the next page.

Special Article


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North Texas Wild: Columnist takes rollicking tour of iconic Northeast Texas prairies

Submitted by Jim Folger Excerpted from an article by Amy Martin

The Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT) hosted a prairie tour in Northeast Texas in early June, 2016. Intrepid Green Source DFW columnist Amy Martin tagged along on the day-long charter bus tour that ended with a rainbow over Daphne Prairie in Franklin County. Following are highlights of what she wrote about the trip. As the bus turned down a narrow lane off F.M. 1562, Brandon Belcher, the newly named manager of our first stop, Clymer Meadow, and the tour’s chief naturalist, R.J. Taylor, begin regaling us with facts. On the left is the original 1,400-acre acres of Clymer Meadow, one of the largest and most diverse remnants of the Blackland Prairie, bedecked with wildflowers and festooned with full ponds. On the right is degraded prairie, newly purchased by Texas Nature Conservancy (TNC) and NPAT. We learn of efforts to rehabilitate it, the burning and cutting of brush, using a seed drill to press in seeds of native species without disturbing the prairie, the constant battle against wild hogs. It’s a prairie jungle out there. With more than 3,000 pounds of foliage per acre, a tallgrass prairie produces more oxygen than most forests. We file out at a gate onto the TNC preserve’s main road, leaving the driver, to do the impossible — make a U-turn on a country road in a bus — and come back. We prairie explorers follow Belcher and other leaders deep into the fields of big and little bluestem whose new bluish leaves emerge from last year’s strappy stubble. A few of the fall seed heads of Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) extend auburn and fluffy above the new prairie growth. We stop to look at eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides), related to teosinte, the precursor of modern corn. Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) and Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis) are thriving. The Blackland Prairie has always been the breadbasket. Because of that, more than 99 percent of it has been cultivated, making it the most endangered large-scale ecosystem in North America. Clumps of prairie aficionados begin gathering, some drawn to the tall sunflower like rosinweed (Silphium integrifolium) that towers above all else. Naturalists clutch notebooks, tote cameras, kneel down in the grass and look very carefully at things. A few gravitate to what seems an incongruous sight: a beaver lodge in a prairie pond. We gather on the broad crest between two wet-weather draws, which are swale-like low spots. The preserve's thousand acres unfurls from the high spot, slopes covered in splotches of pastel and bright colors, glimmers of wetlands in the low valleys between. Blue herons skim the impromptu ponds for amphibians barely visible in the thick wet grass. It startles the nesting redwing blackbirds who rise in clouds of crimson dots. In the midst of the beauty, I’m struck by the loss. Heartbreaking to think that this is it, probably the biggest piece left of the Blackland Prairie.


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Belcher calls us together and speaks of the gilgai, small depressions that happen only when the land is unplowed. The clay-rich black soil dries out and develops large cracks. Things fall in, explains Belcher, “rocks, plant matter, small mammals,” that fill the crack. (Small mammals?!) When rains return, the clay soil swells and ridges form, circular on the tops of hills and linear on the sides. Over eons, the ridges erode and reform, and the soil essentially tills itself, earning the name vertisol, from the Latin vertere, to turn. Once a prairie is plowed, the gilgai rarely return. "The prairie remnants of north central Texas are islands in a sea of injured land. Land talks to us. In those places where process and diversity are intact, they emit a sense of health, a sense of wholeness. When you step into an old cottonfield, you can feel its broken-ness. Whole land has a whole heart. Broken land has a broken heart.” - Jim Eidsen, former manager of Clymer Meadow The next stop on the trip was Smiley Woodfin Prairie, near Paris, TX, the largest producer of native hay in the state, featuring tridens and silveanus dropseed. It’s tamed, as prairies go, but never plowed, so the original soil and root ecosystem is intact. Three-foot tall, unmowed tufts punctuate the landscape. Prairie nerds press their faces to the windows, thrilled to set eyes on mima or pimple mounds, another prairie phenomenon like gilgai and possible only on unplowed land. Back on the bus on our way to Mary Talbot Prairie, I have a chance to sit next to Pat Merkord, Executive Director of NPAT, and interview her about prairies in Texas. A few excerpts from our conversation: Merkord: “Huge concern right now on the loss of our pollinators who are responsible for over 70 percent of our food that we eat. The best habitats for pollinators are native prairies, and the species that occur on them are the best for pollinating crops. It impacts us economically in a very big way.” There is a direct correlation, says Merkord, between the decline of pollinators and the decline of native prairies, both now at a crisis point. With only 1 percent of the prairie remaining, I mention it may seem futile to try preserving them. Merkord: “There are many types of wildlife that will disappear if we give up on prairies. We lose what was once half of the United States; we won’t even know what it looked like. The prairie is our history; it’s what this country was made from.” We pondered why it is people that get emotional about trees and demand preservation of significant forests, but treat grasslands as if expendable. Merkord: “It’s because they’ve never seen them. Most people when I take them to a prairie for the first time are very impressed. Everything that they think is prairie is just invasive grasses imported for forage. It doesn’t have the beauty the texture, the color, of a native prairie.” Merkord: Lady Bird Johnson recognized that one of Texas’ greatest treasures are it’s wildflowers. And where do they grow? The prairies! But you need to see them at something other than 75 mph. She invoked that legend of roadside Texas wildflowers, Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Special Article continued

