Texas Master Naturalist Hill Country Volunteer Projects

Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area

Project KL-03-A

Updated Feb 2008

All Aboard!!! It’s time to consider signing up to volunteer at the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area. Old Tunnel WMA, owned and managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, is located in Kendall County on county road Old No. 9 halfway between Comfort and Fredericksburg. Our volunteers get to participate in many activities, not the least of which is helping educate the public about the importance of bats to the environment. Volunteers are needed seven evenings a week beginning May 1^st and running through November 30^th. We have volunteers who sign up for one night each week and there are those who volunteer one night each month. You can sign up for as few or as many evenings as you wish.

In addition to talking with visitors about bats, volunteers are also given opportunities

· assisting with trail maintenance and clean-up

· working in the wildscape

· assisting with off-site programs for schools and organizations

· participating in the astronomy programs

· assisting with any research activities that are conducted at Old Tunnel and some of the other management areas in the Hill Country

In appreciation of our volunteers’ efforts

· we have a cumulative volunteer award program

· we offer several volunteer appreciation outings to other bat sites in Texas

· we provide opportunities to learn about bats through bat netting excursions at parks and management areas

· we provide an in-depth training once each year prior to the beginning of bat season

We welcome new volunteers and would like to invite any who are interested in becoming a volunteer at Old Tunnel to contact the biologist for Old Tunnel, Nyta Hensley, by email at nyta.hensley@tpwd.state.tx.us or by phone at 830-990-2659 so that she can put your name on the list to receive an invitation to the 2008 Volunteer Training which will be held on Sunday, March 30^th. (The training class size is limited.)

Nyta Hensley & Myrna Langford

Project KL-03-A

Directions to:  Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area

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Kerr County

Kerrville-Schreiner Park Volunteer Update:

Workdays: 4th Tuesday of the month

When: 8:30 AM to Noon

Project ID: KR-01-A

To date, we have completed two workdays at the Kerrville-Schreiner Park.
The weather has not been that accommodating either day. That has not
stopped the Volunteers from putting in some great efforts.

The main area of concentration so far has been the removal of second
growth cedar. We could concentrate on this for quite some time and still
not make that big of a dent. But the abundance of cedar has not weighed
on the Volunteer’s spirits as some serious “lopping” has already occurred.

Please feel free to join in on the fun at Kerrville-Schreiner Park. If you don’t have your own special pair of
loppers, the Park has a pair waiting for you. For additional information please contact Jim Gardner at 830.896.1122.

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Butterfly Garden Volunteer Project at the Schreiner-Kerrville Park

Updated Feb 2008

Project ID: KR-01-B

The Butterflies are Coming . . .

Project manager Cathy Downs says, “We'll begin regular workdays at the Butterfly Garden at Kerrville Schreiner Park this week. As the weather is still cool in the early mornings let's begin at 9:00. This will be a cleanup at first, cutting back annuals, etc., pruning, pulling grass and the wild geranium (which seems to ignore the fact it has no water). There is some seed to be recovered if you need it: Goldenrod, Echinacea, Liatris among others. There are viable plants that can be pulled out of the common areas such as Pavonia, Englemann's and others that can be potted and shared.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all again. Please share this information with anyone you feel might be interested in joining our group. “

For more information please contact:

Cathy Downs, mzdowns@hctc.net, or 830-995-5864.

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Monarch Monitoring

Project ID: KR-01-E

Last year our chapter got the Kerrville-Schreiner Park’s Butterfly Garden certified as a Monarch Watch Waystation (http://www.monarchwatch.org). This year we are starting , the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project (MLMP) at the Butterfly Garden. The MLMP began in 1997 at the University of Minnesota (http://www.mlmp.org).

It involves citizens in collecting data that will help to explain the distribution and abundance patterns of monarch butterflies in North America. Our first MLMP project is to collect information about the density of milkweeds and monarchs (including their eggs and larva) at the Butterfly Garden. Early in April, Cynthia Johnson found five monarch eggs on antelope horn milkweed!

If you are interested in participating but haven’t had the training course, you are in luck! Kip Kiphart will offering the two-part MLMP training course at the Cibolo Nature Center’s Spring Wildlife Field Research Program . If you have taken the MLMP training course in the past and want to help we would love to have you join us in the new effort. Please contact either Ginny de Wolf (dewolf@ktc.com; 896-2545) or Don Robinson (robinsod@ktc.com; 257-9452). Project ID: KR-01-E.

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Los Rincones Work Day – every SECOND Tuesday, from January until May 2008

Project ID: KR-05-A

WHERE: 1600 Sheppard Rees Road, El Cote de Los Rincones

WHEN: Gather at 8:30 a.m.

WHAT: Fencing/building exclosures around emerging hardwoods in a burned-over area

Building small animal habitats from downed wood or lopped wood

Walking the property to update plant lists

TOOLS: Bring lopping shears, wire cutters, and sledges for pounding in rebar (a chain saw might come in handy, too)

Also bring gloves, water, hat, (your normal field-work gear).

PARKING: in the clearing about 30 meters from the house.

For those ho have not been there before, the house is about ½ mile in from Sheppard Rees Road.

WHO: Contact Nancy Vaughan

RNC Fauna Census

Fauna 2/07 6/07

Birds 68 94

Butterflies 26 46

Moths 1 3 (Lots of work needed to study and ID)

Damselflies 0 6 (More work)

Dragonflies 3 9

Herps 12 15

Spiders 5 7 (More work)

Other Arthropods 0 5 (More work)

Mammals 12 12

Mollusca 0 4

The RNC site offers great opportunities to study fauna up close. The beautiful grounds (Meadow, Hillside, Parking area and Entry) are home to a vast number of the animals. The RNC Fauna census effort will add to the knowledge of the site for visitors, volunteers and staff. The project will continue for one year to get a 12 month view of fauna usage. After that time frame, work will continue to improve the knowledge of frequency and distribution of species. Long term study will aide in the understanding of the flora and fauna interrelationships.

This fall there will be an attempt to do a 24 hour BioBlitz if necessary fauna experts and volunteers positions can be filled to conduct the census. And if new volunteers are interested, the training classes done in the spring can be repeated in the fall. All HCTMN are encouraged to stop by the RNC, walk the trails and log their sightings in the RNC Fauna Census Log book.

All HC volunteers are welcome to participate and the code to use for this activity is KR-02-F.

Tom Collins

Project Coordinator

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Texas Hummingbird Roundup

In the continuing effort to simplify volunteer project reporting and to expand volunteer opportunities, has been re-named

Texas Nature Trackers Projects and modified to include all State-wide projects. A partial list follows:

Projects: Texas Nature Trackers

Birds at any location for at least 15 minutes on one or more of the count days. Last year, participants recorded more than 7.5 million birds of 622 species across the United States and Canada, and submitted 60,503 checklists, just a few hundred shy of an all-time record!

Three cavity-nesting birds made the GBBC top-10 list for most Frequently reported birds last year: Downy Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, and Black-capped Chickadee. Charlotte, North Carolina, was the locality reporting the most Eastern Bluebirds (308 bluebirds on 113 Participants in Santa Fe, New Mexico, shattered the previous record.

For Western Bluebirds AND Mountain Bluebirds, reporting 481 Western Bluebirds on 64 checklists (previous high was 119 on 4 checklists from Idyllwild, California) and 509 Mountain Bluebirds on 27 checklists (previous high was 300 on one checklist from Colorado City, Colorado).

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Last Updated: 06/07/2008	Home Meetings and Events Advanced Training About TX Hill Country Links Newsletters Contact Us

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