In October 2020 April Torres Conkey joined the Texas Children in Nature Network Board. April as been part of the Coastal Bend Children in Nature regional collaborative for several years, currently serving as their communications chair. Sarah sat down with April on October 29th to find out more about her and why she feels so passionately about Children in Nature.

April, why don't you introduce yourself and let us know a little about you:

I am April Torres Conkey, I am a wildlife biologist, in the past I worked as a teacher and professor. In my research I specialized in ecology and education and outreach. I am currently a stay at home mom.

What interests you about the Children in Nature movement?

I grew up on a small family farm in a small town and spent a lot of time outdoors, but seeing the trend in children spending less and less time outdoors and that is concerning. This movement is important because it is highlighting the benefits of those outdoor experiences.

Why do you feel strongly about Texas Children in Nature?

I think to best describe this I will use a story of a former student from when I was teaching at the university, a school about a 40 minute drive from the Gulf of Mexico. I took a group of students to a beach clean up and one student had never been to the beach before, and he lived about 30 miles from the beach. After the clean up the students all had the opportunity to play in the surf as a reward for all their hard work. Just seeing him play in the surf, it was something he had never has the opportunity to do before. I want all children to have these opportunities to go out and enjoy the natural areas in their region.

Dr. Demekia Biscoe met with Sarah on February 22nd to share why she joined the Texas Children in Nature Network Board.

Demekia, please introduce yourself and let us know a little about you:

I am Demekia Biscoe, I was originally born and raised in East Texas, where my love of nature was inspired. I call myself a quintessential country girl. We grew our own fruit and vegetables and being outside was always a part of my day and it still very much a part of my day as an adult. After 18 years teaching in the public schools as a science teacher and administrator, I became a Program Manager at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden (recently Demekia has become the Director of Education at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center). I wanted to help people find nature in a different way than in a classroom, and that is how I became involved with Texas Children in Nature Network.

What are some of your favorite activities in nature?

I am finding myself taking lots of walks and hiking. I like playing sports outdoors as well. With my family we have a memorial garden for my Mom and Grandma that we keep up and plant flowers.

What is your favorite nature spot in Texas?

Oooo - that is hard! Even though they give me the blues now as an adult, as a kid I loved going into the Pineywoods of East Texas - watching the trees sway in the wind.

This past January, Keiji met with Alice to share why he joined the Texas Children in Nature Network Board.

Keiji, please introduce yourself and let us know a little about you:

I'm a landscape architect with Asakura Robinson. I’ve been in practice for about 45 years. What I'm interested in, passionate about, is the importance of the outdoor experience at any age, but especially for children out in nature. Of course, my business is to create or incorporate those kinds of opportunities in the everyday environment. I really love to discuss those kinds of opportunities with all kinds of people from health professionals to teachers, so that wherever that opportunity is created, it works for them. It may sound simple, but it has a lot of obstacles.

I was born in Japan and grew up in Japan. In 1969, when I was 15, I came to the United States, to California, and experienced a totally different environment. I often go back to Japan and then I really see the difference in how nature is accessible in certain areas of Japan compared to other areas. I see how nature is instilled from an early age. Of course, I did not know that when I was young. I thought that was a common experience for everybody.

Marsha met with Alice on March 2nd to share why she joined the Texas Children in Nature Network Board.

Marsha, please introduce yourself and let us know a little about you:

My name is Marsha Towns. I am the Director for the Gulf Region for the Student Conservation Association (SCA). I'm also a citizen of the city of Houston and I have been living here for the last 10 years. I have been with SCA for 32 years and I worked primarily out of the Northeast and in Washington D.C. before I came to Houston. My focus is on Partnerships both current, new, and retaining partnerships and because we also have a local community program in Houston and program staff, I have a little closer touch to program operations than a lot of partnership staffers in the organization.

SCA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit national non-profit and our headquarters is in the Washington D.C. beltway area in Arlington, Virginia. We have been doing the business of connecting young people to the outdoors and developing the next generation of conservation leaders since 1957. Originally our partners were federal agencies only and the National Park Service was our first partner. We still, of course, work very closely with them, however over the years we have expanded to pretty much all the major federal and state agencies, lots of other non-governmental organizations, and cities. Over the last several years our growth in urban conservation and working with urban youth has grown exponentially. It is where some of the greatest expansion of our programming has taken place, and we place SCA members in all 50 states as well as several territories where we work.

This past September, Richard met with Alice to share why he joined the Texas Children in Nature Network Board.

Richard, please introduce yourself and let us know a little about you:

My name is Richard Heilbrun and I have been with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) for twenty-two years. My current position is the Wildlife Diversity Program Director. In that role, I supervise programs that convene around rare species, non-game wildlife, wildlife permits, and the intersection of where wildlife interacts with people. Those programs include the Texas Master Naturalists program and our citizen science program called the Texas Nature Tracker program and we have a videographer on staff for that program. We also have the Urban Wildlife Technical Guidance program that is comprised of biologists that work in and around the city to improve the quality and quantity of wildlife habitat.

I have three kids and my youngest is seventeen and she is in her senior year of high school right now. I grew up in Houston and moved around south Texas for a couple of years. I got really hooked on nature while I was growing up. In elementary school and middle school, teachers recruited me to go on special experiences involving wildlife and outdoor field trips. I didn’t realize at that time that it could be a profession. I found wildlife when I was in college and I fell in love with it. I was recently cleaning out old boxes and I found all these folders of career guidance and profiles of professionals and it was all about game wardens and biologists and refuge directors. I can't believe that consciously I didn't register that I could do this as a career, but subconsciously I must have known because I found my way. It all started with those experiences that teachers offered to me.

Ted met with Alice to share why he joined the Texas Children in Nature Network Board.

Ted, please introduce yourself and let us know a little about you:

Hi, I'm Ted Stevens. I'm the Education Director with the Texas Forestry Association, but before I got here, I went to the University of North Texas where I got my degree in communications and management. My senior year at UNT I started out as a summer intern with Lake Ray Roberts State Park with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and then I went on to work for the Texas Outdoor Family program when it was in the very beginning stages of that program. I helped get it up and running and it is still going to this day introducing all kinds of families around the state to camping and outdoor recreation. Then after my first stint with Texas Outdoor Family, I continued for ten more years with Texas State Parks. I worked at Brazos Bend State Park, Hueco Tanks State Historic Site in El Paso, and at Guadalupe River State Park. Then ultimately, I was the park superintendent and state park police officer at Cleburne State Park outside of Fort Worth.