Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Mary Pearl Meuth, 979-845-7294, mpmeuth@tamu.edu
COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service recently hired Mary Pearl Meuth as an assistant program coordinator to work directly with the agency’s Texas Master Naturalist program, said Meuth’s supervisor.
“Mary Pearl has been with us for several weeks now and has really hit the ground running,” said Dr. Jim Cathey, AgriLife Extension wildlife and fisheries associate department head and AgriLife Extension program leader at College Station. “She is charged with helping to coordinate this fast-growing volunteer program, so that it may continue its phenomenal growth as a viable and useful tool for the citizens of Texas.”
The Texas Master Naturalist program’s charge is to develop a corp of well-informed volunteers across the state who are equipped to provide education, outreach and service on the proper management of natural resources and natural areas within their respective communities, Cathey said. The program currently boasts more than 8,000 volunteers in 44 chapters across 70 counties.
AgriLife Extension and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department serve as the program sponsors.
“To become a certified Texas Master Naturalist, volunteers must complete 40 hours of extensive training and commit to another 40 hours of subsequent volunteer work,” Cathey said. “People involved with the program are serious about proper management of our state’s abundant natural resources and they deserve a coordinator with the passion and drive to continue the positive work of this very worthwhile volunteer effort. We feel we have found that person in Mary Pearl.”
Meuth holds a bachelor of science degree in wildlife and fisheries science from Texas A&M University at College Station. She also holds a composite science teaching certificate for grades 8-12 from McLennan Community College at Waco.
Prior to accepting her new position, Meuth was an education program contractor with the Texas Wildlife Association, where she worked as the lead educator within a nine-county region around Houston.
Her employment history also includes service as an AgriLife Extension administrative assistant in Bell County, office assistant with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute at St. Petersburg, Florida and lab technician with the Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Fort Collins, Colorado.
For more information contact Meuth at 979-845-7294, mpmeuth@tamu.edu .
For more information on the Texas Master Naturalist go to http://txmn.org/ .
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