by Tamie Bulow

Our Chapter Advisor, Javier de Leon, was the recipient of the TMN State Office’s 2020 Chapter Advisor Award at this year’s TMN state meeting. We are so lucky to have him as our advisor, even if we have to share him with the Border Chapter. He has enough goodness for us both!

The award focuses on two main agendas: (1) devotion to Texas natural resources and the Chapter, and (2) enhancement of knowledge and technical capabilities of the Chapter. The following is some information about our advisor, in case you didn’t know what a fantastic catch Javier is.

Javier has had a life-long passion for the outdoors since an early age. He began volunteering at the Hawk Watch at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in 2002 while still in high school. He became a Texas Master Naturalist in 2005 after hearing about the program while volunteering at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, afterwards going on to volunteer at Estero Llano Grande State Park. During the fall of 2005, he interned at the National Butterfly Center in Mission. After graduating from University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, Javier worked at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center, then Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, and is currently the Park Superintendent at Estero Llano Grande State Park.

Javier frequently volunteers as a birding and butterfly guide for local nature groups. He has presented programs on topics relating to nature for many local organizations. Javier has guided for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival field trips, where he showcases the biologically diverse and vulnerable natural resources that we enjoy in deep South Texas. He has most recently led familiarization tours/FAM trips for the Association of Nature Center Administrators during their national conference in McAllen.

You may know Javier from your TMN training classes. He is a regular speaker for the Chapters’ new classes where he instructs on Laws and Ethics, as well as various natural history topics. Javier has coordinated conferences at his state park conference center where members have been able to get advanced training. You may have seen him at our chapter meetings taking the opportunity to get to know the current and new members of our chapter. Regardless of where you have seen Javier, you can be assured he has a smile on his face and a plethora of fascinating information about whatever is on the other side of your binoculars.