Registration is open to join the 2025 South Texas Border Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist training class. Training will be in-person. Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr County residents over the age of 18 and Winter Texans are welcome.

As a chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist Program, the group develops well-informed volunteers to educate, outreach, and serve in the beneficial management of natural resources and areas in the Rio Grande Valley. Texas Master Naturalist is a unique educational volunteer program sponsored by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Sea Grant Program, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

“Texas Master Naturalist chapters are made up of volunteers with diverse interests who are involved in myriad activities to learn about, work with, and help educate others about the special land in which we live,” said Tony Reisinger, Cameron County Extension Agent for Coastal & Marine Resources with Texas Sea Grant at Texas A&M University and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. “When nature is left to itself, a unique ecosystem develops – after hundreds of years. Today, that unique ecosystem is what Texas Master Naturalists learn about and help sustain: the Rio Grande Valley’s native habitat and the critters that depend on it.”

Classes are taught by local university professors, and other field experts, including those from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The training provides an educational foundation about the unique ecology of the lower Rio Grande Valley given by teachers who are local experts highly rated by past trainees.

Classes are Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m., from January 9 through March 27 in Pharr. Half of the field trips will be on Saturdays. They include visits to natural areas, state parks, national wildlife areas, and world birding centers. There will be approximately 23 hours of field trips to choose from. Trainees will only need to attend 10 field trip hours.

Trainees join volunteer teams with other chapter members and work among more than 60 local partners that include the chapter’s special projects, federal and local wildlife parks, coastal naturalist programs, cities, schools, and other public entities. Hundreds of opportunities are available to volunteers from studying wildlife to taking part in university studies, developing public native gardens, learning about native plants and habitat, citizen science projects, bird migration and shore birds to Gulf and beach inhabitants and trends.

Texas Master Naturalist members offer free PowerPoint presentations to groups on a variety of native subjects; they train as docents and nature guides at local wildlife preserves.

The deadline to apply for the 2025 class is December 15. Class size is limited. The cost is $150 and includes textbook, fees, t-shirt, name tag, and one-year membership. There are service and training requirements for initial certification and then annual recertification.

To apply for the class or request a scholarship, follow the instructions in the pdf icons on the New Class Webpage at https://www.stbctmn.org/the-next-class. If you have questions, check out the chapter website at https://www.stbctmn.org/.

The South Texas Border Chapter meets at 6:30 p.m., the third Monday of each month at St. George’s and has a guest speaker. Meetings are free and open to the public. There is also a Rio Grande Valley Chapter based in San Benito.