Partners Coming Together

Lisa Tuck Master Naturalists Heartwood Chapter (Woodlands, Conroe) Native Plant Society of Texas Sam Chapter (Huntsville) Scott Ball Herb Society of America Texas Thyme Unit (Huntsville) October 2019 Friends of Lake Livingston (Livingston, Huntsville) Walker County, Texas  Three ecoregions   Blackland Prairie  Oak Woods & Prairie  Water supplies southern neighbors  National forest  State park  Prison units  Ellis Unit  University  Natural Science and Art Research Center  Pinewoods Environmental Research Laboratory  Christian Camp Walker County, Texas

 Fabulous people and organizations  Texas Master Naturalists Heartwood Chapter  Friends of Lake Livingston  NPSOT Sam Houston Chapter  Herb Society of America Texas Thyme Unit  The Adickes Foundation  Many others What We Will Cover

 This presentation describes some of the ways these varied groups have come together to better our communities The Partners Programs and Projects Benefits Challenges and Resolutions → Successes! The Partners – TMN Heartwood Chapter

 Partner description  Heartwood formed 15 years ago  Serves Montgomery and Walker Counties  Historically has operated primarily in Montgomery County  Working to expand footprint in Walker The Partners – NPSOT Sam Houston Chapter

 Partner description  Local chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas  Formed in 2017  How we got together  Lisa was a founding member of NPSOT SH and is a Heartwood member The Partners – Friends of Lake Livingston

 Partner description  Aquatic Habitat Restoration  How we got together  Scott volunteered for FoLL, as it was near his weekend house  Scott ended up being in charge of FoLL project The Partners – Ellis Unit in TDCJ

 Partner description  Scooter Langley heads up the Lee College Horticulture Program at TDCJ, including the Ellis Unit  Separately, Ellis Unit Trustees perform work at various places  How we got together  We all met Scooter through our projects The Partners – Carolina Creek Christian Camp

 Partner description  ~500-acre, non-denominational, independent 501c(3) Christian camp  Bedrock principle: 20% of all campers come from are urban/inner city  Carolina Creek awards $400,000 in scholarships each year  How we got together  Scott visited CCCC to pursue a partnership with the FoLL conservation project  Lisa invited herself to Scott’s second meeting with CCCC The Partners – Herb Society of America Texas Thyme Unit

 Partner description  HSA promotes the delight of herbs through educational programs, research, and sharing the experience of its members with the community  Local group is Texas Thyme Unit  How we got together  Lisa is a member The Partners – SHSU Natural Science and Art Research Center

 Partner description  SHSU houses its collections in one place  SHSU purchased and refurbished the former Huntsville HS and made it the NSARC  How we got together  Dr. Will Godwin, Curator, attended a meeting of the fledgling NPSOT Sam Houston chapter The Partners – The Adickes Foundation

 Partner description  David Adickes, artist, purchased the former Huntsville HS and housed The Adickes Foundation there  Sold the building to SHSU  The Adickes Foundation will remain there for 2 years  How we got together  Linda Wiley, Curator, attended a NPSOT meeting and invited us to meet in their space The Partners – Pineywoods Environmental Research Laboratory (PERL)  Partner description  Fish hatchery built in 1930’s, used until 1984 when dam washed out  Land went to TPWD, then to SHSU  SHSU hired Alan Byboth in 2013 to restore it to native  How we got together  NPSOT 2017 Fall Symposium held in Huntsville  Lisa organized field trips for it and received an email about Alan and his work there Programs and Projects – Conservation

 Conservation – Protecting and/or Restoring Fishery Habitat with the community  Friends of Lake Livingston restoring aquatic habitat to Lake Livingston, TX Partner with TPWD and Authority Covers 85,000 acres of lake and 4 adjacent counties 8 local high schools involved in raising plants, planting, conservation, ecology education A multi-TMN Chapter partnership between Piney Wood Lakes (Livingston) and Heartwood (Conroe) Partnership with the TDCJ/Lee College Horticulture program at the Ellis Unit (Walker County) 01 02 03 04 Restore habitat Reduce erosion, Reestablish Lake Enlist and engage with American improve water Livingston as a local high schools Water-willow on filtration and prime destination and community shorelines, islands, quality, and for anglers and members in and shallow water provide habitat for outdoor growing, planting, flats juvenile fish, recreationists and managing reptiles and birds project areas

The Solution! Experimenting with Varieties of Aquatic Plants

American Pondweed • Water Willow • Bulrush (Three Square) • Wild Celery (Eel Grass) • Bull Tongue • Delta Arrowhead • Pickerelweed Softstem Bulrush • American Pondweed • American, Variable Leaf, Illinois

