The East Texas Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist will meet Thursday, April 28, 2016, for its regular meeting. Dr. Kate Hertweck, Assistance Professor of Biology at the University of Texas at Tyler, will present the program "Identification and Assessment of Native Plants for Home Landscaping." The meeting will be held in The Nature Center at 11942 FM 848, Tyler, TX 75707. The meeting begins at 6:45 pm. The meeting is open and the public is invited to attend.

In her program Dr. Hertweck will discuss some of the challenges homeowners face in residential landscaping. She will introduce participants to native plants that are uniquely adapted to this area and demonstrate how these plants may be incorporated into the home landscape. Dr. Hertweck will show how native plants meet the landscaping challenges present in our area and serve to provide beautiful, resistant and sustainable landscape options. Dr. Hertweck earned her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri and joined the University of Texas at Tyler Department of Biology faculty in the fall of 2014 after completing a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in Raleigh-Durham, NC at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.

The East Texas Chapter Master Naturalist is one of 46 Texas Master

Naturalist chapters throughout the state. The Texas Master Naturalist program is sponsored by Texas A&M AgriLIFE Extension and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and is designed to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers who provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities for the State of Texas. The East Texas Chapter serves the ten county area including Smith, Cherokee, Anderson, Henderson, Van Zandt, Rains, Wood, Upshur, Gregg, and Rusk counties. For more info visit the chapter website at txmn.org/etwd/