By ARABELLA SERRATA
The South Texas Ecotourism Center [STEC] has announced its Fall and Winter speaker series. These speakers all feature passion and knowledge about the wonders of the South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley
[RGV] ecosystem and strive to educate others about conservation.
Speakers covering bird topics include Marilyn Lorenz and Javier Gonzalez.
Lorenz is a Texas Master Naturalist according to STEC and regularly acts as a nature tour guide at the South Padre Island Birding, Nature Center and Alligator Sanctuary [SPIBNCAS]. She spoke on Sept. 26 about
Fall migration in the RGV.
Gonzalez grew up birding in the Rio Grande Valley and now works as a Naturalist Educator at SPIBNCAS. He is especially passionate about promoting coastal bird conservation and awareness. He will speak on
Dec. 19 regarding the Christmas Bird Count.
While some speakers focus on birds, STEC announced that others will focus on different animals. This includes Karen Weaver, Sharon Willcox and Devin Johnston.
Weaver has had a long career spanning from Palo Alto to Corpus Cristi, and she has coordinated with youth to help with reforestation efforts. She will be focusing on Texas tortoises on Dec. 17.
Willcox is a Senior representative for Texas who focuses on threatened and imperiled species conservation and recovery. She will be presenting an “Ocelot Talk” on Oct. 17.
Johnston is joined by his business partner, Dawn Johnston, to speak about bee-proofing homes against Africanized bees, Devin will speak on Oct. 24. According to STEC, the Johnstons offer various services to the
RGV, including bee removals, presentations, pollination and more.
Focusing on other related topics are Allen Williams, Augusto Sanchez Gonzalez, Ada Beltri and Roberto Gaitan.
Williams has built a “backyard oasis” that offers a native landscape for birds and other wildlife. Williams was the first Landscape Habitat Specialist for the Pharr San Juan-Alamo ISD in 2013 and has a BA in
Geography. He is presenting a discussion on funding and maintaining outdoor learning on Oct. 10.
Augusto Gonzalez is a water resources engineer and natural resources coordinator for Cameron County as the floodplain Manager. He worked at various universities as a professor and manager of various water
departments. He will be speaking on Water conservation on Jan. 23.
Beltri works professionally with gardening and uses it to educate others on healthy lifestyles and nutrition. She has been actively volunteering for the Texas Master Gardener program in Cameron County since
graduating in 2018. Her topic will be “Growing and Nourish Healthy” on Dec. 17.
Gaitan was born and raised in the RGV. He is on the Friends of Estero Llano Grande State Park board. He is also a High School Science teacher and a Texas Master Naturalist. His presentation on Feb. 20 is titled
The Laguna Madre: Five Unique Plant Communities Serving our Wildlife.
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