Greetings to the Nebraska Extension Community!
I wish to introduce the Nebraska Master Naturalist Program’s 2015 Training Schedule, including our upcoming sessions at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s Wildcat Hills Nature Center, from April 15-18. (Please see the attached flyer: https://unl.box.com/s/v9gmpmnb759x2z43414lgxnwv54ycnlv.)
If you are not familiar with the Nebraska Master Naturalist Program, please visit our website (http://snr.unl.edu/naturalist/ ).
The members of our program like to be involved. They share a passion for nature!
• As trained volunteers, they are keen to gain and apply specialized training through our program (and with collaborating Partners)
• Our Certified Nebraska Master Naturalist volunteers are committed individuals who wish to make a difference with conserving Nebraska’s natural resources.
Our members thus seek to learn and apply their training in these areas…
• Interpretation and Public Outreach
• Citizen Science
• Resource Management
• Outdoor Skills mentoring
We are a grant-funded, science-based, volunteer education program which has enlisted and educated over 230 adult volunteers around the state, to promote the conservation of Nebraska’s natural legacies.
Furthermore…
Our Certified Nebraska Master Naturalist volunteers have each…
• undergone at least 60 hours of in-depth natural resource instruction, from resource professionals,
• successfully passed a UNL background security check and a driving record review, and
• promised to contribute at least 20 hours of conservation volunteering each year, with partnering agencies or organizations from Nebraska’s conservation community (to achieve and maintain their certification).
The Nebraska Master Naturalist Program operates through a Nebraska Environmental Trust grant, and is also funded by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. It is supported in part by the University of Nebraska Extension Division, whose office issued this news release recently:
http://newsroom.unl.edu/releases/2014/11/13/Nebraska+Master+Naturalist+program+announces+2015+training+sessions
I would very much welcome an opportunity to offer more details about our program, for the local interest of your community! --and to explore possibilities for our volunteer Master Naturalists to help meet your program goals with their dedication and enthusiasm!
Our staff also invites you to consider sharing notice of our program and training schedule, within the network of your fellow UNL Extension associates and the conservation community of Nebraska.
We are…
• Matt Jones, Nebraska Master Naturalist Trainings Assistant works out of the Buffalo County Extension Office in Kearney, at 402-937-8601.
• Stephen Vantassel, Part Time Temporary Assistant (is also a Wildlife Damage Control consultant at the UNL School of Natural Resources and coordinates the Nebraska One Health program), at 402-472-8961.
• Bruce Mellberg coordinates the Nebraska Master Naturalist program under the supervision of Prof. Dennis Ferraro, in the UNL SNR, at 402-472-8689.
We look forward to forging new partnerships to conserve Nebraska’s natural resources and biodiversity, through the efforts of our dedicated volunteers! Please consider our potential to help further your aims, and to ensure a sustainable future through education and conservation.
-- Bruce Mellberg
More details at: https://unl.box.com/s/v9gmpmnb759x2z43414lgxnwv54ycnlv