Volunteer projects are the reason for our existence. During the first year after completing basic training, each new member must complete 40 hours of work on authorized volunteer projects before becoming a certified Master Naturalist. Each year after that, all Master Naturalists must complete 40 more hours of volunteer service to maintain their certification. There are many opportunities for interesting work, as our list of projects includes:

      • Land management assistance
      • Bat research
      • Butterfly research
      • Bird counts
      • Native garden creation and maintenance
      • Habitat restoration
      • Trail maintenance
      • Water quality monitoring
      • Invasive species tracking
      • School classes and projects

Among other places, our volunteers are active in the Hill Country State Natural Area near Bandera, Kerrville-Schreiner Park, Riverside Nature Center (RNC) in Kerrville, Cibolo Nature Center (CNC) in Boerne, Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Fredericksburg Nature Center, James Kiehl River Bend Park, and the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area (Bat Tunnel).

Those projects with a specific start date are usually on our Events Calendar. Many others are on the complete downloadable list (below).

from the Chapter Operating Handbook (7/23/2008)

1. In order to attain certification, a Hill Country Master Naturalist trainee must complete a minimum of 40 volunteer service hours (and 8 hours of advanced training) by the end of the year following the initial training series. In order to retain the title of Texas Master Naturalist (TMN), a volunteer must complete another 40 volunteer service hours (and 8 hours of advanced training) in every subsequent year. A trained volunteer, no matter how little or how much volunteer service they are providing the Chapter within a given year, is always considered a Master Naturalist volunteer. Master Naturalist volunteers in any given year are either ‘Certified’ or working towards certification for that given year. Volunteers who do not complete the requirements in a subsequent year are not eligible to receive the year-pin awards for that year

2. Volunteer work must be of a type that furthers our TMN mission statement: “To provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within our communities.” This mission includes educating the public on natural resources, but it also includes managing, maintaining, and improving the environment for the benefit of wildlife and the public

3. Volunteer work must be performed as a Texas Master Naturalist rather than as a member of another organization

4. All volunteer work must be approved as a Chapter project and assigned a Project ID before a member volunteer can work on the project for credit

5. Volunteers who belong to two organizations that both require volunteer service as part of membership (e.g., TMN and Master Gardeners) may not count the same work hours twice, getting credit from both organizations

6. Volunteers may not count volunteer work for a for-profit organization, or enhancements on private property. However, some approved activities would include assessments, surveys, education, and research

7. Volunteers may count work for a nonprofit organization, excluding its fundraisers. Exceptions to the latter must be pre-approved by the Volunteer Project Committee

8. Volunteer work in approved Hill Country Chapter fund-raising efforts can be counted

9. Paid work of any kind cannot be counted for volunteer service hours

10. All volunteer work is to be reported in a timely manner to the Chairperson of database management using the form provided

11. Volunteer service hours are earned for time spent preparing a volunteer presentation as well as for making the actual presentation. Travel time to and from any volunteer project activity earns volunteer service hours (does not apply to attending advanced training activities)

12. All Chapter Board members, committee chairmen, and committee members will receive hour-for-hour credit for volunteer hours spent fulfilling those duties (including travel time)

13. New volunteer projects can be initiated only within the Chapter’s four-county service area (Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, and Kerr Counties). With Board approval, Master Naturalists from the Hill Country Chapter may earn volunteer service hours for work on a project sponsored by another Chapter.

14. A proposed volunteer project must have a Master Naturalist coordinator; that is, at least one TMN willing to work on it before the project can be approved

15. Class members who are still in training may begin tracking volunteer project hours beginning from the first date of class, but should report hours only after the topic of reporting hours has been covered in class

16. The following points will be considered by the Volunteer Service Projects Committee when reviewing and approving individual service projects

a. Is the proposed service project representative of the goals, practices, and teachings of the Texas Master Naturalist Program?

b. How does the project address a pressing naturalist, natural resource management, chapter, and/or partner need for meaningful service or resources?

c. What is the scope of the project in terms of when it would need to be conducted, where, estimated time needed to complete or maintain per month, how many volunteers would be needed, etc.?

d. Is the project within the Chapter’s service area and ecological training?

e. How does the project allow the chapter to focus and/or create visibility, identity, and/or recruitment for the Chapter?

f. How can the project’s impact on the community and our natural resources be measured?

Project ID: CC-13-A
Project Coordinator: wteague@stx.rr.com
This project involves volunteer observers all over the nation measuring precipitation on their property in a very accurate gauge and reporting it on-line to a network in Colorado. The data are available on the website www.cocorahs.org. These data can be used by our local National Weather Service office, other agencies and interested folks like yourselves. As you know, the Hill Country is very prone to flash floods. Immediate reports of heavy rainfall by many area observers enable more accurate predictions of where flash floods will occur so that timely warnings can be issued.

Information on how to join and how to measure precipitation accurately is on the CoCoRaHS website, www.cocorahs.org. 

Project ID: CC-05-F
Project Coordinator: Joseph Bergmann, beehive@beecreek.net
This project will be rather broad, allowing several ways for us to utilize our talents, like field work, computer applications, teaching, administration and research.

