Attendees: Carl Fiedler, Ken Brewer, Tim Love, Ed Lieser, Carl Sobczak, Cait Faulkner, Jim Mountjoy, Bryan Donner, Gordy Sanders

Ed called the meeting to order at 9:17 am.

Ed reviewed the agenda and asked for additional items. This agenda was presented at the National Convention in September and approved by a small group of Montana SAF members.

Ed reviewed the minutes from the last meeting in June. These were accepted by those members present.

Bryan gave a treasurer’s report. We have $7833.19 in the general fund that reflects the $5000 forester’s fund for the Brewery Flats project near Lewistown. The Dick Guth Memorial Fund is at $279.66 and the UofM Scholarship fund is at $1359.62. The memorial fund has recently been assessed a $3.00 monthly fee and the executive committee decided to move these funds to the general fund to avoid the charge. A separate accounting will take place in the ledger book. Michelle Landuyt (student scholarship recipient at UofM) has not received her scholarship yet and Carl Fiedler will investigate with the University.

The issue of a quorum for the Executive Committee was brought up. No language in the proposed by-laws could be found regarding quorums. Bryan will investigate this issue further by looking at original copies of the by-laws and will suggest a quorum number for the new by-laws if they do not currently exist.

Flathead: The Chapter is in good financial shape. The September meeting was a discussion on what happened at the National Convention in Portland. The October meeting’s subject was the use of herbicides and fertilizers on early seedling growth and development. The November meeting will concern the possible listing of Canada Lynx and a tour of Scandinavia with Steve Arno is scheduled for the spouse’s meeting in December.

Libby: Tim Ryan from Larix, Inc. will be discussing his company’s operations this fall. A Natural Resources Youth Camp representative will be giving a presentation and it will be spouse’s night in December. Libby chapter has sponsored 2 students to NRYC. Chapter membership is at it’s lowest level in it’s history.

Eastside: Last meeting was a field trip to south of Big Timber. A meeting in Butte is scheduled for later this fall. The Brewery Flats project is still a big focus of the chapter. The chapter has decided to try to not borrow money from the State SAF for operating funds.

Missoula: The sustainable forest certification issue was the subject for the September meeting which was led by Rick Franke. A TMDL presentation will be the October meeting subject. The spouse meeting is scheduled for December. Chapter membership is down from folks that did not pay dues from this spring. A general discussion of membership in the Montana SAF ensued and most of the executive committee felt the relationship between the cost of dues and membership is not appreciated by the National SAF office. Carl F will draft an issue statement or memo of concern regarding this issue and it will be given to Gordy for possible inclusion on an HSD discussion. Rebecca Hendrix (state membership chair) will be involved. Cait will include an article in the next newsletter on this issue.

Student: Carl F reported for the students. They have supported the Missoula Chapter is some areas, including preparing a BBQ. Many students attended the National Convention in Portland and participated in the Quiz Bowl and were good hosts at the alumni gathering there.

Committee Reports:

Science and Technology: Ken reported not much has progressed since the last meeting. He will be getting a list of science related meetings to Cait soon so she can include them in the Montana Forester.

Centennial Committee: Projects outlined at the last meeting are progressing, reports Ed.

Mentor Program. Carl F reported a letter to Missoula Chapter members to help get them linked up to UofM students by professor Tara Barrett was recently sent out.

Policy: Tim reported on Canada lynx happenings. The decision by USFWS to list the lynx has been extended to January and we have additional opportunities to submit comments. Carl F inquired about the usefulness of Montana SAF comments to policy issues like this. Gordy and Tim both agreed our input is valuable for final decision making and we have established ourselves with the legislature as a source of expert information. Montana SAF policy statements are developed with ample review available by the general membership before they are adopted and used. Other policy issues to investigate are sustainable forest certification, the new President’s roadless initiative, and the proposed NFMA regulations. Tim felt that the roadless issue should get considerable attention from the SAF at both the local and national level in the near future. Ed reported the process for setting regional forest certification standards for FSC for the Northern Rockies is currently on hold due to national funding problems. New England and the Great Lakes region are higher priority nationally for local standards setting. Tim will send a letter to Steve Thompson indicating our desire to be included in the Northern Rockies process when it gets going again. Ed clarified the membership of the Policy Committee as the State Chair and Chair-elect; Policy committee chair, Science and Technology committee chair, and other members who have interest or expertise with issues as those issues are raised and fade. Priorities for policy work and possible people to work on them are 1) FSC [Chuck Keegan, Tim, and Ed], 2) lynx [Tim, Greg S, Ken Brewer, Bob Pfister], 3) NFMA regs [Doug Glevanick, Greg S, Dave Jackson, Gordy, Tim], and 4) roadless [Rick Prausa, Chuck K, Gordy, Tim].

