Montana SAF Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
January 26, 2002
Lubrecht Forest (Leadership Conference)
Attendees: Steve Hayes, Patrick Heffernan, Rick
Franke, Mark Teply, Lee Harry, Eva
Shoemaker-Maffei, Bev Yelczyn, Jason Parke,
Elisa Stamm, Bob Pfister, Paul McKenzie, Mark Boardman, Bruce Schlaebitz, Dave
Stack, Tim Ryan, Cindy Bertek, Bob Sturtevant, Tim Love.
Chair Steve Hayes called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. and welcomed everyone to the meeting. He reminded all present that MT SAF Executive Committee meetings are traditionally held at the Annual Meeting and the Leadership Conference, with other periodic meetings as necessary. All members are invited and encouraged to attend. Hayes requested a report of Chapter activities in the event a Chapter Chair is unable to attend the Executive Meeting to deliver the report in person.
Treasurer’s Report: Rick Franke received the Montana SAF financial records just prior to the meeting and provided a brief report based on notes from Holly McKenzie. Checking balance is $4,139.89, with the Dick Guth Memorial Fund balance at $306.11 and the Forester’s Fund Grant balance at $399.23. Additionally, Carl Fiedler oversees the UM Scholarship fund, which Holly’s notes estimated at $1,800.
The Forester’s Fund grant was obtained to enhance membership. Chapters can coordinate efforts through MT SAF and be reimbursed for qualifying expenses. To date, the funds have been used for mailings, to buy meals for new members at Chapter meetings, or as a partial payment of State Meeting registration fees for new members. The funds cannot be used to pay SAF dues. All Chapters are encouraged to utilize these funds to promote membership. An accounting of how the funds were applied is to be submitted to National SAF.
Franke reported he received the dues distribution from National for the period December 1-31 and will be mailing the Chapter distributions soon.
Annual financial reporting is required by National SAF for all SAF units. Reports for 2001 must be submitted to National by February 25, 2002. Outstanding reports from the Missoula and Eastside Chapters should be submitted ASAP to Franke.
Patrick Heffernan inquired about our policy for auditing our financial records, stating the benefits of such a review. Hayes mentioned this has typically been done in an informal way. Hayes and Franke will meet with other members, yet to be identified, for an audit.
Chapter Reports:
Eastside; Mark Teply – Teply welcomed Lee Harry as new Chair-elect, and Eva Shoemaker-Maffei as Secretary/Treasurer. The December Eastside Chapter meeting featured the Helena City Parks Open Space Manager. Interest was built for a SAF community project, such as involving students in monitoring forest plots. They will work with the school district. Lee Harry will be the speaker at the January meeting. Future meetings will be held in Lewiston or Billings. A summer field trip is planned to visit a timber harvest site and focus on technology. The Chapter has been busily planning the State Meeting to be held in Butte this March. More details will be provided under “Old Business”.
Student Chapter, UM; Elisa Stamm – The students are very appreciative of the sponsorship to the 2001 National SAF Convention provided by the Missoula Chapter and MT SAF. Unfortunately, the students were unable to attend due to the events of September 11. The funds were retained by the students and will be applied to the 2002 Convention. The Student Chapter meets every other Thursday.
Flathead; Paul McKenzie – The Flathead Chapter had a busy year, with two field trips, their fall fundraiser (generated over $1,100) and the Christmas party. Bill Morgan was presented the Chapter’s Forester of the Year Award, and Ron Buentemier was awarded the District IV Field Forester of the Year. Presentation of Ron’s award was slated for the National Convention, but was instead made at the Chapter meeting. Chapter goals for 2002 include: 100 man-hour commitment to Habitat for Humanity for a house to be built in Whitefish; continued involvement with Flathead Forestry Expo; repeat of the successful legislative tour; involvement with Leadership Flathead program to gain visibility for SAF. Early meetings in 2002 will feature conservation easements and a presentation by Carl Fiedler on his recent fuel reduction study.
Libby; Tim Ryan – Frank Cuff is missed in Libby, but Tim is carrying on the good work. Goal is to increase membership participation. Chapter has 21 members, about 8 or 9 active, strong representation from retirees. Ryan has made personal visits, and asked for support from employees of Plum Creek and US Forest Service to boost participation in Libby. Chapter has used a calling tree, meeting notices, personal visits, and offers to buy dinner for new member. Past meeting discussed FWS conservation easements. In February, Bob Bosworth will come to Libby to discuss SAF mission and benefits of membership. The Chapter will hold it’s annual spring program for Libby area 5th Grader’s, with topics including wildlife, soils and water. Tom Jones will return as Secretary/Treasurer in April.
