highland lakes steward - texas master naturalist · 2017. 12. 13. · highland lakes steward volume...
TRANSCRIPT
August 2015
MISSION
The Texas Master
Naturalist program is
a natural resource-
based volunteer train-
ing and development
program sponsored
statewide by Texas
A&M AgriLife Exten-
sion and the Texas
Parks and Wildlife
Department.
The mission of the
program is to develop
a corps of well-
informed volunteers
who provide educa-
tion, outreach, and
service dedicated to
the beneficial manage-
ment of natural re-
sources and natural
areas within their
communities for the
state of Texas
OFFICERS
President Chris Faught
Crisfaught1
@hotmail.com
(512) 261-6583
Vice-President
Melissa Duckworth
lissaduckworth@
gmail.com
(512) 756-2813
Secretary
Marilyn McClain
mccgrammy
@yahoo.com
(214) 235-5759
Treasurer
Blair Feller
(830) 385-2782
HIGHLAND LAKES CHAPTER
Highland Lakes Steward
Volume 6, Issue 8
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE by Cris Faught
The Texas Master Naturalist Annual
Meeting will be in Horseshoe Bay Resort
on 23, 24 and 25 October 2015. Here
are just some of the events and training you can participate in while enjoying the
event:
1. TMN Project Fair featuring the Inks SP
Bird Viewing structure and many oth-
ers.
2. Presentations and Field Trips including:
The Upper Highland Lakes Nature
Center featuring Billy Hutson
A geology field trip guided by Charles
Beierle
Classes on the natural history of milk-
weed, leopard frogs, bees and wasps,
and climate change in Texas.
Spiders of Central Texas by Sheryl
Smith Rodgers
Geology and soils of Texas
Partnering with Parks
Inks National Fish Hatchery by Judy
Parker
Texas Natural History
Indian Marker Trees
Youth education programs
CoCoRaHS explained.
3. An open Bookstore featuring all things TMN including clothes, maps, gifts and
books.
4. An array of neat things available in a si-
lent auction which goes on daily during
the meeting.
5. A chance to meet and talk with Master
Naturalists from all over the State.
6. Breakfast, lunch and dinner on site.
7. A chance to earn all the Advance Train-
ing hours you need for the year.
8. Last and not least is a chance to hang
out at the Horseshoe Bay Resort for a
few days.
Since this is in our neighborhood, a
good turnout of our members will make the event just that much better for all who
attend. Please register as soon as it opens,
pick what you want to accomplish during
the three days, then stay or commute daily
so you can participate in as many events as
possible.
I promise you a chance to learn a lot of
new things and to meet a fun group of peo-
ple..
Page 2 Highland Lakes Steward
Inside this issue:
President’s Column Cris Faught
1
August Program 2
September Program Melissa Duckworth
2
Get Well! 2
Halloween at the Nature Center Billy Hutson
2
2015 August Awards 3
New Volunteer Opportunity Sammye Childers
6
Agave Snout Weevils by Mary Kay Pope From Jessica Robertson’s Blog
(Backbone Valley Nursery)
6
Gallery 7
Please submit pictures, articles, reports, stories, announce-
ments, etc. to
Photos should have captions and appropriate credits. The
deadline for submissions to each month’s newsletter is the
10th of the month and publication will be by the 15th.
SEPTEMBER PROGRAM by Melissa Duckworth
Kelly Tarla, our newly appointed Burnet County
A&M Agrilife Extension Agent spoke at the August
meeting. She provided an interesting look at several of
the most prominent Trees of Texas.
Karen Clary, Ph.d will speak to us on seed collecting
at the September meeting. Dr. Clary is Senior Program
Manager, Plant Conservation Project UT Austin, Lady
Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
AUGUST PROGRAM
GET WELL!
The chapter has sent get well wishes to the fol-
lowing fellow Master Naturalists/family mem-
bers.
Karyn Parker – July 20 surgery for endome-
trial cancer
Sharon Drake – July 28Knee replacement
Anne Holly – breast cancer treatments
Sondra Fox – back surgery
Wade Hibler – wife, Ellen, breast cancer
surgery
Ann Stevenson – treatments for breast can-
cer
Gretchen Pachlhofer – cancer surgery and
neuropathy
Ellen Ely Hibler – breast cancer surgery in
Houston and upcoming chemo treatments
Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
"Save the date: October 31st, Open House @ Up-
per Highland Lakes Nature Center. Come celebrate
"Owl-oh-ween!" with us. There will be lots of nature-
themed, family friendly activities, a live band, or two, many outreach stations, interpretive hikes and
more. Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Located just north
of Burnet @ Reveille Peak Ranch. Sponsors include
Save the World Brewery and ArtFrog for now."
HALLOWEEN
AT THE NATURE CENTER by Billy Hutson
Page 3 August 2015 Volume 6, Issue 8
1000 VOLUNTEER
HOURS
George Brugnoli
Not Pictured: Helen Smith
2500 VOLUNTEER
HOURS
Billy Hutson - Not Present
Page 4 Highland Lakes Steward
250 VOLUNTEER
HOURS
From Left:
Fred Zagst, Tom Ash-
croft, M J Hansen,
Nancy Ellison, Eva
Hobbs, Lori Greco,
Alice Rheaume.
