CAMN Members are passionate about exploring and preserving nature, as well as teaching others and helping them enjoy the natural treasures of Texas. This page lists a few of the ways CAMN members pursue our interests and share those interests with other people.
iNaturalist
If you are unfamiliar with iNaturalist, it’s many things.
- iNaturalist is a website and smartphone app that allows people to submit their observations of nature from all over the world.
- iNaturalist is a global project with millions of observations of different species which contribute to an increasingly rich database of the planet’s biodiversity.
- iNaturalist is a community of people who love sharing nature’s beauty and helping others identify what they have seen.
- Increasingly, scientific researchers are using this data set in peer-reviewed research.
CAMN has an iNaturalist project that you can join to have your observations included with other CAMN members. Join the CAMN iNaturalist project by visiting https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/capital-area-master-naturalists-camn and clicking Join. Your observations will automatically be included in the project.
Follow Us on Instagram
CAMN is telling the story of our members and nature in Central Texas on Instagram. Follow us at https://www.instagram.com/capitalareamasternaturalists to see what we are up to.
Vireo Preserve
CAMN Members have spent thousands of hours over the past several years volunteering at the City of Austin’s Vireo Preserve off of Loop 360. These efforts have contributed to the Vireo Preserve being recognized as an Outstanding Green Infrastructure and Low Impact Development Project by the Environmental Protection Agency in EPA Region 6. CAMN members have also placed wildlife cameras in the Vireo Preserve for the past several years and captured images of white-tailed deer, gray foxes, coyotes, armadillos, and bobcats. You can see more or the observations at CAMN’s Vireo Preserve Digital Camera Trapping Project on iNaturalist.
Who We Are Listening To? What We are Reading?
CAMN has exciting and passionate speakers at our monthly chapter meetings. Recent speakers have included:
- Tania Homayoun from Texas Parks and Wildlife told us all about the owls of Central Texas
- Katie Raney of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spoke at our monthly meeting about History and Best Practices of Interpretation of Nature.
- Andrew Busch, Professor and author of City in A Garden: Racial Justice in Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas spoke at a chapter meeting about how Austin’s impressive environmental record has kept its minority groups on the economic, social, and geographic margins.
- Merlin Tuttle, Founder of Bat Conservation International and Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation spoke about current issues in Bat ecology and conservation.
- Romey Swanson, Director of Conservation Strategy Audubon Texas, presented highlights from his Herping Big Year.
CAMN has also started a bi-monthly book club to read and discuss books on nature and the environment. Check the Reader for Current Books. Recent books include:
- Armadillos to Ziziphus: A Naturalist in the Texas Hill Country, Davis Hillis
- Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change, Thor Hansen
- Bicycling with Butterflies, Sara Dykman
- Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, Suzanne Simard
- The Bird Way, Jennifer Ackerman
- Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimerer
Colorado River and Stream Monitoring
Through volunteering with the Texas Stream Team and monthly Colorado River monitoring, CAMN members demonstrate their commitment to conservation and helping others appreciate this natural wonder. The Austin-Bastrop Colorado River Corridor Partnership monthly river monitoring trip, tracks the natural history and environmental changes along the river corridor. Contact Kevin Anderson at the City of Austin Center for Environmental Research at Hornsby Bend for more information: https://www.austintexas.gov/email/kevinanderson
Stories from CAMN Monthly Reader
Each month we highlight the volunteer activities and background of one of our members. Archived issues of the monthly newsletter are under CAMN Events. Below are links to some recent stories:
- Workday at the Gault Site – May 2023
- Digital Camera Traps at Vireo Preserve – February 2023
- Forest Restoration on the Balcones Canyonland Preserve – October 2022
- Seed Production Plots on the Mary Gay Maxwell Tract – August 2022
- Butler Hike and Bike Trail at Ladybird Lake – June 2022
- Seeding the Water Quality Protection Lands – March 2022
- A Walk Down the CAMN Memory Lane – John Barr, February 2022
- From Existential Dread to Raptor Rehab – Ross Livengood, December 2021
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