In October we kicked off our

new training classes! We’re

delighted to welcome each

new class member:

Pete Aranda

Cynthia Harding-

Woodhull

Everett Hyman

Aaron Johnston

Kurtis Klein

Gemma Mehalchick

Eric Mansker

Ruthann Panipinto

Stephanie Putnam

Vincent Sherman

Kenneth Sparks

Amanda Sullivan

Kelly Ward

Virginia Weldon

We look forward to get-

ting to know each and

every one of you, and

supporting you in your

TMN journey.

Welcome to the New TMN Trainees!

From the President

First, I want to thank you for

authorizing your background

checks. Now, if I could just have

your social security, credit card,

birth certificate and driver’s

license, it will help me take over

the world! Just kidding of

course; one must have a sense of

humor about these things.

In all seriousness, I couldn’t ask

for a better way to start this fall

semester than to train our new-

est members, officiate the meet-

ings and initialize great projects

that will allow us to grow the

future of our chapter and help

the environment. I cannot stress

enough how spectacular you are.

And, since this is the month for

giving thanks, I would like to

thank a few of our members.

Thank you Amanda (trainee) for

working with Ruthann (trainee)

to carry on the work of the pond

project. Thank you Beth

(webmaster), for taking over my

technology role . You are already

far exceeding me in that area! A

big thanks to Theresa for being

my mentor and to John, without

whom the VMS system wouldn’t

run. Jesse, thank you for all the

advanced training opportunities

and Michael, for making the

parliamentary procedures inter-

esting. Finally Bill, thank you

for ‘feeding’ me (or should I say

all of us). Simply said, thank you

all for helping me do my job and

making it easy and rewarding.

I am very pleased to announce that we will have a graduating Texas Master Naturalist this year. Maire Cox, our first presi-dent and a founding member of the chapter, will be the first from our chapter to graduate Concordia University (12/5/15) .

To honor her achievements, our chapter will be presenting her with a Texas Master Naturalist stole as recognition for her hard work and dedication. Congratu-lations Maire, we are very proud of all your achievements and wish you the best of luck in the next chapter of your life.

— Kaitlyn Rodriguez

B a l c o n e s C a n y o n l a n d s C h a p t e r a t C o n c o r d i a U n i v e r s i t y T X F a l l , 2 0 1 5

Save the Date!

12/13/15—Holiday Pot Luck, 2-4 at Concordia’s “black box” experimental theatre 1/14/16—Dr. Jay Banner’s class about climate change, at Concordia 1/12/16—Chapter meeting and Volunteer Project Fair 3/5/16—Stream Team Advanced Training with Goodwater Chapter, Georgetown

Welcome! 1

From the President 1

Book Review 2

Fun Facts About Drag-

onflies

2

Update: TMN Annual

Meeting

3

Native Plant Highlight 3

Texas Land Conservan-

cy

4

Officers & Committee

Heads

4

Inside this issue:

The New TMN Class is Underway!

Fun Facts About: Dragonflies

Jim Stanley, a retired chemist

living in Kerrville, has written

an important little guide for

those lucky enough to own a

piece of the Hill Country. Dr.

Stanley correctly points out

early in the book that if Texas

is to protect the natural beauty

and ecology of its land, it must

be done by private landowners,

since 95 percent of all land in

the state is owned privately.

As much as state agencies such

as Parks and Wildlife, universi-

ty programs (such as A&M’s

excellent AgriLife Extension),

and federal counterparts do to

protect our heritage, they have

relatively little control over

much of what happens in the

complex interaction between

the creatures and plants that

depend on the soil, water and

air that sustains them.

He writes that his guide is for

the “new landowner who may

know very little of the ecology

of the Hill Country” but wants

to preserve it for generations to

come.

While he is correct that this

guide is basically for those who

are charged by their ownership

to take care of their land, the

guide is also a mini-

encyclopedia of the area rough-

ly from West Austin to Junc-

tion, south to Uvalde and east

to San Antonio.

It’s a land that was once the

home of Apaches and Coman-

che; bison roamed like a thun-

dering ocean and 10 million

years ago, the sea placed an

indelible stamp on the geog-

raphy and geology, leaving

hundreds of feet of limestone

deposits, embedded with the

shells of billions of sea crea-

tures and the bones of dino-

saurs.

Then in the mid-19th Century

another tribe emerged in the

Hill Country, the European

settlers with their determina-

tion to “tame the land” and

they left their mark, too.

