Attendees: Ed Lieser, Bryan Donner, Carl Sobczak, Glenn Koepke, Bev Yelczyn, Rebecca Hendrix, Matt Young, Michelle Landuyt, Frank Cuff, Danny Pittman, Deb Manley, Tony Liane, Fred Ebel, Cait Faulkner, Jim Mountjoy, Dennis Davaz, Scott Kuehn, Jim Coufal, Tim Love, Gordy Sanders, Bill Banzhaf

Chairman Ed Lieser called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm and everyone introduced themselves.

Secretary Bryan Donner summarized the minutes from the December 18, 1998 executive committee meeting. He also summarized the budget from April 1, 1998 (the time immediately after the last state meeting) to the present.

Committee Reports:

Joint Leadership Academy: Ed summarized the activities and highlights of the January workshop in Post Falls, Idaho that was co-hosted by the Inland Empire Society. There were many fine presentations. Montana SAF will host next year’s academy with Lubrecht the probable site.

House of Society Delegates: Ed discussed the function of the HSD and how the general membership are the core of the ideas that are brought forward to be considered by HSD. The deadline for submitting issues for consideration at the national convention will be sometime in mid-summer, preferably by June 1.

Task Force Report on Public Lands: The task force was chartered by President Bosworth in 1996 and the report is now available. It is quite lengthy. Ed has a copy for review but it will not be available on the national web site for a few days. It was endorsed today by the national office, reported Tim Love. The release date is the same day as the Committee of Scientists report being released.

National Leadership Academy: Chair-elect Gordy Sanders will attend this workshop in May in Missouri. Financial help for him to attend may be available from the National Office.

Meeting with Natural Resource Committees: The state legislators from the House and Senate in Helena were hosted by us in January. General information about the SAF and forestry in general was presented. Our services were offered if they needed policy input on natural resource issues. All agreed it went really well as a first step. Ed proposed we do it again in two years with the next legislature.

Membership: Rebecca reported there are 439 members in the Montana SAF. This is a loss of 28 in one year. The national office reports the greatest loss of members is the newest members who are possibly not comfortable in the chapter or state meetings. They suggest new members should be welcomed individually by the local leadership. Rebecca’s report is on file with the secretary.

Cultural Diversity: Rebecca reported the National Diversity Committee has been active with getting students of color to attend the national convention. As a result of this attendance, job placements have been made. Letters and applications for invitation to the Portland convention will be sent out to selected colleges soon. Sponsors for this effort have been secured. Further news on the subject was provided by President Coufal stating that a broader definition of diversity is currently being used and all accredited forestry programs as well as historically ethnic colleges will be targeted. Rebecca’s report is on file with the secretary.

Policy: Tim would like membership input regarding the federal 25% payment to counties versus lump sum "decoupled" amounts. Comments that the Montana SAF has given to the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the legislators relate to lynx, bull trout, and west slope cutthroat trout. State legislation in Helena regarding natural resource issues is thin this year. Tim is monitoring what is coming along and Maggie Pittman is helping us to be informed.

National Leadership Academy: Danny gave a brief update on the focus of the workshop. Younger members and new leadership will be emphasized.

Old Business:

State Meeting Update: Everything is going great reported Deb Manley. All the arrangements are going well. Ed has the agenda set as well. The field trip is currently at 34 participants and the totals for the meals are around 125 or so.

Forest Products Certification: Progress on the Northern Rockies standards for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is being made, reports Ed. Several SAF members are involved with this process. These will be available for review in April. The standards in the interim will be refined for ours and other’s comments. The standards can be reviewed by any Montana SAF member, with the effort being lead by our Policy committee or possibly a task force will need to be appointed.

By-laws Revision: Frank reports a new, legible copy of the state by-laws has been produced. Included in the copy handed out and on file with the secretary are some proposed changes that are highlighted in bold type. The chapters are asked to review the changes and get comments back to Frank and Russ Gautreaux by June 15. Eventually, any proposed changes to the by-laws will need to be voted on by the entire state society membership.

University of Montana Scholarship: Bryan gave a summary of how the scholarship is organized and what the chapter’s responsibilities are. A summary is attached.

New Business:

Review Vision Statements: A new line to the third vision statement: "while defending the public interest" received much discussion. No agreement on the use of this was made and Ed decided to remove it. The rest was approved. A copy is attached.

Review 1999 Action Plan: Ed went over the action plan (attached). Many of these have already been accomplished. Some of the items will be discussed in detail later.

Review of Draft Budget: Ed went over the draft budget (attached) and little discussion followed. The budget will be finalized at the next executive committee meeting when the revenues from the state meeting are disclosed.

Revision of 1998 Communications Forester’s Fund Request: Last year’s request was denied. Current discussions from the national office suggest requests should be related to the Centennial Celebration. Our request last year was not related to the Centennial Celebration and if we revise it for submission this year we should emphasize the celebration in the communication plan. Another idea would be to emphasize a request based solely on the celebration or Habitat for Humanity. Frank will contact the National Office to determine why last year’s request was denied. Any new request we send in will request funds for at least funding partially a Centennial Celebration. The Brewery Flats project near Lewiston will have a Forester’s Fund request to be submitted soon by the Eastern Montana Chapter.

Year 2000 Montana SAF State Meeting: Jim Mountjoy reported Lewistown is tentatively being considered for the meeting location. Several committees have already been formed. Some members of the Missoula Chapter were under the impression the state meeting in 2000 was to be hosted by them. The normal rotation of meetings is to have the Eastern Montana Chapter host after the Flathead Chapter. Entertaining discussion followed with the Missoula Chapter trying to talk the Eastern Montana Chapter out of hosting the 2000 meeting but the Eastside folks held firm. In somewhat of a compromise, the Missoula Chapter may host a Centennial Celebration in September of 2000, as well as the state meeting in 2001.

Newsletter: Cait summarized the costs of putting out the newsletter. The printing costs and postage for one issue is about $480. We publish three times per year. We have some options to use a different format and use electronic mailings to substantially reduce the cost. Cait will further investigate for the next mailing.

Habitat for Humanity: Gordy reported we will be moving forward with a goal of sponsoring one house in the year 2000. Ed challenged each chapter to establish a Habitat for Humanity coordinator to work with Gordy.

Ed adjourned the meeting at 8:25 pm. The next executive committee meeting will be on April 29, Thursday, at the AFD at 9:00 am. Tim will make the arrangements for the meeting location.