Missoula; no officers present – Hayes congratulated Dave Stack as recipient of the 2001 Missoula Chapter SAF Outstanding Citizen of the Year. Stack told of his efforts to garner support from USFS leadership for participation in SAF. Dale Bosworth previously committed to writing an article in the Region 1 newsletter promoting participation in professional societies, including SAF. New R1 forester Brad Powell is a long time member and supporter of SAF. He has agreed to write an article and will be featured at the next Missoula Chapter meeting. Stertevandt suggested Bosworth might support a national letter supportive of SAF participation.
Misc. Item -- It was mentioned that the MT SAF website is a valuable tool for disseminating information. Needs to be updated with recent meeting minutes, current officers and meeting announcements. Everyone should look at the website and offer suggestions or provide Sherri with information. Franke will provide minutes and current officers for posting. Flathead and Missoula Chapters are using e-mail meeting notices to get the word out. For Flathead, this cuts down significantly on mailing costs.
Committee Reports:
Science and Technology; Bob Pfister – Will have a poster session at State meeting in Butte. Looking for current research and cooperative management efforts. Pfister serves on the National S/T Workgroup. He will be talking to the group about efforts for MT. Pfister requests that members who learn of seminars of interest past the information along for posting on the website or in the newsletter.
Mentor Program; Bruce Schlaebitz – Schlaebitz will attend the February Student Chapter meeting and begin to establish new relationships. Goal is to get 10-15 students/mentors paired up. Will push for more in the fall. Student meetings are every other Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Forestry Building, Room 206.
Communications; Bev Yelczyn – Passed out an SAF handout called “Getting Out the Forestry Message”, which contains guidelines for improving media relations and gaining favorable coverage. Yelczyn led a discussion on how to get the media to our State meeting in March. She then told of her goal to submit one press release per month pertaining to forestry/SAF issues. Will try to get public acknowledgement for award recipients. Yelczyn also wants e-mail for as many members as possible to forward meeting announcements, news stories, etc.
MNRYC – In Dale Kervliet’s absence, Bob Pfister provided an update. Pfister recently joined the Youth Camp Board of Directors, and will become the new Camp Counselor. The Board needs more new members and they are updating the bylaws. The camp will be held again this year and SAF sponsorship is appreciated. Missoula Chapter provided a half sponsorship for two campers, requesting the campers to earn the other half. The students came to a Chapter meeting to make a presentation on what they learned at camp. This was beneficial for SAF members to learn more about the camp and the students they sponsored, and helped the students “internalize” what they learned. Contact Pfister or Peter Kolb if interested in student names for sponsorship.
Policy; Tim Love – During the past two legislative sessions, SAF has sponsored a breakfast with legislators to brief them on forestry issues. Last session was sparsely attended due to scheduling conflict, but meeting was positive and also met with Governor. Need to meet with congressional staffers to build rapport, update on issues. Love provided a summary of policy issues over the past year: TMDL, ESA listings/law revision, roadless initiative/policy, UM School of Forestry name change, DEQ guidelines, Interior appropriations, HSD items, field hearing on Canadian/US softwood lumber dispute. Positions not always formal, can just be a letter. Committee sometimes utilizes conference calls, moves on consensus of Policy and Executive Committees. Policy brings in different members to capitalize on expertise for specific issues. MT SAF hasn’t weighed in on the Bitterroot salvage controversy. Might need to attempt another meeting with the Missoulian editorial board, as they didn’t show up last time. There will be a Policy meeting at the State Meeting in Butte. Need to have a forum for all members to voice their opinion on issues of interest. Some suggested this be handled during the meeting session, with a brainstorming session on policy concerns. Heffernan suggested Policy and Communications work together to develop media information. Use both local and National SAF info.
There was a discussion of SAF-sponsored public forums on forestry issues. SAF should lead the effort when change is needed. Need to work with other organizations like TWS to build coalitions. Several options exist for SAF involvement on the Bitterroot salvage issue – position statement, public forum, op/ed in local news. More discussion on how to structure positions/comments -- don’t need to be specific to a place, but rather to an issue. Need better distribution system for media info, make our positions/info more useful. Need strategy to highlight hot issues. Love will convene a Policy meeting to set unified direction with Communications.
