Fort Collins Audubon Society
Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, March 4, 2004
ATTENDEES: Kate Bolster, Jackie Boss, Scott
Cobble, Beth Dillon, Dave Dubois,
Phil Friedman, Ron Harden, Joel Hurmence, Marcia
Maeda, Bill Miller, Sue Miller, and John Waddell.
OTHERS PRESENT: None
The meeting was called to order by President
Bill Miller at 7:08 P.M.
INTRODUCTIONS: None were necessary.
BRIEF BUSINESS:
A. Minutes of February 8, 2004 – Review,
revise, and approve – All:
1. Miller asked if there were any revisions to
the minutes. Beth Dillon indicated that on page
two in section letter (o), “Dillon” should
be replaced by “Johnston”. There were no other
changes indicated. Dillon moved to approve
the February 8, 2004 minutes as revised.
Marcia Maeda
seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
2. A motion to approve the February 8, 2004
Strategic Planning Session notes was not
required.
B. IMBD T-shirts and
Posters – Friedman:
1. Friedman handed out a possible news release. It would announce
the 2004 Birdathon.
Included in the
announcement:
a) A brief description of the
Birdathon, when it will be held, and how many teams are
expected to be fielded.
b)
Participation options:
+ Personal Pledge
+ Team Leader
+ Team Member
+ Business Pledge
c) Plans to tie to International
Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) and a brief description of
IMBD.
d) IMBD
posters and T-shirts will be available for Birdathon team members.
e) Two Birdathon/IMBD themed
field trips will be offered the weekend prior to the
Birdathon.
2. Friedman handed
out a sheet which showed:
a) The
costs of purchasing T-shirts, IMBD posters, and Migration Map posters.
b) The
potential profit of selling the items.
c) The number of each item
already purchased.
+ 24 T-shirts
+ 100 IMBD posters
+ 10 Migration Maps
2. Phil passed
around an example of the T-shirts.
3. Beth suggested
selling the T-shirts to participants for at least cost and perhaps for
$10.
4. Bill Miller suggested announcing that
participants would be able to purchase T-shirts for
$10 rather than for $15, which would be
the price for non-participants. That was met with
approval.
5. Phil mentioned
that the products already ordered would be in within a week.
6. The price for
which to sell the Migration Maps remains to be determined.
7. Dave Dubois moved to sell the IMBD
posters for $2 each. Ron Harden seconded the
motion. The
motion passed unanimously.
8. Phil mentioned that the artist of the
print on the T-shirts, Ram Papish, now lives in
Fort Collins. Furthermore, Papish would
be willing to be the attraction for the May
meeting . Jackie Boss indicated that Ken
Strom had cleared his calendar in order to
participate in the May meet. Beth
suggested inviting Papish for the September meeting.
Bill Miller asked Phil if he thought
Papish would agree to that. Phil indicated he thought
Papish would.
C. Birdathon – Friedman:
1. Nothing further than what had been described
above.
D. Letter in Support of
Eagle Rock Ranch – Friedman:
1. Phil handed out
copies of the letter which included discussion of:
a) The
importance of protecting intact shortgrass habitat for grassland birds.
b) Some
of the different groups which would participate in the project.
c) Potential funding
sources including Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act
awards which, beside
providing matching funds for the GOCO grant, would fund the
second year of a grassland monitoring program in Janos, Chihuahua,
Mexico.
d) How several members of FCAS
became involved in the Janos grassland conservation
area by helping to establish a
Christmas Bird Count circle that has provided data
which was previously lacking.
e) Phil handed out several copies
of a paper titled: New Information on Wintering Birds
of Northwestern Chihuahua.
The paper describes the area, its importance, and the
species encountered at the Ejido San Pedro CBC, 1997 – 2003.
E. Canoe Trip Fund
Raiser – Hurmence:
1. Two choices
a) Jun
11 – 13 on the White River in Utah
b) Jun
18 – 20 other choices.
2. Joel indicated
Beth would be willing to co-host.
3. Ron Harden moved to select the Jun 11 –
13 choice. Phil seconded the motion. The motion
passed
unanimously.
4. Joel indicated he would confirm the
selection with Marty the following day.
F. Response to Kroll
Factual Data – How to use Donation – Miller:
1. Bill Miller indicated the importance of
showing Kroll Factual Data that FCAS is worthy
of future
donations. He suggested a scholarship to the RMBO summer camp.
2. Dave Dubois inquired if some of the
donated funds could be used to support the Nature
Center. Bill
suggested possibly for consulting expenses related to the 501(c)(3).
