CMGA General Info

Roadrunner: Although typically desert dwellers, roadrunners may also thrive in cold climates by fluffing feathers for insulation and by exposing their black back feathers to the sun.
Photo by Cindy Murray.

Welcome to the Coconino County Master Gardeners Association blog. The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to create a corps of well-informed volunteers, and to deliver quality horticultural education programs adapted to our regional high elevation environment. The purpose of the association is to provide support for those volunteers and Master Gardener graduates, continuing education, and opportunities to participate in community programs that increase the visibility and participation in the Master Gardener Program.
The Coconino Master Gardener Association (2009) began in 2009. This blog contains information on:
-How to become a member
-Volunteer and Education hours reporting
-Calendar of Events
-General gardening information articles
-Master Gardener Association Documents and forms
-References and Resources
-Interesting Websites and Blogs
-Old Gardening Etcetera columns
-Recipes
-Book Reviews
-How to contact Board or Committee Members
Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Thursday from 600pm - 8;30pm. We meet at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church at 1601 N. San Francisco. This includes continuing education and a business meeting.

Reporting Master Gardener Hours

All master gardener trainees and certified master gardeners need to report their hours.
Beginning in 2010 certified master gardeners need to have 6 Education hours and 12 Volunteer hours in order to maintain certification.The on line reporting system allows you to report Education or Volunteer hours. You can sign in to record hours in the right hand column under Recording Volunteer and Education Hours. Just click on the U. of A.
If you have any questions or concerns about the new reporting system, please contact Brenda Smith (A - M) or Sue Madden (N - Z). Their contacts are listed at the bottom of the blog under
Contacts.



Ideas for hours------
--Attend monthly meetings
--Work on an association committee
--Work at an informational booth for the Master Gardeners
--Be a speaker about gardening topics at a variety of venues

--Host a garden tour
--Work at a fundraising event (Plant Sale - Garden Tour).
--Work at a MG site (Olivia White Hospice, the Arboretum, Riordan Mansion, or school gardens (many others)). Check out the Assoc. Doc. & Forms under Volunteer Sites.
--Work in the Extension office
--Write an article for the newspaper column -Gardening Etcetera
-Volunteer with the Seed Library
Be creative! There are many ways to fulfill your hours. Just remember for volunteering it needs to be a non-profit endeavor or an approved for profit site.

Change in Contact Information

Have you moved or changed your e-mail address, but would still like to be contacted about high elevation gardening information from the Extension? The Coconino County Extension Master Gardener Program has a site that will let you change your information on-line.

Click here to change your contact information!

Event Calendar

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Natural History Institute Talk


One of the most fundamental pursuits for ecologists is cataloging and characterizing the patterns of life on Earth. Traditionally, this was completed via direct observation or capture of species, which typically includes months of field work conducted by professionals trained to sample particular taxonomic groups (e.g., botanists, ornithologists, entomologists). However, all organisms, from bacteria to humans, leave a genetic fingerprint in their environment, and recent technological advances in environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis are allowing researchers detect these signals in air, water, and soil. 

Join us for an introduction to eDNA as a monitoring tool, and an exciting first look at our results from a summer spent investigating patterns of fish and wildlife eDNA on the Verde River.

KATIE BENSON, Assistant Professor of Biology, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Katie grew up in Maryland on the outskirts of Washington D.C., and attended Clarkson University, a science and engineering school in Potsdam, New York for her B.S. (Environmental Science and Policy), M.S. (Environmental Science and Engineering), and Ph.D. degrees (Interdisciplinary Biology and Biotechnology). Broadly trained as a conservation biologist, her expertise includes aquatic ecology, wildlife and fisheries biology, and ecological restoration. She is currently the chair of the Wildlife Science program at Embry-Riddle. 

HILLARY EATON, Assistant Professor of Biology, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Hillary is the chair of the Forensic Biology program at Embry-Riddle. She holds a B.S. in Veterinary Science from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Oregon State University. Outside of academia, she has worked as a research microbiologist for government agencies and the military, specializing in bioremediation, antimicrobial resistance, and environmental and microbial forensics. 

MATTHEW VALENTE, Collections Manager, Natural History Institute; Adjunct Faculty, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Matt is a conservation biologist that has expertise in botany (B.S. in Botany, Auburn University), conservation genetics (M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee), and paleoecology. Matt currently manages the scientific collections at the Natural History Institute and teaches genetics at Embry-Riddle

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