General Membership Meeting Minutes s3
Highlands Biological Foundation
General Membership Meeting Minutes
June 28, 2015
In attendance: Julia Grumbles, Dick Allison, Linda Barlow, Tom Claiborne, Melissa Delany, Ruthie Edwards, Alexa Foreman, RB Haynes, Marianne Jenkins, Lydia Macauley, Amy Patterson, Helen Regnery, Sue Sheehan, Jennie Stowers, Robert Tucker, Sarah Morgan Wingfield, Glenda Zahner, Don Shure, Dollie Swanson, Tricia Allen, Knox Massey, Maryanne Massey, Canty Worley, Glenn Murer, Gail Lemiec, Jim Costa, Karen Kandl, Sonya Carpenter.
1. Call to Order -President, Julia Grumbles the meeting was called to order at 2:03 pm.
Julia stated that the HBF has had a great year and thanked the Board of Trustees. Julia also thanked the staff of HBF, and in particular, Sonya Carpenter. Finally, Julia thanked the volunteers who have helped tremendously. Julia said that HBF has created an incredibly strong platform, and now the challenge is to make 2015-2016 an even more spectacular year. Julia thanked the Board members, and in particular 4 of them: Glenn Murer and Martha Stibbs are rolling off the Board and have been invaluable. Hugh Sargent has contributed significantly to the Board and his daughter, Liz, who know contributes invaluably to HBF. Dr. Don Shure has served on the various boards associated with HBF/HBS for decades, and has served with his time and talent and has reminded us of our mission time and time again, and has done this with wisdom, humility, and intelligence.
2. The minutes of the General Membership meeting of June 2014 were approved unanimously.
3. Communications
Dr. Nathalie Georgia Sato, of Highlands, NC, passed away Monday, September 2, 2014, at age 90. She moved to Highlands following her retirement, and spent the last thirty years of her life gardening, hiking, and weaving on her loom. In 1991 she was recognized for her voluntary contributions to the U.S. Forest Service. Dr. Sato was an avid outdoorsman, living and walking in the forests and closely observing the wonders of nature. Dr. Sato honored the Highlands Biological Foundation by leaving her entire estate to this organization. We will continue to honor her memory by utilizing her assets to promote the mission of HBS
Dr. Elsie Quarterman, a Nashville botanist, conservationist and life member of the Highlands Biological Foundation died on Monday June 8th 2014. She was 103.
Dr. Quarterman was a Georgia native and Vanderbilt University professor emeritus.
Much of her career was focused on understanding the ecology of cedar glades — areas globally unique to Middle Tennessee that feature shallow soil and limestone outcroppings. She led a decades-long effort to re-establish a rare pink coneflower unique to Tennessee and was able to help bring the species back from the brink of extinction
Dr. Quarterman served as the Vice President of the Highlands Biological Station from 1969 to 1970. Her life and her work was honored in 1998 by the dedication of a 185-acre forest area in Rutherford County where Dr. Quarterman conducted much of her research on cedar glades was named in her honor. The site was also the location of a planting effort to establish a population of coneflower. And In 2008, an annual cedar glade wildflower festival that takes place at a state park in Lebanon was renamed the Elsie Quarterman Cedar Glade Wildflower Festival in her honor.
Guy W. Cook joined the HBS family as Facilities Manager in 2006, and worked in that capacity until illness befell him in November of 2014. Guy succumbed to his illness, a rare form of lymphoma, on Friday, 27 March 2015. In his nearly decade-long tenure at HBS Guy carried out his duties with diligence, pride, and competence, overseeing myriad improvements at HBS many of which he personally introduced. He was the eponymous "go-to Guy" for staff, students, faculty, and researchers, deeply competent in all manner of facilities management from plumbing and carpentry to electrical work, design, and construction. His unfailing good cheer, humor, caring personality, and the evident pride he took in the quality of his work endeared him to all who had the pleasure of knowing and working with him.
