EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING – CONFERENCE CALL – MEETING MINUTES
Friday, June 26, 2015, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CST
I. CALL TO ORDER (Webb) –
a) Dr. Lisa Webb called the conference call to order.
b) Officers present: Dr. Lisa Webb (Chair), Jennifer Chutz (Secretary/Treasurer), Adonia Henry
(Vice-Chair), Dr. Heath Hagy (Past-Chair)
II. NEW BUSINESS (Webb, Chutz, Henry, Hagy) –
a) Symposia: "Wetlands of the Great Plains: Science Supporting Program and Policy Initiatives"
i. Lisa - Last she heard was speakers were identified and they were being contacted to see if
they would like to participate.
ii. Board decided to fund the symposia for 1 student (early registration = $250).
iii. ACTION ITEMS:
1. Lisa - Draft an announcement. Funding is contingent on students attending WWG
meeting (Monday, Oct. 19th, 1:00 - 2:30 pm). Students would need to send us their CV
and a brief cover letter expressing their interest in wetland restoration and desire to
attend the workshop by Friday, July 31st. WWG board will need to let them know we
are covering their cost by no later than Friday, August 14th (before early registration
ends August 15th), but preferably earlier that week. We will reimburse them at the
WWG meeting.
2. Adonia - Put this in the newsletter.
3. Heath - Ordering checks with which we will pay the student and send them to Jen.
b) Workshop "Wetland Ecology and Restoration Techniques"
i. Adonia's re-offered WWG's help to the Wildlife and Habitat Restoration Working Group
who are hosting the workshop if help is needed.
ii. The WWG is not going to cover registration fees. Too much for us to deal with in addition
with symposia.
c) Logo Contest/Merchandise
i. Adonia edited the draft logo contest announcement as per information obtained from
neighbor who has experience with graphic art. High quality graphic file required, a vector
file if possible since they print a lot better regardless of size.
ii. We want "Wetlands Working Group" name in the logo. We do not want "TWS" in the logo.
d)
e)
f)
g)
iii. Members will vote online and the board can choose the winner from the top 3. Board will
choose the winning logo before the annual conference.
iv. Can pay with check.
v. ACTION ITEMS:
1. Heath - Will send an email to Jen with the TWS guy who can help us display logos online
for voting.
2. Jen - Follow up with TWS personnel who can help with online logo contest.
3. Adonia - Include in newsletter.
4. Jen - Send out a reminder email in August about the contest.
5. Heath - Ordering checks and sending them to Jen.
Merchandise
i. Will not be able to get merchandise printed and ready for the meeting in time.
ii. Reconsider this after the National meeting.
Conservation Affairs Network (CAN)
i. Keith Norris, the head of CAN, has been informed that both Scott Yaich and Jen have agreed
to be points of contact to receive the bimonthly newsletter. Both Scott and Jen will review
them and inform the WWG board of potential policy issues to advise on.
ii. NAWCA reauthorization went out in a mass email from TWS National. We do not need to
duplicate with a separate email.
iii. CAN appreciated being alerted to Senate bill 1140 - Federal Water Quality Protection Act
iv. ACTION ITEMS:
1. Jen - Make write-up about NAWCA reauth for newsletter.
2. Adonia - Include in newsletter.
New Officers
i. Secretary/Treasurer (2 year term) and Vice-Chair (1 year term) terms are coming to a
close. Need 2 people to run for each slot as per bylaws. New board members begin
their term at the annual conference.
ii. Need a Nominations Chair. Nominations chair gets folks to run, gets their bios, sends
out reminders for members to vote, etc..
iii. ACTION ITEMS:
iv. Adonia - Ask Sammy King to be Nominations Chair.
v. Lisa - Has drafted a call for nominations. She will send to new Nominations Chair and
their contact info will be added to the call.
Newsletter
i. Adonia will do a PDF if HTML/InDesign doesn't work.
ii. ACTION ITEMS:
1. Lisa - Will get her portion of info to Adonia by Tuesday, June 30th.
2. Jen - Will get her portion of info to Adonia by July 1st
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3. Adonia - Try to get newsletter out by Monday/Tuesday the 6th/7th. Noone will pay
much attention to it before July 4th anyways.
4. Items to include in the Newsletter:
a. Drafted - Logo contest
b. Lisa - Announcement for symposia funding contest. Coordinate with Heath's blurb
on basic symposia info.
c. Lisa - Lisa & her students finished a 2-3 page article on neonictinoids in wetlands
with a few pictures. She will send out to the board for review.
d. Lisa - Announce that we are going to raffle off a ticket to one of the two DU field
trips at the WWG meeting during the annual conference. We would have to buy a
ticket ASAP for $45 or have it donated - Lisa will look into this.
e. Lisa - Draft the solicitation for nominations for new Secretary/Treasurer and ViceChair.
f. Lisa - Write up WWG meeting time at National Conference (Monday, Oct. 19th, 1:00
- 2:30 pm.
g. Adonia - Was on the election nominating committee and will look into the past
timeline to help advise this year's elections.
h. Adonia - WHRWG wetlands workshop info
i. Jen - The latest on the Federal Water Quality Protection Act
htps://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1140/all-actions
j. Jen - The latest on NAWCA reauthorization
http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/legislation?ID=ba3485d0-b3d5427a-ba6b-8a707a491706 AND https://www.congress.gov/bill/114thcongress/senate-bill/405/all-actions
k. Jen - Involvement in the CAN network to provide technical information as needed.
l. Jen - Link to new updates on website
m. Heath - Co-sponsored "Wetlands of the Great Plains" symposia info. Coordinate
with Lisa's announcement for symposia funding contest.
5. Adonia - Collect articles and assemble a draft for us to edit. She will get this to us for a
review either by Thursday, July 2nd or Monday, July 6th.
h) The Wildlife Society Annual Meeting, Winnipeg, Manitoba
i. Meeting is from October 17-21,2015
ii. WWG meeting room reserved from Monday, Oct. 19th, 12:30 - 2:30 pm. Make the WWG
meeting from 1:00 - 2:30pm to allow folks to get lunch.
iii. ACTION ITEMS:
1. Lisa - At the meeting, promote the DU field trip titled "Oak Hammock Marsh Wetlands
Exploration" on both Tuesday the 20th from 1 - 5pm and Wednesday the 21st from
8:30am - 12:30pm. We will raffle off a ticket to one of the two DU field trips.
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2. Lisa - Get coffee for meeting. Would prefer to buy boxes from Starbucks. If we can't
bring in outside food, then fill out conference vendor form. Go through conference
organizer.
i) Other
i. Jen - Email Jeannie at ASWM about the funding of NWI as a campaign/action issue on their
website front page. Perhaps because some places have not had NWI mapping conducted
since the 1980s. The states have piecemealed it over the years.
ii. Jen - Update website News links.
j) Next meeting
i. Lisa will call on her return trip from Canada on Friday, August 7th, 11:00 am CST. Use same
call-in information.
Minutes prepared by: J.Chutz
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