Intermountain Fire Sciences Lab, Missoula, Montana
Attendees: John Casselli, Bev Yelczyn, Cait Faulkner, Gordy Sanders, Steve Hayes, Dave Stack, Dale Kerkvliet, Jane Kollmeyer, Ken Brewer
Gordy called the meeting to order at 9:35 am.
Gordy reviewed the minutes from the last meeting in April. Those members present accepted the minutes as written.
Steve gave the treasurer’s report. We have $1994.08 in the general fund, with all bills and distributions current.
Chapter Reports
Flathead: Jane gave the report. For the April meeting they had Ken Gibson from the USFS he spoke on forest insects and their current status and impact on the local forests. Two people joined the chapter because of the good presentation. In May they took part in the Family Forestry Expo, another successful year, they are preparing the final report to national for the balance of the Forester Fund grant. The May meeting was a field trip on Stoltze Lumber and State land. The Chapter is having discussions about a Habitat Home for 2001, and hosting a legislative field trip in September. Flathead is supporting one student for the Youth Camp.
Libby: Cait reported that Libby held a dinner and plaque presentation for Shorty Nelson’s 50th anniversary as an SAF member. Also, did some planning for the centennial time capsule, with a membership picture and a study done in 1942 and updated recently to show the changes in Libby over the years. They held the annual 5th grade tour and participated in Arbor Day activities. Meetings will start again in the fall; currently there are 27 members in Libby.
Eastside: Held the Brewery Flat event April 28-30. Gordy and Lars gave radio and newspaper interviews. Over 150 7th graders and teachers helped out. There is a big interest in forestry in Lewistown currently; the chapter will try to capitalize on this interest.
Missoula: Dave Stack; a small but enthusiastic group has been working on the planning for the state meeting. The newsletter will have the registration information, and a follow up mailing will be done mid –August. The Chapter’s May meeting was a field trip and dinner at Lubrecht where a single grip harvester and a forwarder were observed along with other forest management activities on the School Forest. The Missoula Chapter also helped on a Field day at Fort Missoula and on the Chamber of Commerce’s Forest Discovery Days. Items and ideas for the time capsule were also discussed.
Student: No report, gone for the summer.
Committee Reports:
Science and Technology: There is an article in the new Journal of Forestry by Steve Running and company on remote sensing and other related topics.
Centennial Committee: Continuing to work on the time capsule. Chapters need to get items to Scott or Ed Heilman by June 30th at the latest. The group is looking into bundling the biographies of the early foresters in a booklet or package for sale at the annual meeting.
Mentor Program. No report.
Policy: Gordy gave the report for Tim Love. Hearings on the roadless initative are coming up. There is a National as well as a Montana Position paper. Frank Cuff will testify at the Libby hearing, Gordy will do the Missoula hearing and Sam Gilbert will do Helena. Gordy will find other members that will testify at the other hearing locations. There is an executive summary available on the TMDL issue. The committee will release position papers to the media, like the Missoulian and the Interlake newspapers. If you have questions or hear about issues get the information to the policy committee and they will decide how to proceed.
Newsletter: Cait is preparing the next issue. Main topics are the State meeting and Chapter accomplishments so far this year. It will be printed in Libby and bulk mailed from Missoula. One copy will be printed on acid free paper to include in the time capsule.
CFE/CF: There is a new Director of Science and Technology at the National Office- Michelle Harvey. She is aware of some of the problems with the current processes; one for instance is how workshops get certified. In Montana there were only two applications for CFE in the last 18 months. There is a need for the Chapters to encourage members to apply when they are eligible. This would help in promoting SAF and individual foresters and raise our status in the eyes of the public as professional foresters. Professionals need to belong to their professional societies. There will be a combined table at the annual meeting for membership, CFE and CF. Also Dale and John Casselli will write an article for the fall newsletter about membership, CFE and Certification, highlighting the advantages to the individual, employer and to SAF. There are currently 14 Certified foresters in Montana.
Montana Natural Resources Youth Camp: Dale Kerkvliet; Camp this year is July 23-30 at Lubrecht. Signup this year got a slow start but they do expect to fill up the camp again. MNRYC has a 4-5 year grant of $7000 to support Native American students attending the camp. It is hard to get them to attend and stay the whole time. Peter Kolb is actively recruiting this year for Native American students. The MNRYC board would like to set up a long-term foundation of $100,000-$350,000 to ensure financial solvency. SAF will be asked to donate. The camp will need more teachers for the 2001 year, if anyone is interested contact Dale or Peter Kolb for information.
Cultural Diversity: Scholarships are available to attend the National Convention.
Membership: John Casselli reported we received a $500 grant from National to be used for recruiting new members. Some ideas include; printing and distributing extra meeting announcements, distribute copies of membership handbooks, wave the application fee for 20 new members that sign up at the annual meeting, offer a break for registration at the annual meeting for new members, send a letter to graduating seniors inviting them to stay active or join SAF upon graduation. Montana SAF currently has 430 members, we need 15 additional members to reach the goal assigned by the National Office.
Communications: Bev reported on an article in the Forestry Source about Arbor Day. She will get together with Gordy and Tim Love on a communication strategy. She met with KPAX they will do a lot of work for us, PSAs should be airing currently.
BLM Advisory Council: No Report.
Old Business:
Forests for Humanity: Gordy; a building lot just south of Walmart has been purchased. A family has been selected-a single mother with 3 teenagers. Ground breaking should be on or about August 1st.
Update on State Meeting 2000: Dates have been established for September 13 through 16 and the location will be the third floor of University Center. A poster session will take place at the UC location. Bob Pfister, Ken Brewer and Peter Kolb will help organize the posters. There is a possibility that the posters could also be moved to Lubrecht on Saturday. There will be some overlap of activities with the National Tree Farmers Association meeting; Thursday night at Fort Missoula, Habitat Home, and the Saturday field trip to Lubrecht.
Forester Fund: Chapters receiving grants must make sure to send in completion reports to National in a timely manner. We have received 3 grants so far this year and expect to get more.
Awards: Chapters nominate SAF Citizen/Forester. This would be for recognition for 1999. Anyone can be nominated at the state level, last year Chapter award recipients were automatically entered in the pool. Nominations are then passed on to Ed Lieser whom is the awards chair.
FSC Certification: The group did meet again, Ed Lieser didn’t attend. Steve Thompson is redrafting some parts of the document. The policy committee will get an update on what’s changing and report back to the executive committee.
New Business:
Annual Meeting 2001: Lars and Dave are working on it. Details to follow.
Potosi Experience: Dave Stack talked about his recent trip to the Leadership Academy in Potosi Missouri. He had a very good experience and encourages all members to take the opportunity to participate at some time in their careers. One of the messages Dave brought back was about membership, getting new members and keeping current members. Dave put together some notes on the meeting and passed them out. If anyone is interested in a copy, notify Dave and he will make sure you get one.
Next Meeting: The next executive committee meeting will be held on Thursday August 3, 2000, 9:30a.m. at the Lolo Forest Supervisors Office, Fort Missoula.
Gordy adjourned the meeting at 12:15 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Secretary Steve Hayes