Minutes
of the Board Meeting of the Desert Rivers Audubon Society,
October 16, 2007
Present: Charles
& Marion Saffell (meeting held in their home), Field Trips & Volunteer Coordinator;
Krys Hammers, Membership; Joy Dingley, Education; Janice Miano, Treasurer; Mike
Rigney, Vice President; Don Farmer, Conservation; and Jan Stamm, Secretary.
Absent: Mike
Rupp, President; Claudia Kirscher, Programs; and Cheryl Rexford, Publicity.
Minutes
of the Previous Meeting: Minutes
of the previous Board meeting, held September 18, were accepted as a true record
and signed by Mike Rigney (motion put forward by Joy Dingley, seconded by Janice
Miano).
Treasurer’s
Report:
Janice Miano submitted a Profit & Loss statement which reflected a balance of
$4,080.95; Krys moved we accept the report, seconded by Charles Saffell, all approved. Janice also reported that our application
for 501 C-3 status is under review, but will likely be accepted.
Our annual solicitation letter will be ready for addressing at our November
Board meeting.
Chair & Director
reports:
Membership: Krys
reported our current membership roster
at 87, with 33 founding members. She
is expecting the list from National Audubon soon, to clarify who has been transferred
to our membership list from MAS, as well as new recruits.
Book sales have grossed over $1100 in sales so far in 2007.
Volunteer
Coordinator:
Marion Saffell reporting; no volunteers from her announcement at the General meeting,
she plans to give more specific volunteer opportunities at the next meeting. She also plans on writing a “Volunteer
Spotlight” article for our newsletter & website.
Education: Joy
announced that the Junior Club will begin on Saturday, October 20 at
7:00 a.m.
at the Gilbert Water Ranch; only a few members at the moment, but it should grow. Joy, Marion & Charles attended another
training session with Cathy Wise regarding the Rio Salado site programs.
Cathy has adjusted some of the programs and will be rolling them out this
season. DRAS is providing volunteers
for various dates with Cathy. Joy has
been contacted by a teacher at Navajo Elementary and will be providing a 9 week
program for 10 gifted students. This
should roll out over the next year to a 2 mornings per week commitment and gradually
involve more of the 4th grade children.
She reminded the Board that this is a good time to be contacting various
organizations to offer evening classes.
Joy now has her Employment Authorization Permit and
Scottsdale
recreation would like her to start classes in the Spring.
Future events include a bird walk with Sonoran McDowell Preserve in February
following the successful lecture there at the beginning of October, many thanks
to Claudia for bringing birds from Liberty Wildlife for that event.
Publicity: The
computer to be used by Cheryl Rexford should be picked up & delivered to her
by October 17. We need publicity…for
upcoming events, including the Eagle program for our November meeting, the Family
Birdwalks each month, and other special events.
Once Cheryl has the computer, all this should begin.
Programs: Claudia Kirscher absent, no changes in upcoming
programs.
Conservation: Don
Farmer has been in contact with Tice Supplee & Scott Wilbor regarding monitoring
the proposed IBA on the
Verde River
below Bartlett Dam to the confluence with the
Salt River
. They would like this done in April/May
& August/September, about 6 people will be needed for the 2 days of monitoring
each spring and fall. Some tools are
needed to do the job, i.e.: stop watch,
wind guage, GPS (Metes & Bounds description of monitoring areas could be used),
clip boards, etc, Don suggested Board provide these, if not already available. More IBA training dates are scheduled
for
Arizona
, this information should be publicized to our membership.
Don also passed out copies of Bills before Congress regarding the Clean Water
Act, as well as a sample letter to
our local governing officials supporting the protection of our nation’s waters.
Because he will not be available to
present this to the AZ Audubon Council on Saturday, he will ask Bob Witzeman to
do this.
The Board was supportive of sending the letter under our president,
Mike Rupp’s signature, on behalf of
DRAS.
Field
Trips:
Charles still has room for more field
trips in 2008, and will have Theona Vyvial’s help in organizing such.
He plans to advertise the White Mountain Audubon campout in June, and is
working with Northern AZ Audubon for a trip to Hart Prairie near
Flagstaff
. Kathe Anderson led a birdwalk specifically
for beginners at the Gilbert Water Ranch on Saturday, October 14.
