Presented by Kim Conrow and Dawn Hancock. Together, Kim and Dawn developed the Forest Park Pool Monarch Waystation in Fort Worth.  heir journey resulted in transforming a lifeless area into places where birds, butterflies and bees will find food and shelter, and humans find a welcoming place of beauty, relaxation and joy. They will share their experiences on how this garden came to be and lessons learned along the way.

Info: Cathy Lustgarten, drgoodrad@gmail.com

Kayleigh Medeiros (Audubon conservation treks manager for the state and academic programs manager for Trinity River Audubon Center) will be discussing animal evidence, specifically scat and tracks. Participants will learn how to safely examine scat and how to identify it. We will then discuss the tracks of an animal; participants will discover where to look for tracks, the parts of a track and how to measure.

Info: Annabelle Corboy apcorboy@sbcglobal.net or 817-683-1739

Featured speaker:  Jim Wilson, historian at Kleb Woods Nature Preserve in Houston

Synopsis:  Harriet Hemenway was a Boston socialite who launched one of the first popular movements in defense of the environment. Come discover how this remarkable woman skillfully used her personality, wealth and social connections to succeed where others have failed. Our presentation on Harriet Hemenway is part of a series of hour long programs created at Kleb Woods Nature Preserve called Conservation Pioneers.

Live music, pet adoptions, free clinics, craft beer tasting.

Class schedule:

Join us at the Plano Environmental Education Center for educational presentations on coyotes, bobcats, hogs, bumblebees, raccoon, opossum, rats, and urban deer. Learn more about them in our urban wildscape and how we can live with these critters. $25.

Agenda

9 am - Bonnie Bradshaw: Raccoons and Opossums

10 am - Brett Johnson: Rats

1 am - Rob Denkhaus: Feral Hogs

Noon Lunch will be provided

1 pm - Carol Clarke: Native pollinators

2 pm - Sam Kieschnick: Recovering America’s Wildlife Act

3 pm - Adjourn

Walt Berk has been birding in this area for the past 23 years and has taught birding classes at TCC and at SWNP. He will guide us as we look for birds at SWNP, hoping to catch some of the spring migration as well as some of the year-round residents. 

Informal class on iNaturalist in advance of the City Nature Challenge in April.

Info: Annabelle Corboy apcorboy@sbcglobal.net or 817-683-1739

Rob Denkhaus is currently the manager of the Fort Worth Nature Center, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Science at TCU, and Chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Diversity Advisory Committee.  Rob will discuss the increasing role of environmental ethics in Fort Worth City departments and the increasing citizen need for exposure to the natural values of North Texas. 

Info: Scott Hollinger, scotth150@verizon.net

Presentation by Barney L. Lipscomb, Botanic Research Institute of Texas, Dorothea L. Leonhardt Chair of Texas Botany

Four physiographic provinces converge in Texas: 1) Great Plains, 2) Central Lowlands, 3) Basin & Mtns., and 4) Coastal Plain. The variety of rainfall, soils, and elevation has resulted in tremendous biodiversity in the state. 

Annual kickoff promotes the conservation of bluebirds (and other cavity nesting birds) and teaches the private citizens how to attract and provide quality habitat for bluebirds across Texas. Guest speakers will cover topics that bluebirders, new and experienced, will find interesting and entertaining. Registrants have the opportunity to win door prizes and attendees can bid in our silent auction for many wonderful items. Additionally, TBS members who pledge to NestWatch at least two nestboxes will receive a free TBS nestbox.

$15.