Coalition Notes 01-11-2012

1. Houston Environmental Education Summit. Environmental Educators Exchange, National Wildlife Federation, and Houston ISD are proud to co-host the 5th Annual Houston Environmental Education Summit at the University of Houston – Downtown on January 28, 2012. The summit will energize teachers, principals, community leaders, and environmental experts to use the outdoors as a living laboratory by offering engaging, hands-on workshops on everything from teaching students about our world-class birdlife to building a rainwater-harvesting barrel from a trashcan. Nationally known environmentalist Jarid Manos, director of the Great Plains Restoration Council and author of Ghetto Plainsman, will deliver a stirring keynote address at 8:45am that will address the benefits of nature for children, particularly at risk youth. Learn more about the summit at http://houstoneesummit.wordpress.com/.
2. My Houston 2040 happy hour. January 12, 2012. Air Alliance Houston, CTC, and Houston Tomorrow agree that we can build a better Houston today by thinking about the Houston we want in 2040. The event format features two separate talks, the first on a topic related to quality of life, and the second a My Houston 2040 vision from a local leader. This month: Bobby Huegel of OKRA (Organized Collaborative on Restaurant Affairs) and David Crossley of Houston Tomorrow (and former CEC board member). This event is free and open to the public. Food and drinks are available at the bar. 
3. Urban Harvest Fruit Tree Sale. Urban Harvest will be holding a fruit tree sale on January 14th from 9am-1pm at the University of Houston Robertson Football Stadium. There will be a great variety of fruit trees to choose from. More information is available at http://urbanharvest.org/events/.
   
4. Birds and Bottomland BioBlitz. The Gulf Coast Bird Observatory will be hosting an educational event on January 14th from 9-11am. The program, a joint effort by the Cradle of Texas Master Naturalists and GCBO, raises awareness about the importance of habitats to birds. This month, the event will focus on Trees and Shrubs of the Bottomlands. Visit http://www.gcbo.org/ for more information.
   
5. Galveston Baykeeper Annual Meeting. Join the Galveston BayKeeper at Sundance Grill on January 16 at 6:00 pm to learn more about the importance of waterfowl habitat. Greg Green from Ducks Unlimited will speak. Please RSVP to biggish@gmail.com. More at www.galvestonbaykeeper.org.
6. Pathways to Urban Sustainability. The National Academies has organized a workshop on January 18th and 19th at Rice University, Bioscience Research Collaborative Auditorium. The workshop, called Pathways to Urban Sustainability: A Focus on the Houston Metropolitan Region,  will cover perspectives on urban sustainability, building bridges, integrating goals, measuring progress, translating results, and moving forward. Registration is limited to 100 people so register soon at http://sites.nationalacademies.org/.
   
7. Galveston Bay Water Quality Public Meeting. Galveston Bay Foundation is holding a meeting on January 18th from 5:30-7:30pm at Armand Bayou Nature Center’s Education Center. The meeting will cover the updates to the Implementation Plan to reduce bacteria levels in the Upper Gulf Coast Oyster Waters and spread awareness of bacteria issues around Galveston Bay. More at http://galvbay.org/.
8. Changes to West Bay Dredging Project. Galveston Bay Foundation met with officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District (USACE) to review and discuss a dredging project in West Galveston Bay regarding the impact to seagrass. The USACE agreed to make changes to the plans including completing a seagrass survey before and after the dredging, monitoring the long-term impacts of the dredging, creating an interagency coordination team to discuss the dredging in the future and monitor the disposal areas, and attempting to minimize impacts to the seagrass from the disposal. Read more about the changes at http://www.galvbay.org/.
   
9. Free Family Admission to Sunday in Nature Event. Families who visit Armand Bayou Nature Center on the third Sunday of every month in 2012 will be admitted free, thanks in part to a contribution from The Dow Chemical Company’s Deer Park site, which is underwriting the Sunday in Nature program. To encourage outdoor family activities, the Nature Center will waive admission fees one Sunday each month for its unique nature programs. “Feathered Friends of Armand Bayou”, the first free event on January 15, 2012, will be an educational program about birds that live around or visit the nature preserve. Both accomplished birders and families new to nature will enjoy a birding talk by Senior Biologist George Regmund. Kids can make pine cone feeder crafts and play games – including an experiment with owl pellets. Naturalists will lead a birding hike along the Nature Center trails. The Nature Center will be open for Sunday in Nature from Noon to 5:00 p.m. Most activities are scheduled between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. More at www.abnc.org.
10. Crab Trap Removal Week is Around the Corner! The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has announced that the abandoned crab trap removal program is February 18-27, 2011. During this 10-day period, all Texas bays will be closed to crabbing with crab traps, and any traps left in the bay will be presumed to be abandoned and considered litter under state law, thus allowing volunteers to legally remove any crab traps they find. Last year Galveston Bay Foundation volunteers removed over 175 crab traps from Trinity Bay. If you would like to volunteer to remove crab traps with GBF this year on Saturday, February 19th, please email jmintzer@galvbay.org to register and get details.
11. Office for Rent. The Council for Environmental Education is an environmental education nonprofit organization with a back private office for rent. The tenant may choose to rent it furnished or unfurnished. It is located in the pedestrian-friendly Rice Village, with easy access to dozens of shops and restaurants. The rent is $500/month. Tenant would have access to our copier, fax machine, refrigerator, microwave, and water cooler. The Council for Environmental Education would love to have an environmentally-friendly professional let this space. Please email info@councilforee.org to schedule a viewing.