We talk of how our cold dismissal of prairies is all tied up with human tendency to downplay how youth shapes us. History is a hard concept for many. Merkord: "Those prairie soils are what became our breadbasket. The prairies are what built Texas and our country. We had to have food farms and ranches, and it was prairie land that was used because it was the best soil and easiest to farm." The ongoing press for oil drilling and fracking is destroying more prairies, she says. Heavy equipment and bulldozing to create extensive road systems and retaining ponds for toxic fluids plunder delicate prairies. Merkord: “We have used and used and used prairies. It’s time to give back. It’s literally what made us who we are. To have no respect for that when it’s given so much doesn’t seem fair. Which is why Native Prairies Association of Texas has such a vigorous education outreach. The best way to do that is to have trips like this to get people out into prairies." As we look out the bus window onto endless pastures, it’s stunning to think that settlers plowed nearly every open acre in northeast Texas. Each of those farmers was convinced to plant imported forage promoted by seed companies. Some horse and dairy cattle ranchers knew native grasses are more nutritious and never plowed, which is how many prairies remain preserved, though not always in good condition. Merkord: “The future lies in restoring degraded prairies. There will be no new remnants of prairies. But there’s is a lot of interest from ranches in planting native prairie grasses because nonnatives like Bermuda need a lot of water and fertilizer which is going up in cost.” “We come and go, but the land is always here. And the people who love it and understand it are the people who own it – for a little while.” - Willa Cather, O Pioneers! For further detail and commentary on Tridens Prairie, Gambill Goose Preserve, Mary Talbot Prairie, and Daphne Prairie, and to enjoy Amy’s good sense of humor, please read the full article in Green Source DFW published June 29, 2016 under the “North Texas Wild” column. Here is the link: http://www.greensourcedfw.org/articles/north-texas-wild-columnist-takes-rollicking-tour-iconic-northeast-texas-prairies

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Special Article continued



Master Naturalist Mission 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 our local communities.

Primary objective: Develop a Texas Master Naturalist volunteer network that can be self sufficient.

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North Texas Chapter Administration *President - Bruce Stewart [email protected]

Goals Committee - Jim Folger [email protected] Speakers Bureau - Janet Smith [email protected] Videography Committee - Jennifer Weisensel [email protected] Policies and Procedure Guidelines Committee - Sara Beckelman [email protected] Nomination Committee - Judy Parsons [email protected]

*Vice President - Jim Folger [email protected] Programs and Special Events - Richard Grayson [email protected] Hospitality Committee – Angela Perez-Michael [email protected] Audit Committee - Stan Altschuler [email protected] Awards Committee - Jim Folger [email protected] Resource Manager - VACANT [email protected] *Secretary - Jo Lynne Merrill [email protected]

Historian/Archivist - Natha Taylor [email protected] *Treasurer - Linda Donnelly and David Reid [email protected] *Volunteer Service Projects - Mary Mamantov [email protected]

Advanced Training – Mary Mamantov [email protected] Big Chapter Projects - Charlotte Flowers [email protected] *Membership - Nelda Reid [email protected] Volunteer Management System *New Class Director - Connie Koval [email protected] *Communications - Whitney Wolf [email protected]

Website - Rick Murphy [email protected] Newsletter Editor - Nancy Kraut [email protected] Facebook - Linda Cooke [email protected] Photography - Carroll Mayhew [email protected] Outreach - Rose Mercer [email protected]

*State Relations - Gary Barton [email protected] *Immediate Past President - Judy Parsons [email protected] *TPWD Advisor - Sam Kieschnick [email protected] *Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Advisor - Elizabeth Rudd [email protected] *Denotes Board Member The Dragonflyer is published every two months. Send your submissions to Nancy Kraut at [email protected].

Chapter Meetings Open to the Public

First Wednesday monthly Social time at 6:30 PM

Meeting at 7:00 PM

Board Meetings The Monday before the first Wednesday each month at

6:30 PM

Visit www.ntmn.org for monthly meeting location

and speaker schedule.

Dragonflyer 65 final - North Texas Master Naturalist4 The Dragonflyer Volume 65, August/September...

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