Fort Collins Audubon Society
Board of Directors Meeting

Tuesday August 23, 2001
EDM International, Inc.
4001 Automation Way, Fort Collins, CO

Attendees:  PRESIDENT: Rick Harness, DIRECTOR: Dave Dubois, PROGRAM: Jackie Boss, DIRECTOR: Cynthia Melcher, CONSERVATION: Bill Miller,  HOSPITALITY: Barb Turnbull, FIELD TRIP: Nick Komar,  BIRDATHON: Rick Schroeder, AOC DELEGATE: Ron Harden

NOTE: Prior to beginning the meeting Bill Miller demonstrated the new canopy for those Board members present, in the parking lot of EDM.

President R. Harness convened the meeting at 7:15 pm.

Minutes of Previous Meeting:
Minutes of the meeting of June 11, 2001 were accepted as amended.

Reports of Officers:

1. Treasury Report - John Waddell.  Because John was not present, the Treasury Report was not given.

Standing Committee Reports:

1. Conservation Committee Report - Bill Miller.  B. Miller indicated that the Conservation Committee Report is the same as submitted in to the chapter's Annual Report submitted to the National Audubon Society.
2. Nature Center Committee - Nick Komar.  N. Komar indicated that the Committee had met last spring with Susan Kirkpatrick who indicated that the state office didn't have the resources at that time to assist FCAS in its efforts to establish a Nature Center. However, she indicated that we could continue, on our own, to explore potential partnerships with other organizations. Nick indicated that, after the summer lull, he would be calling a meeting of the Nature Center Committee.
3. Field Trips - Nick Komar.  N. Komar indicated that he would be organizing field trips for early fall and would have them ready for listing in the September Ptarmigan.
4. Birdathon - Rick Schroeder.  FCAS has received approximately $3850 to date, and that there were still some pledges still outstanding.

Updates:

1. R. Harden indicated that the next AOC quarterly Board meeting would be on Sept. 8th, in Colorado Springs.
2. R. Harness indicated that he hadn't received any feedback from FCAS Board members so he had forwarded the chapter's Annual Report to NAS as was sent out to Board members.

New Business:

1. Legacy Land Trust - Newsletter Insert:
R. Harden reported that the Larimer Land Trust has renamed itself, and is now the Legacy Land Trust (LLT.) They wish to include an inert, at their expense, in one of the FCAS issues of the Ptarmigan. N. Komar raised the question as to whether we should be promoting other organizations. There was some discussion about providing such support to organizations that share Audubon values. There was some discussion about having LLT make a program presentation, but the conclusion was that it was not fair to the main program presenter to make them wait until after the 10-15 minute presentation by the LLT to conclude.

ACTION: It was decided to allow LLT include a one-page insert in one of the Ptarmigans. A Position statement will be developed to identify who or what we will allow to be promoted within the Ptarmigan.

3. Platte & Prairie Audubon:
R. Harden indicated that Platte & Prairie Audubon in Weld county is having a difficult time in recruiting new and active members, and are wondering if they will be able to remain as a viable Audubon chapter. Ron and Susan Kirkpatrick attended a recent board meeting. C. Melcher inquired as to whether P&P was seeking merged activities with FCAS. R. Harden indicated that they might be more interested in looking at going to an email-type newsletter to reduce expenses.

ACTION: We will explore the possibility of a shared newsletter with P&P.

4. Relationship with NAS:
R. Harden talked about the relationship between chapters and National Audubon Society (NAS). Apparently the Board of NAS was impacted very little by what the chapters had told them. There is considerable concern expressed by local chapters about how NAS is acting, and that some friction has been caused by NAS decisions. Harden went on to discuss that chapters need to be more assertive with NAS, and not to "gripe about the little stuff." We need to keep our Regional Representative, John Bellman, informed. Harden indicated that there was considerable sentiment to the effect that the national organization should increase the number of grassroots representatives. Each chapter might want to consider developing a grievance list that could include how Christmas Bird Count data is used, the new dues allocation system, and calendar solicitation.

5. NAS Revised Dues-sharing:
R. Harness gave a PowerPoint presentation of what the revised dues-sharing restructuring will mean to FCAS chapter finances. Our most recent dues sharing from NAS was $3269. In the last year FCAS recruited only 1.9% of its own members. If we recruit just 6% of our members our dues share would drop from $3269 to about $1900. To remain at about the $3300 level we would need to recruit about 15% new members. We obviously need to look a more aggressive member-recruiting program of our own, as well as look at other fund-raising strategies.

Historically we have been taking in about as much as we spend. Other talking points included:

6. Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge Projects:
R. Harness indicated that Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge is looking for volunteers to walk the power lines on the refuge to look for raptor electrocutions and/or to install nesting platforms.

7. Shade-grown Coffee:
R. Schroeder mentioned a program whereby we could market shade-grown coffee, but that the price was very high. There was no interest expressed in becoming involved with this effort.

8. NAS Revised chapter Policy:
R. Harness indicated that the revised NAS Chapter Policy can be viewed at www.audubon.org/local/cso/ and that comments are due by October 31, 2001, via email to Lynn Tennefoss.

9. Call for Proposals for IBA Survey Grants:
C. Melcher was introduced as being the new coordinator for AOC's "Call for Grant Applications and Site Nominations" from Colorado chapters. Three grants of $500 will be available to chapters who agree to do a one-day bird survey during fall 2001 migration or winter 2001-2002. Proposals must be submitted to C. Melcher by September 8th, 2001. N. Komar volunteered to submit a proposal to do a follow-up monitoring survey in the fall of 2001 for the Fossil Creek Reservoir IBA. B. Miller volunteered to check with K-Lynn Cameron, director of Larimer County Open Lands Program, to see if we could gain access to the land on the south side of Fossil Creek Reservoir.

10. Nominating Committee:
A Nominating Committee was created, consisting of N. Komar, R. Harness, and B. Miller. The Committee will seek to fill the positions of President-Elect, Vice-President, and up to six Directors. The Committee will also determine if current committee chairs are willing to continue in those positions, as well as fill the vacancies for chairs of the Education and Membership Committees, due to the recent resignations of Louise Creager and Sue Kenney from those positions.

The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Following the close of the meeting those who wished to remain were able to view a NAS video on the Alaska National wildlife Refuge.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Miller, acting secretary