Announcements from November General Meeting

Find all of the November announcements here: November_2017_Meeting_All_Announcements_V2

November Chapter Meeting
The slate of board members for the 2018-2019 term was approved by acclamation by the members present at the chapter meeting on November 8, 2017. Details are in the announcements.

Entering Hours into VMS for Award Banquet
The annual Awards Banquet will take place at the Texas Discovery Garden on December 6. Please enter your hours into VMS by Wednesday November 15 so we may compile the totals to determine the milestone awards and certification to announce at the banquet.

If you have had difficulty entering hours into VMS, we have some options for you described in the announcements. You will find two attachments that you may use to have a “Data Buddy” help you out.

Big Chapter Project
We will have our fall Big Chapter Project at Mountain View College on November 11 from 8 a.m. until noon.

Join your MN friends and get to know new ones! Our project is Blackland Prairie Restoration at Mountain View College. Bring your work gloves and water bottle! The chapter will provide a water refill station and snacks. Also bring stump poppers and small shovels if you have them. Afterwards we will gather for lunch on the patio, followed by 3 AT offerings from 1 to 4. See the listing in the announcements for details on the workshop and the Advanced Training available.

Presentation at November Chapter Meeting
Since 2006, Pat Merkord has been with the Native Prairies Association of Texas, a non-profit land trust that conserves, restores and educates about Texas prairies. She has served as Secretary and President of the Board and is now Executive Director NPAT was founded in 1986 by a group of Texans concerned greatly about our disappearing prairie heritage, especially Texas’ endangered tallgrass prairies, and is a non-profit membership organization and land trust dedicated to the conservation, restoration, and appreciation of native prairies, savannas, and other grasslands in Texas. NPAT protects over 3,925 acres of native Texas prairie, including over 1340 acres of endangered/threatened tallgrass prairie.

Learn more about NPAT here: Native Prairies Association of Texas

America’s Grassland Conference
The fourth biennial America’s Grasslands Conference brings together researchers, natural resource professionals, farmers and ranchers, policy experts, and conservationists to discuss relevant issues related to the conservation of North America’s grasslands. The conference will take place November 14-16, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas.

This rather late notice for this conference but the speaker at the chapter meeting mentioned it and you may find it interesting. There are some great looking field trip options to grasslands in North Texas that are difficult to get access to. America’s Grasslands | National Wildlife Federation

The 2018 Meeting Calendar
We have prepared a tentative 2018 schedule of board meetings and chapter meetings. We plan to alternate the meetings between the auditorium at the AgriLife Research facility on Coit Road and the Meadows Center.

This is what we are planning for 2018:

• Five meetings in the north Dallas area – hopefully the AgriLife auditorium later in the year will be available when construction there is completed.
• Five meeting in the south Dallas area.
• Two meetings at Texas Discovery Gardens: July Summer Social and December Award Banquet
• Meetings will be on the first Wednesday of each month except when there is a conflict with a holiday. So the the July meeting won’t take place on Wednesday, July 4, but the Summer Social will be the next week on July 11.
• Board meetings will float to accommodate the chapter meetings on the first Wednesday.

Thanks for your participation and we look forward to seeing you at the NTMN Awards Banquet on December 6 at the Texas Discovery Garden.

Bruce Stewart
President
North Texas Chapter
Texas Master Naturalist Program