She reported that 7 people joined the walk, but did not share contact information
regarding those people, as is her normal policy.
The Board discussed this for awhile, as we would like to be able to keep
records of who attends our walks, as well as be able to follow up with emails or
mailings (if the participants are OK with that).
Clarification of our policy will be more clearly stated to guides in the
future.
Newsletter: Mike
Rupp has returned from
Europe
, and will again be taking responsibility for this.
The Board voted unanimously (motion presented by Krys Hammers, seconded by
Marion Saffell) that this first one
should be 8 pages long, contain an article about the Family Walks at the Gilbert
Water Ranch, and we should get them printed for $1000 or less…hopefully 800, but
less quantity if necessary, to stay within budget.
Mike Rigney planned to contact him with this information.
Arizona
Audubon Council Meeting arrangements: Marion Saffell & Jan Stamm will be serving
bagels/muffins/hot beverages at the
Freestone Rec. Center
at
8:30
on Sat., Oct. 20. Group will leave Freestone by noon, and reconvene at the Southeast
Regional Library for lunch. Sandwiches,
chips, cookies and beverages will be served, Council members will pay $8 each for
lunch. After meetings are over, Council
members may stay for dinner at an area restaurant, and perhaps attend a field trip
to Granite Reef, led by Charles Saffell on Sunday, Oct. 21.
Family
Birdwalks at Gilbert Water Ranch:
All helping are asked to arrive by
7:00
on Sat., Oct. 20 to help set up, Joy will be leading her Junior Club at that time.
Audubon
at Home:
Krys explained how the fold
& tear-off section of our southwestern
home flyer would be different than the one printed by National.
Cost would be $1200 for 5000 copies, $738 for 2000. She will try and get
SRP to sponsor at least some of the cost of printing, and perhaps APS as well. In case that falls through, she asked
DRAS for a financial commitment for the printing.
Janice Miano made a motion that we spend no more than $1200 towards this
project, seconded by Charles Saffell, passed unanimously.
She will also be talking with the AZ Audubon Council about their
contribution to this project before Karen Stucke makes the final drawings.
New Opportunities:
Rio
Salado
: Sam Campana has requested support
from DRAS for volunteers to lead various programs there.
The budget for operations once the
Audubon Center
is built only allow for a very small paid staff, all other help must be provided
by volunteers. This will be a terrific
opportunity for us to reach & teach more people.
City of
Chandler Veterans Oasis
Park: Joy, Marion, and Cathy Wise attended
a meeting there with their staff naturalist.
The facility will open in December, with trails opening to the public in March. They would like us to lead monthly bird
walks there, like our current program at the Gilbert Water Ranch.
This is another great opportunity, and depending on volunteer availability,
we’ll either provide the leadership or the training for their own leaders.
Joy Dingley will contact the
Chandler
city naturalist to suggest that we combine forces to train docents and attract volunteers
so that future involvement at the Veteran’s
Oasis Park
is fully resourced. Krys Hammers expressed
willingness to be our liason to their Board.
Science Fair at the Zoo: October 17, Marion & Charles plan to sit at
a booth with DRAS information to share with as many of the expected 300 teachers
that should attend.
Phoenix
Outdoor Recreation Festival:
Sunday, October 28.
Marion
plans to contact Cathy Wise to see how we can help with Audubon
Arizona
’s tent.
Collaborative Funding: Some AZ funds
still available, we should apply & see if we can get $$$ for web-site development,
printing, or various other needs. Krys
Hammers will follow up.
Job Descriptions: Board
members were encouraged to complete these, and give to the Secretary to be kept
on file.
Website
Development:
Mike Rigney has ordered some software & will be talking with Mike Rupp about
providing images. He is patterning
the design of our site after the one for Santa Clara Audubon in Califomia.
Next Board
Meeting:
to avoid conflict with the Thanksgiving Holiday, the Board decided to meet on the
4th Tuesday in November, the
27th. The meeting will be
held at Krys Hammer’s home in
Chandler
. Discussion was held regarding the
need for finding a permanent, public place for our Board meetings, so general members
would feel more free to attend.
Tabled
Business:
T-shirts for Volunteers, date for next year’s planning meeting.
Adjournment: at
8:58 p.m.
Joy made a motion that we adjourn, seconded by Krys, all approved.
Signed as a true record:…………………………………………………………………….Date…………………………………………