Guy Cook left HBS a better place than he found it, and his mark is to be seen all over the HBS campus. Perhaps none is so visible, or emblematic of his craftsmanship, as the teaching pavilion that Guy designed and constructed in 2012. Enjoyed year-round by students, faculty, summer campers, staff, and picnicking visitors, this structure reflects many of the qualities of Guy himself: solid, unobtrusive, handsome, and eminently useful. It is most fitting that the pavilion Guy created for the benefit of the HBS community should be named in his memory. On April 1st 2015 the Station's Board of Directors adopted a resolution bestowing the name "Guy W. Cook Pavilion" as a fitting tribute to the memory of Guy and his service to the Highlands Biological Station.
Distinguished herpetologist Ray Semlitsch of the University of Missouri passed away on June 10, 2015, a loss to science and HBS as well as his family, students, and colleagues. A native of West Seneca, NY, Ray completed his graduate work at the Universities of Maryland and Georgia, and held positions at Memphis State University and the University of Zurich, Switzerland, before joining the faculty of the University of Missouri in 1993. At the time of his death he was a Curator's Professor of Biology and an international leader in amphibian ecology and conservation.
Ray's career was marked with distinction: he was awarded the University of Missouri’s 1999 Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity, the 2008 National Wetlands Award for Science Research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the 2011 Fitch Award for Excellence in Herpetology from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. In 2009, Ray was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Over the years Ray and his students conducted a series of inspired ecological studies of salamanders and other amphibians —many at Highlands Biological Station. For many years he also taught his signature Applied Landscape Conservation of Amphibians course at HBS, a much-admired course that explored conservation in theory and practice in relation to a group of animals widely seen as "canaries in the coal mine" owing to their sensitivity to environmental disturbance. Ray went above and beyond mere instruction in this course, conducting rigorous field-based group research projects with his classes some of which were published in the scientific literature— icing on the cake for his students, who not only gained outstanding experience in field-based research but also in the critical step of presenting their data to the scientific community. The significance of this as an educational experience for these students cannot be over-stated: there is no more meaningful form of teaching and training in the sciences than for students to actively participate in science, and Ray was a master at leading his students through a process of posing interesting, instructive, and meaningful scientific questions and then framing observational and experimental approaches to addressing these questions scientifically.
Ray's influence has been considerable, from fundamental scientific discovery to student training to highly valuable studies bearing on national environmental policy and management. His presence at HBS will be sorely missed, but we are fortunate that his legacy lives on at the Station through the teaching and research activities of his former students.
4. Reports
A. Finance: Dick Allison, treasurer of HBF, reported on the status of the HBF assets. HBF budgeted ~$100 K in contributions, but received $340K, which is outstanding. There were two very large gifts that increased the contributions greatly. The Nature Center expenses were budgeted at $15K but cost almost $35K and this difference was made up by one of the large gifts. Alexander Hass returned $9K because HBF stopped the initiative for a capital campaign. Invested monies value increased about 7%. HBF has too much cash on hand at the moment, and will make a $100K investment, determined by the Finance Committee. HBF will need to work hard again this year to make the budget goals.
B. Executive Director of HBS: Jim Costa
Jim Costa again welcomed the group and discussed the “big picture” of HBS. It has been a challenging year in terms of staff – the los of Guy Cook, and the turn over of many other staff. On the other hand, we have a wonderful staff, and have made great new hires, which have hit the ground running. HBS is a FSML (Field Station and Marine Labs). FSMLS are off-campus facilities for research and education, conducted in the natural habitats of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. They support environmental and basic biological research and education by preserving access to study areas and organisms, by providing facilities and equipment in close proximity to study areas and by fostering an atmosphere of mutual scientific interest and collaboration of research and education. We belong to OBFS (Organization of Biological Field Stations). Researchers come from all over the world to conduct research at HBS because we can offer access to the environment and organisms of the southern Appalachians.
