Our volunteers are ready to volunteer! Our Texas Master Naturalist Volunteers are dedicated to natural resource conservation work, but as a result of extreme circumstances due to the pandemic our members have been severely limited in conducting many of their typical outreach, technical guidance and community stewardship service projects. This has limited their ability to obtain their required volunteer service hours. With health and safety restrictions persisting, we’re thinking outside of the box for how Texas Master Naturalist volunteers can assist our partner conservation organizations in their communities.
The Virtual Volunteer Fair will be an opportunity for our partner conservation organizations to present volunteer service projects that need volunteers from a distance or virtually! Save the Date and plan to join us on February 3rd and 4th, 2021, for this series of project presentations showcasing opportunities from across the state and across the spectrum of natural resource topics.
How do I Sign up to Volunteer?
As an attending Texas Master Naturalist what can I expect?
Get ready to volunteer!
The Texas Master Naturalists is hosting its second Virtual Volunteer Fair over two days next week: Wednesday February 3rd and Thursday February 4th from 9:00am to 12:00pm (Central) each day with a series of 10-minute sessions highlighting projects by a variety of partner conservation agencies and organizations. Each day’s sessions will be recorded and uploaded to our website post-event for those who cannot attend the live presentations.
Presentation Slides from the Virtual Volunteer Fair
Agenda (Linked Here)
Wednesday February 3rd
- 9:00 – 9:10 AM Introduction
- 9:10 – 9:20 George W. Bush Presidential Library Native Texas Park Docent
- 9:20 – 9:30 Prairie Restoration Maintenance Plan
- 9:30 – 9:40 Erosion Plot Design
- 9:40 – 9:50 Social Media Content
- 9:50 – 10:00 BREAK
- 10:00 – 10:10 Flora and Fauna Guide to the Chris W. Burkett Service Center Demonstration Gardens\
- 10:10 – 10:20 Virtual Interpretive Videos
- 10:20 – 10:30 Request for Social Media Content emphasizing the natural resources and flora and fauna of Southeast Texas.
- 10:30 – 10:40 3 Rivers Foundation Biodiversity and Educational Assistance
- 10:40 – 10:50 Nature Notes Contributor
- 10:50 – 11:00 BREAK
- 11:00 – 11:10 Butterfly Monitoring
- 11:10 – 11:20 Texas Butterfly Monitoring Co-coordinator
- 11:20 – 11:30 Texas Aquatic Science Video and e-Book Production
- 11:30 – 11:40 Adopt-A-Paddling Trail
- 11:40 – 11:50 Monitoring Invasive Aquatic Species Through Birding
- 11:50 – 12:00 PM Conclusion & Wrap Up
Thursday February 4th
- 9:00 – 9:10 AM Introduction
- 9:10 – 9:20 Bracken Cave Preserve video projects
- 9:20 – 9:30 City Nature Challenge 2021 in the Rio Grande Valley
- 9:30 – 9:40 AquaPlant Website Review & Enhancement
- 9:40 – 9:50 Invasive Species Surveys and Verification
- 9:50 – 10:00 BREAK
- 10:00 – 10:10 Adopt-A-Loop – Great Texas Wildlife Trails
- 10:10 – 10:20 Fat Bat project
- 10:20 – 10:30 Story Time for Bats
- 10:30 – 10:40 Plant ID Bingo
- 10:40 – 10:50 Aligning TPWD Educational Resources with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
- 10:50 – 11:00 BREAK
- 11:00 – 11:10 Texas Municipal Park Providers Inventory
- 11:10 – 11:20 Aquatic Plant Photo Submission Round 2
- 11:20 – 11:30 Armchair Botanist: Community Scientists Transcribing Specimen Labels
- 11:30 – 11:40 Horned Lizard Conservation Educational Materials
- 11:40 – 11:50 TPWD’s Texas Ecological Analytical Mapper user testing – GroundTruther tool
- 11:50 – 12:00 PM Conclusion & Wrap Up
There are also Projects that are available to volunteers, but are not able to be presented at the Virtual Volunteer Fair due to schedule conflicts. Full details for each can be found in the Catalog below.
- Village Creek State Park Trail Maintenance and Minor Repair Projects
- Village Creek State Park Invasive Species Control
- Village Creek State Park Bird Checklist
- Species Spotlight for Village Creek State Park Social Media
How do I join?
