KNACK FOR NATURE

OUTDOORS IS CLASSROOM FOR MASTER NATURALISTS

Bob Morgan, left, with the Beaver Water District talks about healthy streams while he and Master Naturalist students wade Pine Creek in Madison County on March 23. Students devote 12 Saturdays of classroom and outdoor study to become certified Arkansas Master Naturlists.

Bob Morgan, left, with the Beaver Water District talks about healthy streams while he and Master Naturalist students wade Pine Creek in Madison County on March 23. Students devote 12 Saturdays of classroom and outdoor study to become certified Arkansas Master Naturlists.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

FORUM - Students in this year’s Arkansas Master Naturalist class may find themselves wading knee-deep in an Ozark stream one Saturday, then studying trees in a forest of springtime green the next.

When the 12-week course ends in May, new Master Naturalists will be well-trained volunteers ready to help out on stream teams, teach a nature class or present interpretive programs at state parks.

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One rock lifted from the stream March 23 may include a variety of aquatic animals.

Master Naturalists may do less glamorous work like building nest boxes or picking up litter.

The Arkansas Master Naturalists program involves a dozen Saturdays devoted to nature education. Morning learning is typically in a classroom. Afternoons find students outdoors studying everything from insects beneath the forest floor to stars shining above on a clear night.

Twenty adults are midway through the 2013 course offered by the northwest chapter of the Arkansas Master Naturalists. The 2014 session starts in February.

The chapter formed in 2009 and is one of five chapters in the state.

The 110 members of the northwest chapter have completed the course and now help with several projects.

Members planted trees recently with the Illinois River Watershed Project. They’ve refurbished 20 bird nesting boxes at the Beaver Lake nursery pond, where people frequently hike or watch wildlife.

They help with Beaver Lake pontoon boat tours at Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area and assist with other park programs.

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Lilia Beattie, vice president of curriculum with the Master Naturalists, takes notes March 23 during a stream study.

OUTDOOR LAB

You know there’s fun ahead when students wear waders to class. On a chilly Saturday, March 23, the 20Master Naturalist candidates found themselves walking in water on Pine Creek, a peppy stream that pours through the Madison County Wildlife Management Area.

What clues indicate a healthy stream? How do activities on land affect its quality? Bob Morgan, environmental quality manager at the Beaver Water District, had the answers.

“Driving down here, what did we see? There was a dirt road. We saw some cattle, meadows and some cabins. All that impacts what you’re going to see in a stream,” Morgan said.

A walk downstream gave students a feel for Pine Creek.

“If you look along the bank and all the trees are straight, that’s a good sign,” Morgan said. “If they’re leaning toward each other it means the ground is washing out from under them.”

Shoreline trees along Pine Creek were straight and true.

Gazing into the clear water revealed little in the way of living things. Students quickly found Pine Creek held abundant life that can indicate water quality.

Tiny insect life such as mayfly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, stonefly nymphs and hellgrammites only survive in clean water with plenty of dissolved oxygen. Students found several of these in their study of Pine Creek.

If future classes find fewer of these, it may mean pollution is occurring.

A student plucked a softball-sized rock from the creek. On that one stone, students found two kinds of snails, caddisfly larvae and other evolving insect life.

They’ll will be outdoors again Saturday working on tree identification at Withrow Springs State Park.

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Mornings are usually devoted to classroom study while afternoons are outdoors in nature. Students study March 23 along Pine Creek in Madison County.

JIGSAW PUZZLE

Student Katie Pruitt just moved to some rural property on Dry Fork Creek near Berryville. She wants to learn what’s good and bad for the stream and more about what’s on her land.

Marsha Clifton of Rogers is new to Northwest Arkansas. Becoming a Master Naturalist gets her familiar with the history and nature of the region, she said.

Each Saturday class is like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that, when joined, become a clear picture.

“I’m starting to see how all these classes are tied together,” Clifton said.

The Master Naturalist course offers about 100 hours of instruction. Students take a minimum of 40 hours to graduate, noted Steve Sampers, president of the northwest chapter.

“The more they see the quality of training,” Sampers said, “the more they don’t want to miss a class.”

Sampers is an alumni of the first Master Naturalist class offered in the area.

“Back then it was all classroom work,” Sampers said.

Eventually the course evolved into classroom sessions and field work. Instructors are experts in their professions who, for the most part, volunteer to teach.

Sampers acknowledged that completing the course is a large commitment of time, even if students miss some sessions. The staff discussed other meeting times, but Saturdays work best for the most people, he said.

The 20 students in the 2013 class are all adults. Sampers said there’s talk of creating a junior class for teenagers ages 16 to 18 who would work alongside the adult students.

Work may be the wrong description of the Saturday learning classes.

“We’re out here because we love it,” said Lilia Beattie, as Pine Creek swirled around her rubber boots. “There’s no better way to spend a Saturday in my view.”

Outdoor, Pages 6 on 04/04/2013