Focus on Forests is a three-day high-energy program. Our home base will be the lovely Bugscuffle Inn, near Cushing, Texas. Meals will be provided from Wednesday lunch through Friday lunch.

What to Expect

• Get an overview of Texas’ forest industry by touring managed forests, an active timber harvest operation, forest product manufacturing facilities, and a seedling nursery
• Evening sessions, taught by professional foresters, will focus on measurement skills, tree and wood identification, silvicultural operations, and forest management methods
• Receive training in Project Learning Tree’s Focus on Forests secondary module with resources for teaching about forest health, fire, invasive species, and more
• 18 hours SBEC CPE credit and 18 hours TEEAC credit

Join the Houston-Galveston Area Council at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 26 to hear tips from an individual who has hosted multiple pharmaceutical take back events as part of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) collection efforts in April and October to learn what it takes to host one in your community. The featured presenters include Cheryl Burton-Fentress with Harris County and Carie Fletcher with BACODA.

Do you want to know how it’s done?  Bill Swann, solar expert, leads this free workshop that addresses the basics on how to install and operate a solar system. Ideal for those with a technical background or DIYer in need of guidance or troubleshooting with their solar installation project. Hands-on experience will be provided with the installation of a ground-mount system.

This five-day (40 hour) intensive training course adheres to the Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE) Wetland Delineator Certification Program criteria, but has been updated and expanded upon by our team of skilled wetland scientists at the Texas Research Institute for Environmental Studies (TRIES).  Specifically, this course covers the wetland delineation protocol authorized by the ACOE as presented in the 1987 and Regional Supplement manuals.  Our students will gain the legal, theoretical and technical skills necessary to proficiently delineate wetlands.  Emphasis will be made on the identification and application of hydrologic, hydrophytic vegetation, and hydric soil indicators within inland and coastal wetland systems.  This course will cover instructional use for both the 1987 ACOE and Regional Supplement (Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain) manuals.

The first three days of our course will be spent covering each of the wetland delineation parameters (i.e., hydrology, hydrophytic vegetation, and hydric soils) in detail; we’ll spend a day per parameter.  The first half of the day will be lecture-based and the second half of the day will be field-based.  The fourth day of class will be spent entirely in the field conducting a mock wetland delineation and clarifying student questions.  The fifth day of class is a coastal component to our inland course and is entirely optional (payment for the coastal component is additional).  That is, the fifth day of class will be spent in the Galveston area to allow student exposure and application of wetland indicators within a coastal system.  Class will begin promptly each day at 8 AM and end at 5:00 PM (with some days beginning or ending earlier or later).

Re-imagine your campus as a laboratory for applied sustainability education! Explore how EcoRise curriculum, resources, and grant funds can be used to increase student engagement and cultivate eco-literacy and student innovation on your campus. This hands-on training will provide a deep dive into our curriculum and Eco-Audit Grant resources, and will allow you to explore and experience the resources that are most relevant to you.

Lunch will be provided by Green Mountain energy.

EcoRise teacher trainings are open to new and experienced EcoRise teachers across the country. If you are not already an EcoRise teacher, please enroll at ecorise.org/enroll.

Urban Harvest’s Waste Not, Want Not… Bokashi and Vermicomposting

Stop throwing your food scraps in the trash. Come learn the how tos and the benefits of bokashi and vermicomposting. Physical limitations, space limitations, deed restrictions – any number of things may limit a gardener’s ability to compost in bins or piles. However, ANY gardener or homeowner can practice bokashi and vermicomposting. Bokashi composting uses kitchen scraps of all kinds, including meat and dairy products, mixed with inoculated bran to make compost faster than bin composting. Vermicomposting uses composting worms to recycle kitchen, garden, and specific paper wastes. The worms turn the waste into worm castings that are nutrient rich.

Class is hosted by University of Houston/Downtown. There are no refunds on classes.

Directions: The entrance into the visitor parking garage is off Girard Street on the northwest corner of the campus. Upon entering the parking, press the button to receive an entry ticket. Parking is $8.00, except for those attending the class will have their ticket validated.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council will be hosting a regional recycling roundtable at 10 a.m. Thursday, August 23 at H-GAC, Conference Room A, Second Floor. The speaker, Anthony Showen, CEO of Treadwright Tires located in Houston, will be speaking about tire recycling. Come educate yourself on how you can become more environmentally responsible and recycle your tires.

Join H-GAC for the Parks and Natural Areas (PNA) Roundtable on Monday, September 10, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at H-GAC Conference Room A, Second Floor.

On the Agenda

• Representatives from Asakura Robinson will give an overview of the award-winning MD Anderson Prairie project
• Representatives from League City will give an overview of the award-winning Dr. Ned & Fay Dudney Clear Creek Nature Center Management Plan
• H-GAC staff will update the roundtable on activities, including the current awards and recognition program, the Facebook group, and the parks director survey

The PNA Roundtable serves as a forum for discussion of issues related to parks and natural areas, promotes the PNA Award Program, and maintains a regional inventory of parks. The PNA roundtable facilitates information exchange and planning efforts between various stakeholders and collaborators to protect and preserve parks and natural areas across the region.

This is a joint event of the German Consulate General in Houston, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) and Ecologic Institute’s EFEX program in the context of the second annual European Union Climate Diplomacy Week, two weeks after the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco.

The Energy Future Exchange – Houston Dialogue focuses on renewable energy and its role in the future energy system with particular focus on resilience, equity and economic impacts.

For more information, visit eventbrite.com.