Newsletter; Cindy Bertek – Winter newsletter just went in the mail. Got one paid advertisement. Will give a 10% discount for advertising in four newsletters. Received some good submissions for this newsletter, including articles and photos. Newsletter includes a section to highlight new members. Chapters should provide Bertek with new member info for inclusion. Franke will submit an article on the Leadership Conference for the next newsletter (April). Deadlines for submitting newsletter material to Bertek is the 15th of the month in January, April, July and October. This is somewhat of a “soft” deadline, so late-developing news should still be submitted.
CFE/CFF, Cultural Diversity, Membership – No reports in the interest of time.
Old Business:
2002 State Meeting Update – Eastside Chapter Chair Mark Teply provided an update. Registration packet mailed, also posted on MT SAF website. Focus is watershed management science and practice. Governor Judy Martz and SAF President Dave Smith both invited. Chapter Chairs, please encourage attendance, promote at meetings and in newsletters. Teply listed organizations contacted to date. Additional suggestions were Trout Unlimited, USFWS, and DEQ. This event has potential for good media coverage. Watershed management covers a diverse range of topics and interest groups, should get broad interest. Yelczyn will contact Dan Bushnell with DNRC in Helena for tips on how to promote. Promote Dr. Ice and Governor Martz as main attractions, provide bio for Ice, set up press conference with time for interviews.
Gavel Contest – Dave Stack explained the need for a new gavel. Current gavel has names of State Chairs from 1911 to 2001 engraved, but no more room, so we need a new gavel. Pfister made motion to approve a $25 award for gavel winner, second by Yelczyn, approved. If there is an acceptable winner, it will be announced at State meeting. Pfister made motion that if we need more time to get a good gavel we can extend as needed. Second by Stack, approved.
New Business:
2002 Officers – Hayes handed out the listing of all State/Chapter officers for 2002 which contains contact information.
2002 Goals – Hayes passed out a handout with suggested goals for the year, asking all present to review and forward comments or suggestions to the Executive Committee for consideration. Goals will then be posted on the website. Suggestion was made to reword the first goal to add Flathead Community College and CSK College along with UM.
Governor’s Conference – Dave Stack provided an update on progress toward a Governor’s Conference on the “Future of Montana’s Forests”. Governor has endorsed the concept and a steering group has been meeting to plan. The conference will likely be a two-day event in Helena aimed at finding common ground to shape the future use and conservation of Montana’s forests. Will include published proceedings and extensive media coverage. Key components will be: 1) Ownership objectives/challenges, 2) State of our knowledge, 3) Economic projections, 4) Solutions and how to implement them, what is the vision?
2003 Annual Meeting – Hayes outlined his discussions with Teresa Catlin, Chair of the Inland Empire Society, regarding the concept of a joint meeting in 2003. Suggested theme was riparian management, with Coeur d’Alene as the location. One Society would host the meeting and take care of meeting logistics, the other would be responsible for the program. Pfister suggested the theme might be too parallel to the 2002 watershed theme. He suggested the theme should focus on the big issue of the day, something that has been making the papers. That is currently the Bitterroot salvage controversy. Some discussion about how the salvage proposal just highlights the core problem of broken processes for planning and implementing projects. Use the salvage plans as an example to highlight the bigger issues. Missoula could be the host, with some good field trip opportunities. Item to be discussed today with Inland Empire leadership after MT Executive meeting.
2002 Presidential Field Forester Awards – Handout was passed around which details the awards. Chapters nominate for State Award, then State recipient is submitted for National SAF recognition.
High Country News Book Review – Dave Stack brought to our attention a book review in the High Country News that was not favorable to “Post-Cowboy Economics”, written by our friend Tom Power from the UM Econ Department. Items like this should be referenced in the newsletter and website to get the word out.
2003 Meeting Discussion with Teresa Catlin of Inland Empire – Discussed the pros and cons of a joint meeting. Discussed having a theme that promotes a proactive approach to maintaining sustainable forests. Could incorporate some of the range ideas that would have been addressed in riparian theme? Inland Empire would like a more firm vision of the theme articulated before committing to a joint meeting around that topic. Hayes will provide with assistance from Stack. Possible meeting dates are last week in March or first week in April, with Missoula as location.
Next Meeting – The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be prior to the State Meeting on Thursday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m.
There being no further business, Steve Hayes adjourned the meeting at approximately 11:30 a.m.
February 4, 2002