Dr. Stanley writes eloquently

of these transitions in a clear,

direct style without romanti-

cizing either the native species

nor those who came later.

He is a scientist by training

and profession and presents

the issues as they are, not how

he might want them to be.

Want to know about Ashe

juniper (the bane of many

landowners and a godsend to

allergy clinics), the plight of

our magnificent stands of

oaks, or how to take a census

of the deer population on your

property? Dr. Stanley tells all.

But if you wonder about the

impact of imported exotics on

the land or how those rolling

hills came to be, it’s in the

Guide, too.

In its own way, it is a book of

deep ethical considerations:

All of us are just tourists in

this land. We may run a dozen

head of cattle down the Medi-

na River or cool off on a sum-

mer day at Barton Springs, but

we are all just trespassing

through—as temporary as the

bison, Comanche or black

bear.

The book is, in fact, mis-titled:

It should be “Hill Country

Land Caretakers Guide and

Bible.”

Note: Dr. Stanley is a three-

term president of the Hill

Country Master Naturalists.

Disclosure: Dr. Stanley and

his fellow Hill Country Mas-

ter Naturalists provide a free

service to landowners, inven-

torying the plant and animal

life, advising on best and

practices, and following up

with a detailed written report

on findings. He and several of

his colleagues provided that

service to me shortly after

Cynthia and I acquired a

small place near Utopia, the

aptly named little town on the

Sabinal. We are still hard at

work trying to meet Dr. Stan-

ley’s prescriptions.

—Bill Cryer

Book Review: Hill Country Landowner’s Guide

Canyonlands Chronicle Volume 1, Issue 4

Page 2

Hill Country Landowner’s

Guide by Jim Stanley (2009)

Texas A&M University Press,

204 pages ($19.95)

Dragonflies were some of the first winged insects to evolve. Modern dragonflies have wingspans of

only two to five inches, but fossil dragonflies have been found with wingspans of up to two feet.

There are more than 5,000 known species of dragonflies, all of which belong to the order Odonata,

which means “toothed one” and refers to the dragonfly’s serrated teeth.

Dragonflies are expert fliers. If they can’t fly, they starve; they only eat prey they catch while flying.

Dragonflies catch their insect prey by grabbing it with their feet. In one Harvard University study,

dragonflies caught 90-95% of available prey.

A single dragonfly can eat anywhere from 30 to hundreds of mosquitoes per day.

Reference: The Smithsonian

Particularly in October and

November, it puts out large,

branched spikelets up to half

the size of the entire plant,

giving a feathery look that you

just can’t miss.

In the winter, the plant be-

comes the color of straw, and

the spikelet blooms become

seedheads.

Like most grasses, Gulf Muhly

produces sexually, with the

wind being the assumed polli-

nator.

It is named “Muhlenbergia”

after Heinrich Ludwig Mueh-

lenberg (1753-1815), a German

educated Lutheran minister

and America’s first outstand-

ing botanist, who published

Index Flora Lancastriensis in

1785. “Capillaris” comes from

the Latin ‘capillus,’ meaning

having hair, or hair like.

Here are Theresa Rooney’s top

8 reasons you should attend

the next TMN Annual Meeting

(drumroll, please):

8. Win awesome things at the

Silent Auction. (Karen

McGraw surprised herself

by “winning” a beautiful

book on hill country gar-

dens and a great art piece.)

7. Win Contests

(Photography, Stitchery,

Art, Newsletter, Scrapbook

and Project). We must

submit next year!

6. Purchase Master Natural-

ist gear and books at dis-

counted prices.

5. See other ecoregions in the

state.

4. Do a big chunk of volun-

teer service.

3. Get all your advanced

training done in one day.

2. Receive recognition for all

you accomplished in the

last year.

1. And the #1 reason to at-

tend the annual meeting

is...

FELLOWSHIP with your

fellow Master Natural-

ists from around the

state!

This year, the following chap-

ter members attended the

meeting in Horseshoe Bay:

Theresa Rooney, Maire Cox,

Kaitlyn Rodriguez, Gloria Sut-

ton, and Karen McGraw. We

all had a great time—in spite

of the weather.

If you did not attend this

year’s meeting please start

planning now to attend next

year’s. These meetings are

more fun than I can possibly

express and the training is

some of the most practical and

valuable you can attend. I

have attended the annual

meeting the last two years and

I have learned so much.

