Jennifer’s MMN Training Journal

November, 2024
by Jennifer Holman, Class of Fall 2024

Jennifer Holman, a Missouri Master Naturalist in the fall 2024 training cohort, created and shared her own nature journal through Facebook during the training period. We’ve reproduced her entries here, with permission, for the chapter to enjoy.

August 16, 2024

Feeling Excited

Excited to embark on this journey to become certified as a Missouri Master Naturalist. Attended my first meeting last night and looks like I will be learning soooo much. The goal of the program is to create citizen scientists who volunteer to promote conservation of our natural world through projects and education. Just another excuse to play in the dirt? Maybe, but I have a feeling this is going to be AWESOME!

August 23, 2024 

Feeling Curious

I had an hour and a half lecture over soil last night at my Missouri Master Naturalist training class as well as an hour and half lecture over geology of Missouri. Geology rocks of course (pun intended), but soil is also really cool. Believe it or not, currently my favorite song is a song called “Soil.” It is by an artist named Cosmo Sheldrake who my son  introduced me to. ALL of his songs are amazing and unique. Give this one a listen and you will fall in love with him too. His new nature album will transport you to the best places.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60x4eW6PPa0

September 7, 2024 

Feeling Great

Today's Master Naturalist training had me brushing up on my tree identification and learning the difference between a forest and a woodland at Emmenegger Nature Park. We will be applying our new learning next week when groups are given an area of land and asked to design a management plan to reach a specific goal.

Emmeneger park...Pretty park...can't believe I've never been.

Forests have larger trees with dense canopies and rich, productive soils and very little understory and typically are found on North/East facing slopes;) Now you know.

Tree identification is such a fun skill to work on. The more you know the more you notice about nature in your surroundings. It's very much an awakening sort of feeling. — at Emmenegger Nature Park.

Cottonwood tree. One of the three main trees that dominate our bottomland forest. Ash and elm would be the others.

Emerald Ash borer is a beetle that is devastating our Ash tree populations.

This is an Ash tree with damage from the beetle.

September 14, 2024

Feeling Delighted

What a great day. Started with Master Naturalist Training at Powder Valley Nature Center, practicing how to develop a land management plan. 

Me and my Biltmore stick...helpful little device for determining tree diameter and how much lumber a tree can provide.

Each group was assigned a different management objective and then given a different plot of land to inventory.

Our group was inventorying this oak hickory forest with the objective of managing it for deer and turkey hunting.

Couldn't ignore the mushrooms on the forest foor.

September 20, 2024

Feeling Alive

Just another Thursday… off to Master Naturalist class to learn about invasive and native plants in Kennedy Forest in Forest Park. 

Learning different methods to control invasives. Watch out honeysuckle. I'm coming for ya!

Shoot...I think that invasive is kinda fun, but ok, it's gotta go.

White turtle head grows next to water. So pretty.

Learning about native plants. Plant this...not that...

My preferred classroom.

September 27, 2024

Feeling Adventurous

Caves and salamanders and bears, oh my! Master Naturalist class took me to Fisher Cave in Meramec State Park. We learned all about Missouri karst and how it contributes to Missouri being known as the “cave state.” With over 6,200 caves in this state, you should find one to visit!

When water picks up carbon dioxide from the air it makes carbonic acid which filters through the soil to the bedrock. The now acidic water seeps through cracks and dissolves the soluble dolomite and limestone which makes up most of our areas bedrock making passageways!

I have NEVER stooped so low! Ha, actually I have when we went caving in South Dakota and Kentucky.

Hibernating Bears leaving their marks! This was the coolest thing ever! They navigate the caves in pitch black by following the water and their sense of smell.

As the water moves through it deposits minerals from the dissolved rocks making different formations called speleothems. Different styles have different names of which I am still learning!

Cool hole that travel upwards.

Fisher Cave has 5 species of salamanders. This one is the long tail salamander, which was a special surprise because they are not as common.

This is the cave Salamanders. The most common one in the cave and we saw several.

September 28, 2024

Feeling Happy

Seed, weed, and fire. We walked and talked about habitat restoration and management at the most beautiful Shaw Nature Reserve today for Master Naturalist class. They have volunteer days if you’d like to help them maintain the diverse communities they have — woodlands, prairies, and glades. Right now they need help collecting seed for sowing later. Inquire on the Missouri Botanical Garden website. Happy Saturday everybody.

Talking about fire and what a useful tool it can be in maintaining communities.

This is like the invasive honeysuckle of prairies evidently. Fast spreading stuff.

This pretty guy is actually hemiparasitic which means it can still photosynthesis a bit but mostly is a parasitic plant. But it's so pretty!

Prairie happy.

October 18, 2024
Feeling Amazed

A migrating anus, fish-luring antics of mussels, ballerina aquatic plant spores, and protecting the caviar fish. Who knew Master Naturalist training last night would be so entertaining!? IT was a blast learning about the aquatic ecosystems of Missouri. 

