EVENTS FEB. MEETING Date: 2/18/10 Social: 9:00 AM Meeting: 9:30 AM Location: AgriLife Extension Meeting Room MAR. BOARD MEETING Time: 9:30 AM Date: 3/11/10 Location: Extension Office Conference Room Board meetings are open to members.

2010 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Elected President: George Kragle Past President: Dave Rowley Vice President: Rob Roy Secretary: Marian Kester Treasurer: Amanda Cowan 2009 Class Rep: Doug Chadwick Member-at-Large: Sue Pohlen Appointed Chairs/Other Training: to be appt. Publicity: Wanda Odum Projects: Russell Gaddie Communications: Monica Chaffin Editor: Theresa Page Webmaster: Sharon Barr

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES Dues are $25 per year and are due by January 31. After that date, they are $30. NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: Submission of material for publication is welcomed and encouraged. The deadline is always the second Friday of each month that the newsletter is published. Send information to news@efcmn.org

February 2010

Volume 11, Number 2 Published January-November

EFCMN Newsletter Elm Fork Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists

February EFCMN General Meeting Time: 9:00 AM SOCIAL; 9:30 AM meeting Location: AgriLife Extension Conference Room “Recovering Our Heritage: From Eyesore to Urban Oasis” will be the topic for the advance training portion at our monthly meeting on February 18th. The speaker will be Ms. Dana Wilson, Volunteer Coordinator at the Trinity River Audubon Center in Dallas. She will be focusing on the history of the site as an illegal dump and how it was reclaimed by the city of Dallas and turned into a city park and environmental education center. In addition to being the volunteer coordinator, Dana handles the facility rentals and much of the decision-making about landscape restoration. Dana has a B.A. from TCU, a M.S. from UNT, and has graduate student status at UTA in biology. She was a member of the 2000 class of the North Texas Master naturalists.

UPDATE ON EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH COMMITTEE

Cheryl Kesterson, Chair As a Master Naturalist, I often think of Jan. and Feb. as "down" times. That hasn't been the case this year. The Educational Outreach Committee has been busy assisting with several groups of upper elementary classes on their visits to Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center (CCNHC, or CC for short). Denton ISD science curriculum coordinators work closely with Master Naturalists (MN's) to help teachers and students on their field trips to CC. A major focus of the science curriculum for upper level classes is on habitats, water quality and riparian areas, an ideal target for CC and MN's knowledge. These trips are usually completed for all the elementary 4th and 5th grades by Christmas break, but due to inclement weather in the fall, some schools had to reschedule, making the winter months of 2010 busier than usual at CC for MN's. The Committee is now looking forward to the upcoming 2nd grade class visits to the park in March. The second grade science curriculum includes an emphasis on prairies, wildflowers and insects. To help the students learn firsthand knowledge of these topics, several teachers have contacted the Educational Outreach Committee to give talks at their schools and lead hikes at CC. In order to make these visits a positive learning experience for the students, MN's Dorothy Thetford and Cheryl Kesterson, along with other members from EFCMN, make personal visits to schools before the second grade classrooms' trip to CC. The importance and history of prairies with an emphasis on native grasses and flowers is presented to the students and teachers. Discussion often follows about what to expect during their upcoming field trip. It is the presenters' hope that by informing the students and teachers about the natural world prior to their visits to CC, many previous fears and uncertainties can be overcome. This goes far in making each schools' trip more meaningful as well as bolstering the teachers' confidence over teaching their new science curriculum in a hands on setting at CCNHC. It is the Committee's hope that these personal visits will empower the teachers enough to overcome their fears of teaching in an outdoor setting. With this empowerment comes more time spent outdoors with their classes and a willingness to repeat their CC field trip in the years to come. In addition to helping the schools with science curriculum topics, interpreting trail signs and leading hikes at CC, the Educational Outreach Committee and other EFCMN volunteers have been

