SERNW Monthly Board Meeting

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

6PM- 7PM Conference Call

Present: Michael Hughes, Allison Warner, RolfGersonde, ReginaWandler, Samantha Rich, DavePolster, JimHallet (left early), RoryDenovan, Barry Southerland (late)

  1. Board Administration
  2. February 16 Meeting Minutes Approval, minutes were approved unanimously.
  3. Treasurers Report ( Samantha)

The current amount in our KeyBank account is $17,518.04:

Conference Fund - $13,359.10

General Fund - $1,158.94

Scholarship Fund - $3,000.00

The amount we have in our investments towards an Endowment Fund is $64,990.66 as of the end of February.The amount needed to break even on the conference is currently $28,336.84 as of 3/8/16. We are waiting for the USFS conference sponsorship of $5k.

  1. Old Business (Postponed to discuss New business for upcoming conference)
  2. New Business: (6:30 pm)
  3. Allisonput together a 2016 Board Election Slate for Board approval. Positions for election in even years are: Program VP, Treasurer, Publications/Web manager, Director At Large Positions 3, 4, and 5. Goal is to approve the slate during the meeting and present the candidates at our member meeting in Portland.Allison presented the slate of candidates:

Jolene Littlejohn - At Large 3

Rodney Pond - At Large 4

Laura Porter - At Large 5

Michael Hughes - Program Vice President

Samantha Rich - Treasurer

Our plan is to have ballots out by Apr 1, then advertise the election at the Portland conference and close the election by May 1. Regina will coordinate with Allison on student board member transition, per chapter bylaws. Rolf moves to approve slate, Rory second, unanimous approval.

  1. We will announce Chapter Awards during Wednesday Lunch at the Portland Conference. Below is the list of nominations for the three categories. The board needs to vote on the awards to be announced during the meeting. The board was asked to familiarize itself with the nominees and their work before the meeting.

Board was asked to send their votes within a week to Allison to allow time for framing of certificates.

Restoration Project of the Year
To beawardedto a public, private, non-profit- owned and/or sponsored/implemented restoration project, or a collaboratively-owned and/or implemented restoration project making a significant contribution to restoration in the Cascadia bioregion.

Nominees:

Harney County Wetland Restoration Initiative

Siuslaw Watershed

Awarded by email vote after the meeting: Siuslaw Watershed Council

Restorationist of the Year
For recognition of individual efforts to promote ecosystem health, integrity and sustainability through ecological restoration.

Nominees:

Sean McKinney

Charlie Dewberry

Awarded by email vote after the meeting: Charlie Dewberry

SERNW SpecialAward:
To beawardedto a person, team or project representing a restoration theme or focus of restoration science and practice chosen annually by the Board of Directors.

Nominees:

PNAMP- Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership

USFSfor the 20 year monitoring effort of the NWFP

Awarded by email vote after the meeting: PNAMP

3. After several discussion with board members, Rolf put together a list of initiatives for projects that we should discuss and prioritize for committee work after the Portland conference.Rolf asked the board to review the following list of proposals as a group, assign a point person or team, and propose a time table.

  • Collaborate with neighboring Chapters in joint conferences and work with the North American Coordinating Body
  • Identify speakers at the Portland conference for chapter webinars or YouTube Channel
  • Identify Restoration Highlights at the Portland conference and increase HR visibility
  • Modify/update chapter goals and vision in bylaws
  • Develop and promote network of continuing education centers
  1. Recurring Business
  2. Board Committee Reports
  3. Program Committee: Michael suggested an informal meeting at Portland conference to collect and discuss new program ideas
  4. Finance Committee: See Treasurer’s report. Samantha will schedule a finance meeting before Portland conference, TBA
  5. Grants Committee: Student grant funding (Jim): one applicant for travel grant initially; then extended; now 6 applicants for $1700. Sent to Barry for approval, no response yet. Question for how to proceed. Rolf suggests to make awards as received. Jim agreed. The board does not have to vote on the distribution since we already approved the funds to the Grants Committee. Barry was updated after he entered the meeting and concurred.

Rolf suggests chapter to sponsor student mixer; Regina suggested to pay for appetizers to the cidery. Jim suggests using unallocated student travel award to subsidize mixer with appetizers. Samantha will work with Regina on methods of payment.

  1. Board Development- (Allison) See Election slate
  2. Strategic Communications: Allison proposed that SERNW emphasize and highlight regions within chapter territory in publications such as newsletter. Wants to include articles regarding people and projects within each region, increase content and visibility on website from different parts of our region, and host webinars to reach people not in major population centers.

Board needs to decide where we want to have next conference, possibly collaborating with another chapters or organizations.

  1. SER Rep report (Dave Polster) Dave reviewed proposal for SER reorganization and mentioned the North American Chapters meeting in Portland
  1. Next meeting Thursday, April 7, 2016, 6:30-7:30 pm