0800 to 1000

Report from the Chair:

Chairman Ed Lieser reviewed the Vision Statements (attached) and the Action Items (attached) as they were discussed last night at the executive committee meeting.

Ed explained how the House of Society Delegates process works and encourages members to present issues and ideas to be brought up to the National Council.

Gordy Sanders will be attending the National Leadership Training Academy in May. Ed explained this is an excellent opportunity for leadership training and learning about the SAF.

Chapter Reports:

Each chapter, including the student chapter at the University of Montana, gave reports. These are attached to the official copy of these minutes.

Committee Reports:

Financial Report: Treasurer Bryan Donner discussed the revenues and expenditures from the past year (attached). He also discussed the new University of Montana scholarship; its objectives, criteria for student selection, and how it is funded (also see attached).

Membership Report: Rebecca Hendrix gave the same report as at last night’s executive committee meeting (attached).

Cultural Diversity Report: Rebecca gave the same report as at last night’s executive committee meeting (attached).

Newsletter Report: Cait Faulkner gave the same report as at last night’s executive committee meeting (attached). She also asked members to submit articles and pictures for the newsletter.

Policy: Tim Love thanked the local organizing committee and also the national leadership for supporting us. The rest of the report was the same as last night.

Forest Stewardship Council Update:

- Steve Thompson updated everyone on the activities since the last meeting in Libby. A guidelines and standards committee was formed with 24 people involved. Most meetings have been very well attended with much dedication by the group. The committee has met four times for a total of nine days. The first draft of the standards will be available for review in April. There will be several iterations over the next several months. This region (there are 11 in the country), which constists of Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada, currently has no forest or ownership that has been certified by FSC. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribe has offered to use their forests as a trial. Smartwood and Scientific Certification Systems will help train certifiers. The committee’s goal is to forward the standards to the FSC national working group by the end of 1999.

Review of By-laws:

Frank Cuff gave the same report as last night. He covered a few more details of the changes that are proposed.