Examples of tasks we might perform under this project include:
1. a census of all mollusks living in a given area (land and/or freshwater);
2. building a study collection of these for viewing at a nature center, and/or erecting a trailside display with examples and/or pictures of each with scientific/common names;
3. developing an identification key for the area population of shells;
4. designing programs of mollusk education for all age groups, kindergarten through college;
5. planning Power Point presentations for general audiences or advanced training on the topics of mollusks, landsnails and freshwater mussels.

Kendall County Parks has requested a gastropod and bivalve census of three park sites to qualify for TPWD funds. Cibolo Nature Center has asked for a 3rd grade education course, a census and display with reference collection and identification keys, and a presentation in May. And Riverside Nature Center wants something similar.

Project ID: KL-09-A
Project Coordinator: Cynthia Burgin, cburgin@omniglobal.net

Last Chance Forever, a raptor rehabilitation organization, is opening a new facility in Comfort. Visit their website http://www.lastchanceforever.org to learn more about their work.

Our Enchanted Rock project has been re-activated and expanded in support of this unique geological feature in the Hill Country. Enchanted Rock is one of the largest batholiths (a large granite dome exposed by erosion) in the United States. The work will be sponsored by the Friends of Enchanted Rock and TPWD, with Lou McKaughan from the class of 2009 acting as coordinator. The project includes trail maintenance and development of a new volunteer interpretive guide.

If you are interested in participating, or would like more information, contact Lou at Cynthia_McKaughan@nps.gov. Report hours under GL-03-A.

This new volunteer project, sponsored by the Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) assists in teaching youth about various nature topics.  TWA’s educational program, Conservation Legacy, helps immerse both children and adults into the wonders of nature from the classroom to the back sendero. The youth program is called LANDS (Learning Across New Dimensions in Science). LANDS works with students K – 12 and teaches subjects such as land ethics, conservation, wildlife and land management, ecosystems, soils, plants, and how to be good land stewards on private lands.

If you would like to participate in this project, or if you need more information, contact the project sponsor, Koy Coffer. Report hours under CC-12-A .

The Discovery Center is designed to introduce children and their parents to the nature around them. It will be housed in the newly renovated Interpretative Center which is next to the park amphitheater. We need volunteers to come help people use and enjoy this new center. Report hours under KL-03-B. Contact Tom Anderson at 210 241 1916 or tanderson46@satx.rr.com.

The Alamo MN Chapter has invited us to join them in a unique opportunity to find items of archeological importance from Friesenhahn Cave in northern Bexar County. The volunteer work involves sifting material brought from the cave to find any objects of interest. No experience is required. Recently, several mastodon teeth, rodent jaws and a saber-tooth cat tooth have been found.

Kevin Amft is the Volunteer Coordinator at the cave. Kevin will train you and provide all the necessary equipment. He is usually there from 8am until 12 noon on Wednesday morning, but you can leave earlier if you need to. Kevin will provide sifting equipment and ice water. Work is usually every Wednesday and sometimes on Friday. Other groups are also volunteering, so Kevin needs to know in advance how many volunteers to prepare for.

Report hours under KL-08-A. Contact Priscilla Stanley for more information.

The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department is partnering with Bat Conservation International on a Bats & Bridges Survey project, and they would like our chapter to help pilot the project before expanding statewide to other areas and volunteer groups. All of the tools and resources will be provided, so all we need is you to help with the presence/absence surveys twice a year!

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has thousands of bridges that they maintain that also serve as roosting habitat for Texas bats. In previous years Bat Conservation International (BCI) surveyed these bridges for roosting activity. Survey information was kept in a database that TxDOT could use to plan their bridge replacement activities. Bridges with regular bat use can be replaced with a structure designed to promote bat use. Despite the value of this data, BCI does not have the staffing to regularly survey bridges for bat use.

We will be provided with a list of bridges in our area, including directions and maps, that are known to have had bat roosting activity in previous years. Volunteers will visit each bridge in our list twice during the year, once in the early summer and once in the late fall. Surveys will be conducted at dusk and data will be collected on a data sheet that we provide. No special identification skills are necessary.

If you are interested in participating, contact Priscilla Stanley.

New volunteer opportunities at Canyon Lake Gorge include:
      • Leading public tours
      • Maintaining and improving trails
      • Removing invasive plants
Special training is required to become a gorge docent or tour guide and is approved advanced training for our chapter. The next class is expected to be fall of 2009. No training is required for other volunteer opportunities. Hours can be reported under KL-03-B. For more information contact Project Coordinator Cathy Downs at 830-995-5864.

New opportunities at Guadalupe River State Park (GRSP) include:
      • Full moon nature walks
      • Owl prowls
      • Kids in Nature programs
      • Astronomy programs
      • Bird banding research
Contact Craig Hensley for more information about all GRSP volunteer opportunities. Report hours under KL-03-B.

Contact Tara Bushnoe at 830 896 5456 X227 or TBushnoe@ugra.org. Report hours under CC-01-A.