We (HBS) are intellectual children of Louis Agassiz who started the first field station in the U.S. Our founding vision came from Clark H. Foreman, who with like-minded individuals had the idea of establishing a field station in Highlands, a biologically interesting area. E.E. Reinke, Doc Howell, and Ralph Sargent were some of the early visionaries. Both the research and education of this place (the southern Appalachians) is very important and this is what we do very well. This is important for future generations. It also gives us an environmental ethic. We specialize in immersion education and discovery – organisms to ecosystems, up close and personal.
Budget: The entire budget of HBS is ~ $600 K. The State of NC gives HBS $268,359; HBS receipts are $102,904; the UNC-IE gives $99,016, the Grassroots grant gives $62,816, and the HBF gives us $159,958. HBF now gives more than it has in decades to HBS. Much of this HBF money helps with staffing positions, also botanical garden. The state budget is not looking very good for us at the moment. In terms of HBS receipts: until 2009, our revenue target was ~$50K/year, From 2009-2001, was ~$63K, 2011-present ~$103K, and Jim would like to increase this to ~$120K/year. Jim mentioned the 2015 appropriations act which is still fluid, and we will not know what comes out of this until later this summer. One provision in this act is a large decrease for funding for Centers and Institutes (which includes HBS). HBS takes meticulous data on enrollment and visitors, and that helps HBS when we need to justify our existence. Jim just submitted a WCU Program Review, and has submitted several reviews and reports this year.
Jim reiterated to HBF that HBS is looked at as not important to the state, and we will need to call on Board members to help get the word out that what we do is important and meaningful. Jim mentioned the closing of the 3 centers last December. HBS was initially on the chopping block, but then was taken off the list.
Usage Summary: We can sleep up to 38 /night in our residences, and we pack the users in.
Who is using HBS? Visiting classes, HBS course enrollments, researchers (including GIA recipients), UNC_-IE students, and other visiting groups. One specific example of who stayed here: The Global Genome Initiative, a group who was here in May. HBS is offering more courses and workshops than ever. We are trying to find a balance between offering courses for different types of people.
Grants-in-Aid of Research: In 2015 we had 10 awardees, $19,100 in funding. These researchers have comes from all over the U.S. and also Germany. In the last year several dissertations and theses have been completed, in part, as a result of these GIAs. There has been a diversity of papers that have been published in the last year, associated with HBS.
Improvements: In 2007-2008, we renovated the sanitary sewer system. In 2009-2010 we renovated the Bruce Biodiversity lab and nature center lab and classroom; in 2012-2013 we renovated the Coker Lab and Howell Admin Building. Most recent funding: in 2013 – equipment grand and molecular lab; in 2014- new vehicle (Transit) for outreach; in 2015 – upgrade of appliances.
North Entrance and Lower Lake Road: enhanced entrance, pod parking, pollinator garden, and outdoor classroom and restroom.
New Dorm: We have been approved for a capital project in the state for a new dorm, but this isn’t very likely at the moment.
How well does HBS align with other FSMLs: We are already doing many of the recommendations of the FSMLs. This also provides ideas for what we can be doing and doing better in the future.
C. Associate Director of HBS: Karen Kandl
Institute for the Environment report: We had 12 students in 2014; we will have 9 students in 2015. Our focus for the fall will be biodiversity of the Gorges area (harkening back to the research out of HBS in the 1960s and 1970s)
D. Director of HBF: Sonya Carpenter
Sonya discussed our mission and how we have adhered to our mission this year. We have one mission and 3 parts of the HBS: The Nature Center is the focus of the school outreach and programming for all ages. We use the NC as a way of communicating with the public.
The Botanical Garden is a place where people can learn about the plants and animals of the southern Appalachians. It is also a research site for researchers at HBS.
The HBS laboratory is the academic heart of our Station. The research done at HBS help all of us learn more about our world, especially a world that is changing. We train biologists, we inspire people to study biology, and we fund researchers. We also provide a platform for researchers to communicate to the public through the lectures and programs.