Scroll Down for Listing of Currently Active Host Sites
To accommodate the Master Naturalist training course, a facility must have classroom space for 15 to 25 students and grounds suitable for outdoor lessons.
Environmental education centers, conservancies, and arboretums are all good potential Host Sites, especially if they are within driving distance of an interesting location for the class field trip.
The Host Site must have a trained Master Naturalist Program Facilitator, preferably an employee or associate, to organize and oversee the course. Familiarity with the Host Site and its organizational mission is an advantage when recruiting participants and instructors and managing your trained volunteer Master Naturalists.
Benefits for the Host Site
The Host Site and the Program Facilitator are expected to tailor the training course to their local conditions and objectives. The volunteers, after training, will donate their skills to the Host Site and the community it serves. Providing this program is also good publicity for the Host Site.
For more details about the requirements for being a Host Site, along with an application, see right.
Host Sites in Maryland
Each physiographic region can have numerous Host Sites. Currently active Host Sites are:
The Coastal Plain Region
- Adkins Arboretum, Ridgely
- American Chestnut Land Trust, Prince Frederick
- Anacosta Watershed Society, Bladensburg
- Anita C. Leight Estuary Center, Abingdon
- Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Cambridge
- Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center, Grasonville
- Eden Mill Nature Center, Pylesville
- Elms Environmental Education Center-SMCPS, Dameron
- Marshy Point Nature Center, Baltimore
- Maryland Department of Natural Resources - Wildlife & Heritage Service, Annapolis
- Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center, Baltimore
- National Aquarium, Baltimore
- Nanjemoy Creek Environmental Education Center, Nanjemoy
- Patuxent River Park, Upper Marlboro
- Phillips Warf Environmental Center, Tilghman
- Pickering Creek Audubon Center, Easton
- Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis
- ShoreRivers, Eastern Shore
- St. Mary's College Environmental Studies Dept., St. Mary's City
The Piedmont Region
- Audubon Naturalist Society, Chevy Chase
- Banneker Historical Park, Baltimore
- Bear Branch Nature Center, Westminster
- Black Hill Visitor Center & Nature Programs (BHNP)/Montgomery Parks, Boyds
- Brookside Nature Center/Montgomery Parks, Wheaton
- Carrie Murray Nature Center, Baltimore
- Catoctin Creek Nature Center, Middletown
- Charlotte's Quest Nature Center, Manchester
- Cromwell Valley Park, Parkville
- Cylburn Arboretum, Baltimore
- Eden Mill Nature Center, Pylesville
- Fountain Rock Nature Center, Walkersville
- Hashawha Environmental Center, Westminster
- Howard County Conservancy - Belmont, Elkridge
- Howard County Conservancy - Mt. Pleasant, Woodstock
- Irvine Nature Center, Owings Mills
- Lake Roland Park (formerly Robert E. Lee Park), Baltimore
- Locust Grove Nature Center/Montgomery Parks, Bethesda
- Meadowside Nature Center/Montgomery Parks, Rockville
- Oregon Ridge Nature Center, Cockeysville
- Piney Run Park Nature Center, Sykesville
- Robinson Nature Center, Columbia
The Mountain Region
Cunningham Falls State Park & Gambrill State Park, Thurmont