Minutes
of the Board of Desert Rivers Audubon Society,
August 21, 2007
Present: Mike
Rupp, President; Mike
Rigney, Vice President; Janice Miano, Treasurer;
Krys Hammers, Membership; Charles
Saffell, Field Trips; Marion Saffell, Volunteer Co-ordinator, Cheryl Rexford, Publicity;
Don Farmer, Conservation; Jan Stamm, Secretary
Absent: Joy Dingley, Education; Claudia
Kirsher, Programs
Minutes
of the Previous Meeting: Minutes
of the previous meetings, held on April 24th
and
Saturday, July 28, 2007
were accepted as true records.
Treasurer’s
Report:
Janice Miano submitted a Profit & Loss statement which was accepted by the Board. She distributed Conflict of Interest
forms to be signed by those board members who had not already done so; all on the
board must sign this form. Janice mentioned
that insurance bills are upcoming, which will total about $900.
She stated the need for a fundraiser, and also plans to send a letter to
the DRAS membership soliciting donations sometime in early November.
Volunteer
Co-ordinator:
Marion Saffell introduced Jan Stamm, who was voted in as Secretary.
Also,
Marion
announced that Karen Stucke, who was not present this evening, will be our representative
to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve (not a board position).
Membership: Krys
Hammers reported that DRAS now has 79 members, including 30 founding members. She has recently received 3 new applications
from our website. On
May 12, 2007
she sent the new membership forms to National Audubon, but there is still some ambiguity
that these have been accepted. We must
get to 35 memberships (national) for provisional status.
Krys has asked the National Chapter Services for a list of members that reside
in zip codes of DRAS so that a letter can be sent to them notifying them of our
existence & giving them the
opportunity to join
DRAS.
Mike Rupp will work with Krys on the content of this letter and include information
on our website, field trips, meeting dates, etc.
Krys showed some SPUDS (binocular cleaners) imprinted with our logo that
she has ordered, along with binocular harnesses (payment needed for these items).
Audubon
at Home:
Krys displayed a glossy flyer that National Audubon has prepared that encourages
homeowners to practice good conservation, and gives specific ways to do that. She plans to work with Tucson Audubon
(for text) and Karen Stucke (for artwork) to prepare something similar that reflects
a desert environment to be distributed locally.
This will be an expensive project and it was suggested that a corporation
such as
SRP be contacted to sponsor this project.
Programs: Claudia
Kirsher was not present to report.
Our general membership meetings from September through April will be held at the
McQueen Activities Center
, Gilbert, on the second Tuesday of each month.
Charles Saffell suggested having a member at the Southwest
Regional Library (where our meetings were held last year) for a few months to direct folks to the
new location.
Conservation: Don
Farmer asked for direction from the board as to which area we would most like to
be involved. Because of lack of personnel
(not enthusiasm or interest!) it seemed best that only one area be concentrated
on for now, perhaps helping to survey a potential IBA (suggested:
south of the Bartlett Dam on the Verde River).
Don will write an article on conservation to be included in our newsletter.
Publicity: Cheryl Rexford will be getting publicity announcements regarding our meetings & field
trips into local newspapers & other publications.
Grants
& Fundraising:
Fran Thurber has obtained a grant for DRAS from AZ Game & Fish for $1300, which
will be used for more tables & binoculars for use at special events.
A second request for another grant has been submitted as well.
Mike Rupp reported that we need to step up our campaign of contacting local
businesses for donations; many of our members have good contacts & will hopefully
use them. Marion Saffell suggested
a book/gift sale as a potential fundraiser for November with both new & donated
books for sale. Janice Miano suggested
canceling
the proposed fundraiser in October at the Wildflower Bread Co., since
we will no longer be gathering there before our meetings (too far from new meeting
place).
Field
Trips:
Charles Saffell is continuing to make contact with potential leaders, with a goal
of having a field trip scheduled for each weekend (excepting the weeks of the Family Walks at the Water Ranch & other special events).
Newsletter: Mike
Rupp presented a sample 10 page newsletter, which he would like to condense to 8 pages. Plans are to publish such a
newsletter on a quarterly basis, with perhaps a flyer insert for field trips &
meeting schedules. He will get pricing
quotes on printing, and possibly get a sponsor to underwrite the cost of this.
Family
Birdwalks:
The flyer advertising this activity at the Gilbert Water Ranch was sent to Mike,
but had been enlarged by the printer to twice its former bookmark size.
He will see if they can be reprinted at no cost to DRAS, as the smaller size
is preferred. These need to be placed
in libraries & other public places soon, as the monthly walk resumes in October. He announced that Sonoran Audubon has
plans to start a similar walk at the Tres Rios wetlands on the second Saturday of
each month, beginning in September.
Audubon
Celebration:
Janice reported that registrations are still coming in.
It has been confirmed that the Hon. Harry Mitchell will be present for the
social hour & dinner on Saturday.
Bio Blitz
at BTA:
Mike Rupp reported on this event, to be held one of the same days as the Audubon
Celebration (Sept. 14-15-16). They
are looking for volunteers to help count ALL living things at the arboretum!
AZ Riparian
Council:
Krys announced a fall campout & get-together scheduled for October
27 &
28.
Bird sleuth:
The
Cornell Lab. of Ornithology is sponsoring a training day for educators on September
8.
Hospitality: This
board position is still open, Marion Saffell is seeking someone to nominate for
this post.
Board
Position Job Descriptions:
all board members are requested to write a job description for their position to be presented for approval.
Mike Rupp adjourned the meeting at
8:40 p.m.
Signed as a true record………………………………………………………….Date:……………………………….