Not Pictured: Suze
Jernigan, Vicki Myatt,
Earlene Thorne, Pam
Walt.
500 VOLUNTEER
HOURS
From Left:
Debora Moroney, Marjo-
rie Dearmont, Charles
Beierle, Melissa Duck-
worth, Ed Lilley, Cathy
Hill, Cris Faught.
Not Pictured: Minnie
Eaton, Billie Gunther,
Karyn Parker.
INITIAL CERTIFICATION Jan Belz, Kathy Griffis–Bailey - Not Present
Page 5 August 2015 Volume 6, Issue 8
2015 RECERTIFICATION
From Left: Lori Greco, Alice Rheaume,
Wayne Moldovan, Debora
Moroney, Melanie Huff, Mike
Childers, Sammye Childers,
Cathy Hill, Ann Cook, Mor-
gan Beck, Karen Lundquist,
Pat Campbell, George
Brugnoli
From Left: Judy Haralson, Marilyn
McClain, Linda Brown,
Tom Ashcroft, Marjo-
rie Dearmont, Barbara
Booth, Sandra Landis, Sherry Bixler, Jane
Brunclik, M. J. Hansen,
Betsy Bouchard, Kay
Herring
From Left: Sue Kersey - Awards
Charir Ray Buchanan,
Marcy Wescott, Ce-
lia Escamilla, Sheryl
Smith-Rodgers, Susan Downey, Melissa
Duckworth, Bonnie
Mikels, Davie Payton,
Phil Wyde, Cris
Faught
Not Pictured:
Judy Bloomquist, Marvin Bloomquist, Betty Cruikshank, Lyn Davis, Helen Dillon, Paula D’Orsogna, Minnie Eaton, Joanne Fischer, Sondra Fox, Fredi Franki, Billie Gunther, Billy Hutson, Susan Morgan, Ed Myatt, Vicki Myatt, Hol-
lis Neier, Linda O’Nan, Karyn Parker, Jerry Stacy, Jan Warren, Terri Whaley, Shirley Winslow, Allan Wolfe, Ray
Zender
Page 6 Highland Lakes Steward
NEW VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY by Sammye Childers
I would like to introduce our members to a new
opportunity for public outreach. We have the oppor-
tunity to write a monthly column for Lake Country
Life. The column will be called NATURE Matters or Nature MATTERS, which ever inflection appeals to
you. Our mission will be to raise public awareness
and to educate members of our community on myriad
topics important to/about our unique environment. This project will be Committee based; hopefully we
will be able to meet monthly for lively discussions and
to brainstorm ideas. I think together we can make
this a fun and rewarding project for HLMN and an
important outreach to our community.
The column is to be 600 words and the subject can
be anything related to nature, environment, plants,
animals, topics of concern or current interest. The
sky is the limit. It should be unpublished, original ma-terial. We would love to have you participate on the
team. But, even if you do not have the time to be a
member of the team, please consider submitting arti-
cles for publication. The project has been approved for VS.
If you are interested in being a member of this
team or if you just prefer to write articles, please con-
tact Sammye Childers [email protected]
830-693-5061. Looking forward to working with you!
AGAVE SNOUT WEEVILS
by Mary Kay Pope Printed by permission from Backbone Valley Nursery (Jessica’s Corner Blog) - Submitted by Lyn Davis
The Agave Snout Weevils are at it
again! The females have spent the past
spring chewing into the Agaves and Yuc-
cas and laying their eggs. They chew into the leaf bases, leaving behind a bac-
teria (Erwinia) as they go. That bacteria
rots the heart of the plant. A small hole
at the base of the leaf may indicate the entrance of the beetle. The eggs have
now hatched into grub-like larvae, and
have tunneled into the rotting heart of
the plant.
Unfortunately, by the time that you see the damage to your plant, it is usually severe. The
bottom leaves will shrivel, and droop, although the top
leaves appear fine. A putrid odor develops from the
bacterial infection, and spreads throughout the plant as the larvae feed. It is actually the bacterial infection, not
the burrowing larvae, which causes the demise of the
plant.
Agaves approaching maturity, or those with a wide,
blue-green leaf seem to be the most susceptible to damage by the snout nosed weevil.
Systemic insecticides with the active ingredient Im-
idacloprid have been effective in preventing and con-
trolling the snout nosed weevils. Apply the product
around the base of the plant in early April and again in
late May to June. Systemic insecticides are absorbed
by the plant’s roots and translocated to the above-
ground parts. It may be effective against the adult wee-vil as it bores into the plant. It more probably will kill
the larvae that begin to feed on the tissue. This pre-
vents the spread of bacteria by the feeding larvae,
which can eventually kill the plant.
If you do lose an Agave or Yucca to an Agave snout nosed weevil, remove all parts of the plant immediate-
ly and haul it away or destroy it. Treat the remaining
agave and yuccas to prevent infestation. You may want
to treat the ground around the dead plant as well-
again, the best time to treat is when the adult weevil is active-once in early April and again in late May or June.
Page 7 August 2015 Volume 6, Issue 8
GALLERY
Diamond Back Water Snake
by Phil Wyde
Small Green Heron
by Phil Wyde
Spiny Softsheel Turtle
By Phil Wyde