Montana Chapter SWCS Meeting
January 15th, 2015
Teleconference Call
Members present: Stacy Eneboe, Marni Thompson, Tommy Bass, Joyce Trevithick, Mark Henning and Jane Holzer.
Meeting called to order by President-Elect, Stacy Eneboe at 8:33 a.m. No quorum present.
Minutes: No quorum present so December minutes were not approved
Treasury Report: Sent out by Jane Holzer
Stockman Bank Checking $728.96
D.A. Davidson Savings Account $ 6,874.71
D.A. Davidson Investments $ 43,545.70
Total $ 51,149.37
Treasurer’s report was current through December 22, 2014, but was not approved due to absence of quorum.
Committee Reports
Fundraising Committee: no committee report
Soil Painting Kits: Eneboe has prepared six soil painting kits that can be sold. However, more soil in several colors is needed, example blue-gray, dark brown, greenish soil. The NRCS soil scientists will be asked to provide suitable soil samples for this use. More acrylic solution will be needed to finish the kits. Jane Holzer was able to secure the use of a soil grinder for preparing more kits instead of grinding the soil by hand like Stacy has been doing.
Awards: no report
Scholarship: no report
Newsletter: Next newsletter will be mailed in February. Articles due to Joyce Trevithick by February 6th. Bass will provide a report on the 2014 national conference for the February newsletter. Bass will also provide bios for the election. Joyce needs an article from Roger Hybner on last year’s scholarship winners.
Earth Team Bracelets: No report
Bass spoke with Dr.Tony Hartshorn/MSU Soil Scientist about starting a student SWCS Chapter at Montana State University. Hartshorn was very enthused about the potential to incorporate professional and technical influence with MSU students. The members present discussed donating funds to get the student chapter started and/or a social gathering to stimulate interest. No decision was made on the donation due to lack of a quorum.
Bass also gave a report on the upcoming election. Electron election process account has been set up for use by the Chapter membership. At this time, there is an incomplete ballot due to lack of a President-elect nomination. Erik Suffridge had previously mentioned speaking to Joyce Swartzendruber about considering the position. Mark Henning was also suggested as a potential candidate. Henning requested the position description and said he would think about it. Bass discussed that other chapters are also having issues with participation, but nationally SWCS is experiencing an increase in interest. Eneboe also mentioned Dick Sheetz and John Blaine as other potential candidates. Bass wants to launch the election in early February and close the election by February 27th or March 1st.
Eneboe and Thompson participated in a teleconference with Rob Bray and Niki Rife with Society for Range Management to discuss joining forces for the 2015 technical meeting. The SRM chapter is willing to partner with the technical meeting. More specifics will be discussed on the next teleconference. Eneboe and Thompson will update the chapter on the final arrangements. Bass suggested contacting Marita Marble for assistance with the planning of the meeting. Bass also agreed to promote the joint SWCS-SRM meeting with a flyer and other avenues.
Thompson gave a report on the SWCS face book page. Thompson gave verbal instructions of how to post on the page. When everyone is up and running each officer should take a month to be responsible for posting new information and updating the page.
A member informed the group that the email address list for Chapter meeting notices and correspondence needs to be updated. Trisha Cracroft and Jill Clapperton are still on it and there was concern that Ben Montgomery was not on the list.
Eneboe informed the group that the NRCS state office is pressuring the SWCS chapter to get their own teleconference line. Erik Suffridge had spoken to Eneboe prior to the meeting about renting a teleconference line. Bass offered the use of the teleconference line that he uses. Bass pays the line according to use. Holzer said that the chapter could periodically reimburse Bass for the use of the line. Bass also mentioned that the Chapter could use it as in-kind service and he would ask for reimbursement if needed. Eneboe will discuss the options with Suffridge.
Holzer gave a report on the renovation of the MSU soils lab and had previously sent out information to the group via an email. Holzer asked the members if the Chapter wanted to donate to the new lab. Eneboe asked if the donation could have a specified use rather just for general use. Holzer recommended specifying that the money could be used to preserve the soil profiles. The group discussed donating $200-$250 to the soil lab to preserve the soil profiles. No decision was made due to the absence of a quorum. Dr. Hartshorn is in charge of the soils lab now. Donation to the lab and/or for a student organization would bring greater recognition for the state Chapter.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:30. Next meeting will be February 19, 2015 at 8:30.