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knowledge of these topics, several teachers have contacted the Educational Outreach Committee to give talks at their schools and lead hikes at CC. In order to make these visits a positive learning experience for the students, MN's Dorothy Thetford and Cheryl Kesterson, along with other members from EFCMN, make personal visits to schools before the second grade classrooms' trip to CC. The importance and history of prairies with an emphasis on native grasses and flowers is presented to the students and teachers. Discussion often follows about what to expect during their upcoming field trip. It is the presenters' hope that by informing the students and teachers about the natural world prior to their visits to CC, many previous fears and uncertainties can be overcome. This goes far in making each schools' trip more meaningful as well as bolstering the teachers' confidence over teaching their new science curriculum in a hands-on setting at CCNHC. It is the Committee's hope that these personal visits will empower the teachers enough to overcome their fears of teaching in an outdoor setting. With this empowerment comes more time spent outdoors with their classes and a willingness to repeat their CC field trip in the years to come. In addition to helping the schools with science curriculum topics, interpreting trail signs and leading hikes at CC, the Educational Outreach Committee and other EFCMN volunteers have been involved with helping judge at numerous science fairs in the Denton School District this winter. This is a new outreach for us and has become one that is lots of fun and interesting to the EFCMN volunteers who have helped judge as well as doing a great service to the schools. By our presence and show of willingness to assist schools and teachers with projects like science fairs and hikes at Clear Creek, we are gradually able to open more doors and reach larger numbers of youth. By working with students in the schools we are also able to reach their parents and other adults with our message of "Preservation, Conservation, and Education."

The Trails of Denton County 2010 AT Class

Schedule Class 1: March 17, 2010; Wednesday 10:00 to 2:30 (Lunch: 30 minutes); Extension Office (4 hours AT) Class 2: March 24, 2010; Wednesday 10:00 to 1:00; Location - TBA (3 hours AT) Class 3: March 31, 2010; Wednesday 10:00 to 2:30 (Lunch: 30 minutes); Extension Office (4 hours AT) To sign up for the classes please send an email to RonFellows@hotmail.com. Space is limited, but you will receive a confirmation by email. This Elm Fork Master Naturalist project, The Trails of Denton County, was started in March of 2009. The project leader is Ron Fellows. The objective of this project is to collect and document trail information and share it with the world on the Internet and Google Earth.

NEW TEACHER WORKSHOPS Trinity River Audubon Center

Submitted by Bill & Katy Hammon, MN bkhammon@sbcglobal.net Project WILD Aquatic March 6, 9-3:30 If you enjoyed Project WILD then you will love Project WILD Aquatic. Project WILD Aquatic is an interdisciplinary environmental program emphasizing aquatic wildlife and habitats. Receive valuable hands-on lesson plans to help you teach your students about wildlife, water conservation, natural resources and more! Participate in fun engaging activities. Earn six (6) Continuing Education Units as well as Environmental Education Credit. Explore the new Trinity River Audubon Center. Take a nature hike with an experienced tour guide. To register go to: www.trinityriverauduboncenter.org or Contact Allison at 817.201.7502

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"WILDFLOWERS-OF-TEXAS" By Dorothy Brown Thetford Common name: Windflower Scientific name: (Anemone belandieri) Family: Ranunculaceae From a total of 150 species, Texas claims five anemones as native. Rightly named, windflower begins blooming in late February and continues blooming right through the March winds. Anemone berlandieri was named for Jean Louis Berlandier, 1805-1851, one of the first botanists credited with extensive plant collections in Texas. Nestled in dried winter grasses, 3-5" petioles emerge at the ground level, each terminating with three palmately-lobed leaves. This basal set of leaves is in a triangular arrangement and grows in a prostrate position. Each single leaf is approximately an inch wide, and the combined three leaves (also in a triangle) total two inches across. You may want to check your lawn now for leaves that match this description; the plant is in the leaf stage, and will be shooting up its scape soon. The flower scape (naked, leafless, flowering stem or stalk arising from the ground) seems to suddenly appear, without notice, from the center of the rosette of leaves, supporting a single flower bud. This bud is cradled in a set of leaf-like bracts. These three bracts are slender, deeply dissected, and are attached at the same node, encircling the scape. Once you discover this stage of the plant in your flowerbed or lawn, you'll soon be the proud owner of one of our early blooming native wildflowers. But watch closely because within days, the scape grows to approximately 5" in height. At this stage, the upper flower stem grows another 3-5" taller, leaving the leaf-like bracts at mid-stem (see picture). Following this quick spurt of growth, the bud develops into a solitary white, blue, lavender, or violet colored flower head of 10-20 sepals (which resemble petals). Each sepal is narrow, about 1/2" long, and arranged side by side around the cylindrical green column. Underside sepal is often a rose color. Now that you've learned to identify the foliage, the scape, the bud, the bracts and the flower, you'll need to know the flower's preferred blooming time of the day. Yes, blossoms open mid-morning in full sun and close late afternoon; and they rarely open on a cloudy day. When the flowers are fully open, several stamens are visible encircling the fruiting head. So what is a fruiting head, you ask. The fruiting head of the windflower is the center column. As the flower matures and petals fall, the head begins elongating, then expands and erupts into many hairy achenes (one-seeded fruit). These are freely dispersed with March winds, or, can be collected and planted in any sunny flowerbed, Outdoor Learning Center, prairie or park. Don't let a February snowstorm dampen your spirits; spring will be spring as soon as you witness acres and acres of this native perennial windflower blooming along roadsides, open prairies, unmowed nature trails, and even in residential lawns where herbicides have not been applied. Be watching!