Being the first collegiate chap-

ter, we are recognized by other

chapters from around the

state and looked to for infor-

mation about the successful

pilot project we have under-

taken. Next year we hope to present a session on implementing a

program with college students and possibly others. Your volun-

teer project and knowledge could be one of the things showcased.

—Theresa Rooney

We had a strong representation at the meeting and had the pleas-

ure of standing up and cheering (loud and long) for our chapter

during the “Chapter Rollcall” portion of the meeting.

In spite of our relatively small chapter size, two of our members

were honored and recognized for achieving 250 hours of volun-

teer service already! Theresa Rooney and Beth Samuelson joined

others on the stage to receive well-deserved congratulations and

their service pin.

—Karen McGraw

If you’ve been out and about

this fall, you’ve probably no-

ticed gulf muhly blooming,

showing off its pink-purple

tufts of blooms.

Gulf Muhly is a 11/2 to 3 ft. tall,

2-3 ft. wide perennial grass

that you can use as a specimen

plant or focal point in your

garden, or in mass plantings.

Gulf Muhly does well in full

sun, with well-drained soil.

Native Plant Highlight: Gulf Muhly

Update: Texas Master Naturalist 16th Annual Meeting

Canyonlands Chronicle Volume 1, Issue 4

Page 3

Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia

capillaris). —K. McGraw

Theresa Rooney and Beth Samuelson receive their 250-

hour service pin and recognition.

At our October meeting we

welcomed Dr. Ashley Lovell of

the Texas Land Conservancy

as our speaker. Ashley, who

described herself as an envi-

ronmental sociologist, is the

Director of Partnerships and

Outreach for TLC.

Texas Land Conservancy’s

mission is to protect the iconic

landscapes of Texas for pre-

sent and future generations.

They are currently protecting

85,000 acres across the state.

Ashley described the extreme

changes that Texas has under-

gone. We are 80% urban now,

versus 20% urban 100 years

ago. Since 1997, the accumu-

lated loss of native rangeland

has exceeded 4.8 million, as

land is converted to other us-

es, such as development.

These changes have immense

impact, especially since Texas

is among nine southern states

that host nearly 90% of the

endangered species in the

United States.

Between 1997 to 2007, land

values in Travis County in-

creased 199%, two times both

the state average and the aver-

age of the Hill Country due to

development pressures.

It is for these reasons that

Land Trusts are so critical .

Land Trusts are non-profits

focused on preservation and

protection. Texas Land Con-

servancy is especially interest-

ed in helping owners of large

pieces of land with scenic

viewsheds understand and

consider implementing a Land

Trust. TLC helps landowners

set up conservation easements

(a legal agreement between a

property owner and a land

trust to limit the kind and

amount of development that

goes on).

Ashley encouraged us to con-

sider volunteer opportunities

with the Texas Land Conserv-

ancy. Current opportunities

include:

Photography

Nature Interpreters for

Monthly Hiking Series

Event Coordination

Invasive Species Removal

Trail Maintenance

Questions about volunteering?

Contact Ashley Lovell via

email.

Chapter Officers & Committee Heads

Texas Land Conservancy

Canyonlands Chronicle Volume 1, Issue 4

Page 4

Committee heads:

Training & Membership: Theresa Rooney

Volunteer Service: John Laisy

Advanced Training: Jessie Zehr

Program: Gloria Sutton

Communications/Newsletter: Karen McGraw

Outreach/Webmaster: Beth Samuelson

Historian: Pete Aranda

Host: Bill Cryer

Student Welfare: Sam Whitehead

Nominating: Maire Cox

Trails: Jen Weaver & Michael Lewis

Officers:

Current officers for the Balcones

Canyonlands Chapter at Concordia

University TX are:

Kaitlyn Rodriguez, President

Gloria Sutton, VP

Cheryl Grayden, Secretary

Jose Rivera, Treasurer

Thank you to Maire, Kaitlyn, Theresa, and

Jose for their service as officers last year!

Our mascot: Salam ander

Newsletter masthead: Jessie Zehr

A big “thank you” to our

officers and committee

heads!

Chapter members are encouraged to contribute articles and photos to the newsletter. Let us showcase

your recent activity, favorite native plant, tree, bird or book! Most stories are 125-150 words in length.

Texas Land

Conservancy