Registration is now OPEN to attend our Virtual Volunteer Fair! Register for either of the days or for both days but registration is day specific so make sure you sign up for the day you want to attend! You can attend any or all project proposal presentations on either of the days – come and go as you please! TMN volunteers will earn Volunteer Service hours for attending all project proposal sessions – please use the “TMN Virtual Volunteer Service Fair” Statewide Project Opportunity for logging service hours.
Use the following links to sign up for one or both days of the Virtual Volunteer Fair:
| Event: | Virtual Volunteer Fair 2021 – Day 1 | |
| Event address for attendees: | https://tpwdevents.webex.com/tpwdevents/onstage/g.php?MTID=e078f95b8237cc9fbe497458c30ae565a | |
| Date and time: | Wednesday, February 3, 2021 9:00 am Central Standard Time (Chicago, GMT-06:00) |
| Event: | Virtual Volunteer Fair 2021 – Day 2 | |
| Event address for attendees: | https://tpwdevents.webex.com/tpwdevents/onstage/g.php?MTID=ed446d79da8b880fe3c118f2f5040ab8b | |
| Date and time: | Thursday, February 4, 2021 9:00 am Central Standard Time (Chicago, GMT-06:00) |
If you’ve never used WebEx as a platform at all, the WebEx 101 Guide linked is a great place to start – plus there are live testing sites on the Cisco WebEx page for any day users to test their equipment and set up.
How do I Sign up to Volunteer?
At the completion of EACH project proposal and then again at the end of the event, we will share the “Project Volunteer Registration” survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TMNVirtualVolunteerFair2021
Texas Master Naturalist Volunteers will use this survey link to select which Service Project(s) they are committed to volunteering with. This survey will stay open for the month of February, but the first pull of volunteer signup lists will be done on or around February 12th! Make sure and sign up early to ensure a quick turnaround time for our Project Hosts. Each Project Host will then receive their list of volunteers. From there, these Project Hosts will reach out to get the projects kicked off. Please note that in the event that a Project gets more volunteers than the Project Host can handle, he/she will make the call on how to manage the project. Project service positions are not guaranteed.
A full catalog for the 33 presentations indicating the available Project Presentations and their detailed requirements is also linked below:
How do I log Hours?
Texas Master Naturalists can earn hours for attending the Virtual Volunteer Fair and for participating in service projects presented during the fair. A VMS (Volunteer Management System) Quick Guide reference document has been created to help show these opportunities and how to log them:
Project Hosts Resources
Project Host and Presenter – you will be given a 10-minute time slot in the Virtual Volunteer Fair to present your project, highlight the tasks, expertise and help you need. We will offer time during the event to answer questions and sign up volunteers too. The skeleton PPT template for you to use during your presentation is downloadable here:
As we prepare for the TMN Virtual Volunteer Fair – February 2021, our office hosted a Project Host informational alongside a Speaker Tech Check on January 28th. At the 9:00 AM session Palo Duro State Park Interpreter Lindsay Pannell and Distance Learning Coordinator Louisa Torrance hosted a session devoted to managing Texas Master Naturalist volunteers, both in person and virtually! Learn how to 1) create a successful recruiting presentation and plan, 2) vet and manage your volunteers once the masses come to you, and 3) retain and recognize their work on your projects! Both Lindsay and Louisa presented projects at our fall Virtual Volunteer Fair and they are bringing best practices, tips, techniques and everything they have learned about working with TMNs in distanced and virtual service projects over the past 5 months!
The recording of this presentation is shared below as well as the slides used:
If you’ve never used WebEx as a platform at all, the WebEx 101 Guide linked is a great place to start – plus there are live testing sites on the Cisco WebEx page for any day users to test their equipment and set up.
Have More Questions?
This is a new opportunity for us and for our volunteers – please let us know if you have any additional question. For questions, you can email:
- Judit Green – Texas Parks & Wildlife Department – Judit.Green@tpwd.texas.gov
- Michelle Haggerty – Texas Parks & Wildlife Department – Michelle.Haggerty@tpwd.texas.gov
- Mary Pearl Meuth – Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – mpmeuth@tamu.edu
[…] Make plans to attend our first major event of 2021! In an effort to provide you with as many opportunities as possible to continue your volunteer service from a distance or virtually, the TMN State office will be hosting our second ever Virtual Volunteer Fair – https://txmn.tamu.edu/virtual-volunteer-fair-february-2021/ […]