3. Beth suggested
utilizing some of the funds to leverage additional money.
4. Joel suggested purchasing some additional
binoculars. Perhaps the dealer would reduce
the price if he
could place his logo on the binoculars.
5. Phil mentioned that another pair of walki
talkies would be useful. Ron indicated that he
has an engraver
to use on the equipment.
6. Phil suggested keeping a permanent
reserve of money to be used for matching a future
grant.
7. Bill asked John Waddell if the FCAS
checking account was interest bearing and if it
would be
possible to take out a CD. John answered yes to both questions.
8. Bill then mentioned that the dissolution of
the Audubon Project fund would amount to
around $45,000 and that the FCAS portion
would be approximately $4,500. He
suggested
setting that amount aside to match a future grant.
9. Bill suggested setting $1,000 aside for a
scholarship. Phil suggested calling the scholarship
the Kroll
Factual Data FCAS Environmental Scholarship.
10. Dave suggested conducting another Audubon
Adventure. Joel suggested this would be an
opportunity to involve Loveland schools.
Bill indicated that it would not matter to Kroll
whether it was
in Loveland or Fort Collins.
11. Joel suggested sending Kroll a letter
indicating, in a general fashion, what FCAS was
considering then follow it up in the
Fall with a more specific letter. Bill replied that
FCAS and AoC will send a joint letter to
Kroll indicating that the AoC portion will be
used for
lobbying efforts at the state legislature
12. Ron mentioned that when he visited the
Wyoming Audubon Council he noticed they had
created boxes containing binoculars,
guides and other birding gear. He suggested loaning
such boxes to
schools rather than giving them the gear.
13. Jackie said she would inquire if Lisa Evans
is interested in a new DOW critter crate,
perhaps
related to raptors, that could be checked out.
14. John voiced
concern with FCAS stating a set amount for an annual scholarship.
15. Joel moved that FCAS use some of the Kroll
funds as seed money to begin a scholarship
fund. Details
of the scholarship would be determined at a future time.
16. Beth requested that Bill distribute to the
board a copy of the joint FCAS/AoC letter. He
agreed to.
G. Nature Center Update –Friedman, Miller:
1. Bill and Phil met with the director of
Wild Kind. He was interested but did not commit
to anything.
2. Bill Palmer of RMBO created a draft
business plan to show to businesses. He is excited
about the
project and wants to be part of it. RMBO may need to relocate in the
future.
3. There will be a meeting on March 10th
with Mark Sears, the manager of the city’s Natural
Areas Program, to see if some city land
might become available.
H. Chapter-only
Memberships – Miller:
1. Joel indicated
the database program he had ordered had not yet come in.
2. Bill asked the Board if it felt FCAS
should proceed with the chapter-only membership.
He said there
would need to be a by-laws change.
3. Joel asked if there would need to be a
vote of the general membership. Bill indicated
there would be and also that there would
have to be 30 days advance notice. The vote
could be held
in May.
4. Bill said he would begin working on the
by-laws. The Board could announce that work on
a by-laws
change would be completed in time for a vote in May at the general
meeting.
5. John suggested $15 dues for membership.
Dave asked if there should be more than one
membership category. Beth suggested
keeping it as simple as possible at first. However,
for those
wishing to contribute further, FCAS might offer a Friends of FCAS
category.
6. Joel suggested
two forms:
a) A
chapter-only membership form.
b) A NAS form
with the FCAS code on it.
7. Bill wanted to know if the Board thought
a change in the by-laws should include both
a Historian and
a Volunteer Coordinator. The sense of the Board was yes.
Announcements
Ron Harden handed out a sheet which showed the March
6, 2004 AoC meeting Agenda and
the Colorado Watchlist Species. Ken Strom was
scheduled to make a presentation on the
Watchlist. Ron mentioned that Bob Turner had taken
over relations with the chapters. One
of his ideas is to have a Rendezvous with the
chapters in the Mount Princeton Resort area.
John Belman’s term as Regional Representative is up
and Bob Turner, amongst others, will be
running for the position. The FCAS chapter will vote
in September for who we want in that
position.
Jackie Boss announced a conference room is available
prior to the chickadee field trip.
Jackie also said she was talking to the Carpenter
Ranch to see if there would be a chance for
ten people to stay there during the Grouse field
trip.
ADJOURN:
President Miller called
the Board meeting to an end at 9:10 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott Cobble
Secretary