Pickerel Weed Making A Difference

 8 High Schools  Big Sandy, Coldspring-Oakhurst, Corrigan- Camden, Goodrich, Livingston, Onalaska, Leggett, Shephard ISDs  Propagating, growing, planting  Ecology Education & Improvement  Macro-Invertebrate Monitoring  Site Monitoring  23 Propagation tanks Programs and Projects – Conservation

 Conservation – Protecting and/or Restoring Fishery Habitat with the community  CCCC helped sponsor a FoLL planting along Carolina Creek in mid-August (photos available or video) Inserted 4 aquatic species along the creek property Planted a variety of aquatic bushes/tree’s for “riparian restoration” Programs and Projects – Introducing Concepts

 Introducing Naturalist Concepts to CCC Camp Programs  Ellis Unit Trustees cut nature trails at CCCC  Scott (Heartwood) and Leo (CCCC) are working to establish two nature trails for inclusion into the camping curriculum for 2020 – exposure to nature, ecology, tree and plant species and the Carolina Creek eco-system Programs and Projects – Introducing Concepts

 Introducing Naturalist Concepts to CCC Camp Programs  TTU designed herb garden for CCCC Culinary near the kitchen Native and sensory, with seating and gathering places  NPSOT Sam Houston designed native plant flowerbeds for lodges Planting will be joint project with TMN Piney Wood Lakes and Heartwood CCCC will maintain them  Camper education on native plants and importance of pollinators Programs and Projects – Introducing Concepts

 Introducing Naturalist Concepts to the Community  TTU created and maintains three gardens behind the historic Wynne Home in Huntsville Ella Ruth herb garden Children’s garden – herbs that demonstrate the five senses Rose garden  TTU hosts elementary school children annually for garden tours and demonstrations  NPSOT Sam Houston installed native flowerbeds at Raven Lodge at Huntsville State Park Programs and Projects – Introducing Concepts

 Introducing Naturalist Concepts to current and future Master Naturalists  Field trips to Pineywoods Environmental Research Laboratory in 2018, 2019  SHSU staff providing venues, presenters and field trips for the 2020 Heartwood Intern Class  Ecosystems – Alan Byboth, PERL  Entomology – Will Godwin, Natural Science and Art Research Center  Projects at SHSU PERL and NSARC being identified and approved for Heartwood service work Programs and Projects – Introducing Concepts

 Introducing Naturalist Concepts to Offenders in the Ellis Unit  Master Naturalist training With the TMN Heartwood Chapter, Scott instituted a TMN training program at Ellis Unit Three classes graduated to date  Herbs Behind Bars program All prison units can participate TTU teaches a class at Ellis Unit TTU provided seeds for participating units statewide in 2018 and 2019 Benefits – Practicing Naturalist Concepts

 Offenders in the Ellis Unit Practicing Naturalist Concepts  Catalyst for volunteer conservation work behind bars Positive contributions by offenders Education on conservation issues and solutions Provide valuable research for the Friends of Lake Livingston project  Ellis Unit raises 6,000+ water willows/year for the conservation project Benefits – Practicing Naturalist Concepts

 Practicing Naturalist Concepts  The Great Fossil Rescue NPSOT learned a famous palm fossil was going to be moved and likely destroyed Benefits – Practicing Naturalist Concepts

 Practicing Naturalist Concepts  The Great Fossil Rescue NPSOT learned a famous palm fossil was going to be moved and likely destroyed NPSOT retrieved the fossil and donated it to the SHSU Natural Science and Art Research Center Challenges and Resolutions

Challenge Resolution  Competing priorities  Do the project in stages, or  Timing can be an issue understand it will not or (e.g. – CCCC summer cannot be done at a camp vs off times) certain time

 Different agendas between  Several projects done. organizations Different organizations with aligned goals Challenges and Resolutions

Challenge Resolution  Coordination between  Various organizations multiple groups learning to work together. Several programs implemented and working

 Ensure projects are followed  Assign someone to track  Herb garden design progress  Flowerbed design Challenges and Resolutions

Challenge Resolution  Duplicate requirements,  Case by case, may be the e.g. background checks nature of the beast

 Distance  Working to develop a good  Some projects are in a volunteer base in each neighboring county or county or area by working even multi-county – some with partners volunteers not willing to  Increased presence at drive local activities Challenges and Resolutions

Challenge Resolution  Age demographics  Booths at activities that  Some projects require labor attract younger crowds, skills beyond the capability such as WCMG Butterfly of the volunteers Festival. Children are a little The will is there but not the young…but their parents ability are perfect!

 Attracting diverse  Booths at activities where volunteers the diversity exists  Go where the people are Challenges and Resolutions

Challenge Resolution  Lack of volunteers  We recruit from similar organizations  e.g., TTU, NPSOT, and parts of TMN are about plants  We “grab” specific people Any Questions?

 Lisa Tuck  Texas Master Naturalists Heartwood Chapter  [email protected]

 Scott Ball  Texas Master Naturalists Heartwood Chapter  [email protected]