February Meeting Announcements

Highlights from February Announcements
We Filled the Room This Month

Rich Grayson presented a comprehensive talk about the Stream Team in North Texas and the NTMN members who test water each month.
We had a number of guests who were involved with water quality in North Texas from the City of Dallas, the Stream Team, and others. Richard involved most of them in the presentation by directing questions to them.
We had an overflow crowd with only a few chairs available when the program began at 7:20.

A Few Housekeeping Issues

Your NTMN board decided at their last meeting that food will continue to be available at chapter meetings but that members should consider the food optional.
The survey of members conducted last November suggested that a significant number of those attending the meetings would prefer to have food available.
If you want to participate, feel free to bring something to share.
If you don’t care to eat before the meeting, we will still have some social time between six and seven o’clock before the program begins.

Free Trees for Dallas Residents

The trees will be available to pickup March 9 and we need your help to distribute them to residents.
Details are in the announcements.

Winter is Science Fair Time

Several master naturalists volunteer to judge science fair entries at local schools. We are trying to supplement parents and friends who are recruited by the school but don’t have science backgrounds and are not really qualified to evaluate the projects that the students have worked so hard to prepare (avoiding the “It’s a pretty display” evaluation).
This year we are taking the judging to the next level at the Dallas Area Regional Science and Engineering Fair. The projects at the regional fair have won in their building or district fair. The judges at the regional fair have to have much higher subject level expertise to fairly evaluate student projects.
There are over 1,000 projects submitted so the regional fair needs 350 qualified judges. Many of our members have judged at the regional fair in the past; it is a real asset for the students to have qualified judges. See the announcement for details on how to register to be a judge.
NTMN is participating in other ways at the regional fair. See the announcement for details.

Orchid Gami of the Hexalectris warnockii orchid

Dana Wilson told us about the GoFundMe that Dana, Stephanie Varnum, and Charlie Hess setup to pay the setup charge to make an orchid-gami of our native orchid the Hexalectris warnockii.
Samples of orchid gami of other orchids were displayed.
Details of the GoFundMe and what an orchid gami actually is are in announcements.

Hours Entry At the End of the Year