1st week of Master Naturalist Core Training

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In 2024, I was on the receiving end of Missouri Master Naturalist Training; this fall I am guiding the Core Training sessions…and am the primary point of contact for the 30 students. It is a very different perspective!

Each week there is a 3-hour class on Thursday evening and a 4+ hour field trip on Saturday. The first class was hectic. I was thrilled that I had enough helpers to realize that the bags of materials on the chairs was better than handing the bag to each student as they signed in. There were sign up sheets for bringing snacks for upcoming classes and some volunteer opportunities coming up fast. It was a little chaotic during and between classroom activities – but subsequent classes will benefit from what we were able to get done in those first 3 hours.

The field trip was to Rockspan Farm which I visited last May – reconnoitering for this training. I coached the Nature Journal activity for 4 groups (there were also 3 other activities: karst geology, forest ecology, and dichotomous key for trees). It is very different leading an activity rather than participating! When we started the day there was a concern about it getting too hot by the afternoon (forecast was for the mid 90s) but a breeze and plenty of water helped us through. I didn’t wander far from the gathering area for the beginning and debrief for the activity. There were new plantings of dawn redwoods, bald cypress, southern magnolia…big trees: pecan, black walnut, and hackberry to name a few.

There were a few of the trees with small arboretum signs.

I wondered what the story was behind a stump surrounded by another tree.

The sounds of the water in the river called for exploration in its direction. Several people drew frogs and dragonflies.

I noticed that the opposite bank was scoured…probably during times of heavy rain.

There were not a lot of wildflowers – but there was drama at everyone with insects very active.

The slower pace of the day and keeping to shady areas helped make the heat bearable for me …and I enjoyed just being at Rockspan!

Missouri Institute of Natural Science

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My daughter and I visited the Missouri Institute of Natural Science on Black Friday! Neither of us had been there before even though both of us had heard about it and were interested. We got there just after 11 and spent about 45 minutes looking at their exhibits and shop.

Their triceratops (name Henry) dominates the center of the largest space they have. It is part fossilized bones and part 3-D printed ‘bones’ to make a complete skeleton. Awesome!

There were some 3D printers to the side of the displays…it probably takes considerable time to create the pieces of a complete skeleton; there are pieces of a second dinosaur that they are printing and collecting under Henry.

A prehistoric fish was still in rock. I zoomed in for a closer view of the front fins.

Evidence of past eras of plants were also on display. Pinecones and dawn redwood!

A raptor (dinosaur…not modern bird) egg nest was in one of the cases.

And, of course, there were shark teeth…and modern shark jaws to compare. There were obviously sharks in the past that were much larger than any we have today!

Ammonites….the rock was donated and there no indication where it was found.

The display case of coprolites (dung that has been fossilized) was in a corner of one the museum bathrooms!

There was a case of trilobite fossils. I remember one of my teenage friends being keen to find them!

There is a display of lead mining equipment – part of the history of this part of Missouri.

It was worth the visit and I might take guests from out of town to the place (a good choice on a rainy day!).

There were more people arriving as we were leaving…we headed to lunch. The timing was great since by the time we finished our lunch there was a line out the door of the restaurant (the Black Friday shoppers had worked up an appetite).