********************************************************* Dorothy, a certified Master Naturalist, past president of Trinity Forks Chapter of Native Plant Society of Texas and Upper Clear Creek Wildlife Management Association, enjoys photographing native plants in addition to leading Denton's Parks & Rec. City Nature Hikes. She also gives classroom wildflowers programs to 2nd, 4th and 5th grades in Denton ISD. Her "Wildflowers-of-Texas" photo-greeting cards are available locally at Cupboard Natural Foods & Cafe.

Photo by D. Thetford

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RAY ROBERTS LAKE STATE PARK ACTIVITIES Interpretive Center: SATURDAYS, 10AM-4PM; SUNDAYS, 11AM-3PM. The center is located across from the Park entrance at the Isle du Bois Unit. The center reopens for the season on March 20. Guided Nature Hikes: Johnson Branch Unit, Saturday, Mar. 6, 9-11 AM, Birding for Beginners, Dogwood Canyon Saturday, Mar. 6, 13, 20, 27, 3:00 PM, Vanishing Prairie Trailhead, Kids n’ Nature Classes: Johnson Branch Unit: Saturday, Mar. 13, 27, 9-11 AM, animal tracks Isle du Bois Unit: Saturday, Mar. 13, 10-12 AM, Interpretive Center, birds Fish On Johnson Branch Unit: Saturday, Mar. 20, 1-4 PM, Kid’s Fish Pond Check out the website: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us or contact Cassie Cox at 940-686-2148 or Jan Hodson at 940-637-2294 for more information about any of these events. To volunteer to assist with nature hikes and other activities contact EFCMN (Ray Roberts) Project Manager, Susan Pohlen, spohlen@verizon.net

TEXAS DISCOVERY GARDENS EVENT It's time for the fifth annual Conservation in Action family festival, brought to you by the City of Dallas Environmental Education Initiative, the University of North Texas, and Texas Discovery Gardens. What: Going green is fun for the whole family at the fifth-annual Conservation in Action community fair. The City of Dallas Environmental Education Initiative and the University of North Texas will have giveaways, crafts, games and more. Kids will learn about water conservation and recycling as they follow an interactive map adventure at Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park. The first 500 visitors will receive FREE T-shirts, recycled plastic bags, hotdogs, popcorn, bottled water and much, much more! We'll compost biodegradable napkins from the event and recycle plastic bottles. Highlights: Kids can let off steam with our popular recycling relay. We also have 20 interactive water conservation and recycling stations. For the parents, we're adding new seminars on composting and other sustainable, organic garden practices. When: Sat. March 27, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park, 3601 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Dallas, TX 75210. We're through Gate 6 at Fair Park. Cost: FREE family event Let me know if you have any questions. Regards, Sarah Gardner, PR/Marketing Coordinator (214) 428-7476 ext. 230