Newsletter: Cait reminds the Chapters to have their chapter activities either posted on the web page or sent to her directly. This would include any upcoming activities. Advertising has been going so-so but some costs have been defrayed. Printing of the newsletter is scheduled quarterly for the first of January, April, July, and October. The deadline for submitting articles is the 15th of the preceding month (for example, December 15 is the deadline for the January 1, 2000 newsletter. Cait has established PO Box 530 for the newsletter in Libby (59923) and her new e-mail will be faulkner@libby.org. Montana SAF will be paying for the PO Box ($22 per year). Cait’s employment situation will be changing soon and has requested the State SAF pay for her SAF membership dues since this will be a hardship for her. Tim moved and Carl S seconded to reimburse Cait for her dues. The motion passed unanimously. The annual gross cost of the newsletter is about $2500 with advertising estimated to bring in $2000 per year.

Old Business:

Habitat for Humanity: Gordy and Scott Kuehn continue to investigate the idea of a stump to home project for next year’s state meeting in Missoula. A continuance of this concept is to allow for tree farmers to designate logs for Habitat for Humanity projects and get tax considerations not only for the state meeting but for any H for H project in the state from now on. The National Tree Farmers Meeting will be in conjunction with our state meeting in 2000 and Gordy has reserved Lubrecht for that Saturday for activities.

By-laws: Frank Cuff has sent the proposed by-laws to the national office to see if there are any inconsistencies with the national constitution. If not, the changes will be included in the up-coming elections.

Budget: The state has committed to reimbursing the Student Chapter $400 for their trip to the national convention if our funds looked sufficient at this time of the year. Since we are financially solvent, Bryan will send a check to the students.

FSC: Ed encouraged members to view the proposed standards on the FSC web site. Most of this subject was discussed and documented earlier in these minutes. The whole idea of forest certification has rekindled the interest in certified foresters.

UofM Scholarship: Chapters are reminded they are committed to an assessment of at least one dollar per member to be paid through Carl F by the end of January.

Update on State Meeting 2000: Logger sports by the UofM team have been lined up and a pig roast will be provided for the banquet. The 4-B’s Convention Center would be a good location due to it’s proximity to Ft. Missoula. Ruby’s is also being looked at. Rick Franke and the Missoula Chapter will be in charge of all local arrangements. Dates have been established for September 13 through 16. There will be some overlap of activities with the National Tree Farmers Association meeting.

Membership Handbook: Frank Cuff and Melissa Squire are working on an update and it should be distributed soon.

New Business:

National Meeting Report: Ed reported on the House of Society Delegates meeting and National Convention in Portland in September. One of the key issues that HSD discussed was the declining membership. Other issues discussed: professional education, leadership and the leadership academy, development of policy statements and expert testimony, external communications, and society finances. A resolution was passed that allowed for increased integration of resource professionals other than foresters into society affairs. There were other items discussed that included the effects of a growing human population and the issue of cultural diversity within the society. Please contact Ed if you would like to further information on these items.

Centennial Campaign: Not the same as the Centennial Celebration, this is a national effort to raise 2 million dollars to be used for a variety of society functions. Many of these functions are not new but have been under funded recently. The last such fundraiser was conducted in 1950. This fundraiser will conclude by the end of 2000. Most of the funds are hopefully generated by donations from foundations and a professional fundraiser has been hired. Suggestions from the state societies as to whom to approach will be accepted. State societies are also encouraged to do fund raisers on their own. The executive committee generally agreed the Montana SAF is fairly busy next year and have little interest in developing new committees or programs to raise money for this effort.

Forester’s Fund Grant - Spring Creek/Brewery Flats near Lewistown: As discussed earlier, the project is proceeding. Dennis deserves some recognition for putting together a fine proposal.

Code of Ethics - Review of Proposed Revisions: These are available for members to check out on the SAF web page. Chapters are encouraged to get their members to review and discuss the proposal. This is not a major update but a minor revision.

Joint Leadership Academy with Inland Empire: The location has not been firmed up yet but Lubrecht and Condon are possibilities.

Montana SAF Officers for Year 2000: Offices to be filled are Chair-Elect and Secretary/Treasurer. Ed has approached a few members so far if they would be interested and the executive committee functioned as a nominating committee to put together a list of potential officers. The nominating committee has a list and will be contacting individuals soon. Also, any members who are interested in serving as a state officer should contact Ed or Gordy.

Legislative Field Trip: Ed is proposing to have individual chapter field trips to bring together candidates for the state legislature in the fall. These field trips will be organized to present forestry issues to the candidates and also for SAF members to find out something about the candidates. This will create the rapport between the prospective legislatures and the SAF to let them know we are a source of expert advice during the legislative session.

Next Meeting: The next executive committee meeting will be held on Friday, December 17, at the AFD in Missoula.