I took three pages of notes… some call it doodling. 

These videos were fascinating.

Snuffbox captures logperch

Each mussel variety (and we have around 70 in Missouri...that's a lot) has its own unique way of luring fish in. They need to inject their larvae into the gills of fish where they complete their metamorphosis. This mussel mimics a moving rock to lure a type of fish that uses it's nose tooverturn moving rocks to look for bugs to eat. Man does he look surprised at what happens next. Once caught, the mussel will expel her larvae into the face of the fish and let it go.

Lampsilis and bass

Another technique is for the mussel to mimic an injured fish. This video really shows well the development of the larvae inside the gills.

The walk and jump of horsetail spores

Ok...watch this to the end to see the "final dance" These are the microscopic spores of the horsetail plant that rely on changes in humidity for release. I love this.

MDC - Lake Sturgeon spawning

With the drastic changes we have made to the Missouri and Mississippi River to make it conducive for navigation we have really messed up the spawning habitats for sturgeon, the fish known for giving us tasty caviar. Lake Sturgeon in the Mississippi have not been seen spawning since the early 1900's until an isolated case was noted in 2015. MDC and the Army Corps of engineers saw this rare sighting as a glimmer of hope that they could make the Mississippi conducive for spawning again. So after some research and an adjustment to the Mel Price Damn to establish the proper flow rates in 2020, spawning sightings have occurred again in 2022 and have continued every April since! You can volunteer for Sturgeon watch each April at the Mel Price Damn area to watch over them during this vulnerable time and if you see any spawning in other areas please contact the MDC so that the can help these areas increase spawning rates there too.

November 8, 2024

Feeling Inspired

Last night’s Master Naturalist class discussed recognizing diversity and inclusion in our nature programming. EVERYONE should have the opportunity to benefit from time in nature. The U.S. is arriving really late in the game of understanding and applying the immense benefits that spending time in nature can have on our mental health and how that translates to major gains in many of our societal issues. Fewer screens, more green. 

We also explored the awesomeness of nature journaling as a way to enhance and record your most treasured experiences in nature. I love to journal!

You don't have to be a great artist to nature journal. It's just a way to connect more with what's around you and remember those moments you had. You can record what you see, hear, smell, who you are with and how you are feeling. Use your fancy apps like seek, inaturalist, Merlin Bird ID and eBird to identify organisms and keep track of all the organisms you find. It's awesome.

I started keeping track of my hikes this way when COVID hit. The one on the left was Hendrix's and Marley's first real hike. It's really fun to look back on and reminds me where I want to revisit and all the details.

I love this! Recording what the sound of a bird looks

like to you in symbols. You get to make the symbols

up. Here are what a couple of different birds

sounded like to me.

Just a couple of doodles of what was on my mind during class. Hoping to get some Sunday shows arranged to play some soulful renditions of songs with Sunshine on bass and reflecting on the health benefits of getting out there in Nature.

November 9, 2024

Feeling Alive

Today was for the birds… and rivers. The last Saturday field trip for Missouri Master Naturalist training took us to the Audubon Center at Riverlands, where we visited the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers… so cool! Then we brushed up on our bird identification. Can’t believe I’ve never been here before. It’s a must for a return trip.

I have a ways to go on my bird ID but it's a fun game trying to locate them and hear their individual songs.

Audubon center at Riverlands is an amazingly beautiful place to bird watch. Depending on the time of year you will see all sorts of different birds as they migrate across the country.

Our guide described this area as the Wally's of a

migratory bird's road trip. A great place to nest,

rest, and digest.

Fast moving Missouri River on the right and

slower moving Mississippi on the left meeting in

the middle. Really cool.

Two bald eagles objected to our intrusion and hung out on the furthest branches a ways away until we left. Since the actual pic wasn't much to look at I put a watercolor effect on it. It's always exciting to see bald eagles.

Check out the flow rates on the Missouri compared to the Missisippi. I learned today that although we call the Mississippi mighty, the Missouri is almost twice as long (when combined with the Lower Mississippi).

This group of naturalists are a real wealth of information and experience. We learn almost as much from each other as we do from the guides we have.

What a great spot to hang out and watch birds!

— at The Audubon Center at Riverlands.

I need one of these. It was amazing the details you can see.

Looking at a great blue heron across the

river.

No joke.....there are pelicans in there. Would love to come back soon when the trumpeter swans show up.

Bird's nest....because there are birds here...duh...

An artist made several of these to represent the likeness of birds to humans in their travels (migration). These are the fall ones and she will put new ones up for winter.

November 15, 2024 

Feeling Proud

I graduated last night! Super excited to continue my internship in the Great Rivers chapter of the Missouri Master Naturalists. Lots of volunteer work ahead of me and more advanced training. Going to be so much fun.