November NWAMN Board Meeting
2019/11/12
Board Members Present:
Ken French JB Portillo
Rose Gergerich Phyllis Stair
Cheryl Larson Christie Waggoner
Dave Leisure Tom Waggoner
Kathy Mason
Dave’s Fun Factoid of the Month:
3,000,000,000 – 3 Billion – a 3 with nine zeroes
Dave asked what that number represents. A few in the crowd knew this was the number of birds lost in North America since 1970, a loss of 29% of the total birds population.
And the cause for this decline, while due to several factors, is primarily attributed to two primary causes:
- Loss of habitat
- Pesticides/herbicides/fertilizers
On the bright side, there are two categories of birds seeing an increase.
- Eagles - primarily due to habitat protection (think DDT)
- Shorebirds/waterfowl – primarily due to conservation efforts (think Ducks Unlimited, which might seem counterintuitive but not so!)
2020 NITS
Dave mentioned that both the Washington County and the Benton County 2020 NIT classes are nearly full.
Treasurer’s Report
JB reported that the chapter continues to be in a strong financial position that will allow us to explore and consider an even wider number of project possibilities and encouraged everyone to dream and think about how we can “Invest in Ourselves.” She also highly recommended we look at larger, longer term projects.
Kathy Mason suggested we provide in the budget financial resources for bringing in outside speakers.
Other items mentioned were a GoPro (Jay Pitts) and a physical library (more on that later).
Strategic Planning Report
Trish Redus presented for the committee in Kathy Trotter’s place. She provided a very thorough readout of the committee’s work to date. The primary tenets of the committee’s report is summed up in its 4 Goals:
- Robust Education
- Focused Interaction
- Effective Organization
- Meaningful Engagement
The report provided much detail under each of these Goals.
2020 Board
Dave presented the Proposed 2020 Board Members:
Carrie Byron * Jim Klinger *
Cheryl Larson Lilia Beattie
Charlotte Harper Paul Springer *
Denise Klinger * Rose Gergerich
Kathy Mason Tom Waggoner
Ken French Deb Shoemaker *
JB Portillo Dave Leisure
Jane Foster
* New 2020 Board Members
The following Board Members are retiring at the end of 2019:
Christie Waggoner
Patty Severino
Phyllis Stair
Robin Buff
Steve Sampers
Chinquapin Oak Project
Jay Pitts gave an impassioned discussion about the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation’s goal to reintroduce/repopulate the Chinquapin Oak through the use of seeds from that organization. Jay appealed to the Board to look into an organizational membership to allow NWAMN to get a larger number of seeds which we could then plant, starting at Lake Wedington.
Springdale Library Book Donation Pilot Project
A proposed book donation to the Springdale Public Library will be used as a pilot for other libraries was made by Steve Alarid. The list of books provided by Steve was compiled by the Book Club and also included suggestions for children’s books made by the Book Club. The idea is to pilot this in Springdale and after a year check the utilization of the books and if warranted, expand to other libraries in our area. Not counting the U of A library system, Steve said there are 11 public libraries in our 4 county area.
Texting Pilot
Cheryl Larson proposed a budget line item to pilot a texting system as another way to communicate to our members as not everyone uses email or Facebook. The texting will be limited to 3 or 4 texts per month and would promote chapter meetings, board meetings or other important NWAMN events. Cheryl will check and see if “opting out” is an option.
CIG Training
As NWAMNs we are often called upon to give presentations to the public. To make more effective presentations Denise Klinger made a budget proposal to pay for CIG training for up to 10 MNs in 2020. The board will vote on this item as it reviews and approves budget items next month.
Native Plants
Rose Gergerich will be sending out communications about upcoming Native Plant Workshops for Seed Stratification. She also mentioned there are ongoing Pot Cleaning sessions which she will be notifying the membership about in the future. Weather permitting, there is a pot cleaning workshop at Rose’s this Saturday, 11/16. People are welcome to bring a group or come Individually and clean pots anytime.