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The Armchair Naturalist: The Wild Trees By Russell Gaddie, MN For those of you that like trees as I do, then this book is for you. The Wild Trees, by Richard Preston, is one of those non-fiction writings that take the reader from his beginnings as a naïve explorer to a true tree hugger. This is a book written about those behemoths of the northern forests of California. The Sequoia and coast Redwood trees that over the eons, has fascinated and bewildered those that see them up close and personal. Richard Preston is one of the people that took it a step beyond and became one of those select few that explore the top of those majestic ancient trees and keep the secret location to themselves. The habitat of these coastal forests surrounds Eureka and Crescent City, California and extends into the very southern most tip of Oregon for fourteen miles. The area encompasses four state parks; Jedediah Smith Redwoods, Del Norte Coast Redwoods, Prairie Creek Redwoods and Humboldt Redwoods State Park. The Redwood National Park and Muir Woods National Monument in Marion County are also part of this magnificent ecosystem. Mr. Preston describes the coast Redwood tree as an evergreen conifer and a member of the cypress family. Sequoia Sempervirens is its Latin name and sometimes it’s just called the California Redwood or just plain Redwood. He tells of the furrowed and fibrous bark and its lemony scent. The first branches on the tall and straight truck are at least a hundred feet off the ground and the tiny seeds come from cones the size of an olive. He explains that that the cambium layer may be as thin as a single layer of living cells but if flattened out would cover more than a soccer field in size. The oldest but not necessarily the tallest are estimated to be two to three thousand years old and grow in the temperate rain forest of the northern California coast. These ageless beauties seem to thrive in the fog shrouded valleys and sides of the densely vegetated hillsides. Richard Preston takes us on a journey beginning with two of the noted climbers, Stephen C. Sillett and Marie Antoine, both in their twenties. In a kind of disconnected beginning, the book eventually comes together with some exciting and dangerous stories. Climbing the redwoods in the search to find the tallest is their ambition and in doing so, discover the micro-organisms and other species of trees that sprout and grow 300 feet up in the Redwoods. One time at 290 feet off the forest floor, they discover huckleberry bushes, growing in a rotten section of redwood, with a full crop of tasty berries. In 2002, when philanthropists donations waned, Steve Sillett with the help of his brother, Scott, an internationally known ornithologist, applied for a $200,000 grant from the Smithsonian Institution to continue their climbs. This was turned down, but in 2004 they applied for and received a grant from the National Science Foundation for the “Tallest Tree Project”. Steve and now his wife, Antoine, were awarded a grant in the amount of $780,000, which enabled them to study the Eucalyptus regnans of Australia, the costal Redwoods and the Douglas fir. The writer, Richard Preston, follows along and now is an experienced climber himself. He joins the others in their quest for the tallest. To quote Rabindranath Tagore, “Trees are the Earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.”

Certifications for February

250 Hours 500 Hours Amanda Cowan Jean Chaka Rob Roy

Photo by Fritz Poppe, MN. Denton County Trails 2009 Class field trip to Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center. Lichen on tree branch.

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ELM FORK CHAPTER OF MASTER NATURALISTS Texas AgriLife Extension Service 306 N. Loop 288, Ste. 222 Denton, TX 76209 940-349-2883 www.EFCMN.org

FUN WITH MEALWORMS

Part 3: Buying vs. Raising Mealworms By Susan Tartaglino, MN Well, we have had the gas-price crisis, the subprime mortgage crisis, the health care crisis - but did you ever hear about the mealworm crisis? It wasn’t exactly front-page news in the New York Times. But for those of us who buy mealworms for our bluebirds, the mealworm crisis was a disaster. It started in the spring of 2008, when all the major vendors of mealworms were having trouble supplying their customers. The problem, as I was told later by one vendor, was that the wheat bran they use for food and bedding all came from the same supplier, and that stock had become contaminated with pesticides, so the insects all died (remember, the mealworm is a larval beetle, not a worm). Lots of people use mealworms beside bluebird lovers. People with small mammals such as pet mice or sugar gliders feed mealworms, as do people with reptiles and amphibians. Zoos use lots of mealworms. Those that were available during the crisis went to the zoos first. I tried my local pet shop, but they used the same vendors, so they were out too. They did have freeze-dried mealworms, very expensive if you’re feeding as many worms as I do. Canned mealworms come in a gross jelly that you have to wash off. The bluebirds ate the reconstituted freeze-dried worms after a fair amount of puzzlement, but wouldn’t touch the canned ones. This situation went on for months, until finally I resolved to try raising my own mealworms. There was another reason, too. In Texas, in mid-summer, temperatures can fry mealworms during delivery. Have you ever received a big box full of smelly, stinky, dead mealworms? probably not. And you don’t want to. I’d tried raising mealworms once before, without much success. The main thing I did wrong was trying to use one large container for all three stages. The second time around, which is ongoing, I know better. ____________________________________________________________________

CURTIS & CHRISTINE STOGSDILL 2103 RINEY RD. DENTON, TX 76207