by Louise Flenner, Secretary

Columbia Audubon Society

Board of Directors Meeting

April 19, 2023

 Meeting conducted at Unitarian Universalist Church

Present: Lori Turner, Louise Flenner, Judy Lincoln, Eric Seaman, Lottie Bushmann, Jim Gast, John Besser, Shelby Thomas, Bill Mees

Time called to order: 6:05 pm

Treasurer’s Report

Eric Seaman reports the Community foundation is one month behind in releasing funds. Full treasurer’s report was sent to Board members via email.

An updated proposed budget for next year has been shared with Board members.  Some funds added to Hog Island grants for teachers.

Nature Areas

Bill Mees reports another new beehive on CANS property. Current hive made it through the winter. Two new deer exclosures, 12’ x12’ x7’ have been put up. The pollinator panel is getting a second edit. DigRite has approved the hole digging spot.

Bill reports they hosted Moberly Area community college class at CANS on April 18.

Sarah Kendrick is looking for Chimney Swift Towers to monitor. She met with Bill Mees and David Neely. She recommended 60 feet of clearance around the existing chimney swift tower at Wild Haven. This work has been done and the sign acknowledging the donation of the tower has been refurbished and installed.

Work on the future prairie continues and it should be seeded this winter.

Riley Nichols is going to start mowing at Wild Haven.

John Besser reports he is working with Joanna Reuter to get laminated maps for the kiosks. He is also working on a Wild Haven trail map with her.

David Neely is working on the dump sites at Wild Haven and plans to get a dumpster to haul off the junk. A work day will be set up some time in the next few weeks.

Stream team will be coming out sometime in the future to Wild Haven to take samples from Hinkson Creek.

Field trip is scheduled for Sat. April 22 at Wild Haven.

Communications

Deadline for the Chat is April 28

Allison Vaughn has been contacted by a reporter from VOX who would like to talk with someone from CAS about how people are turning to Birding to be more in touch with nature. She would like someone to volunteer for this.

Field Trips

Still need a co-leader for the May 10 Kiwanis Field Trip.

Lottie is going to get with Songbird Station to offer Saturday field trips during the summer at 3M. Lottie will contact Joanna and Eric Rueter about scheduling this activity.

Lottie will lead a birding walk at PGT on May 6.

Conservation

CAS sent a letter of support for Alternative A for the Environmental Assessment for wetland mitigation at Swan Lake NWR. A vote was taken via email with the Board. Allison made the motion and Eric Wood seconded. We had 7 votes. John modified the letter from MoBCI, written by Allison, and Lori sent it in the mail on 4/6/23.

Lori brought up the need for a Conservation Chair to keep CAS aware of these initiatives and follow up with comments and support. This became even more clear during the round table discussion she attended with several other Audubon chapters. She suggests keeping Roxie Campbell on the nominating committee to seek someone who would like to be Conservation Chair.

 Education

Lottie Bushmann and Lisa Schenker are scheduled to do a program at Cooper’s Landing as part of Missouri River Relief’s event called Mornings at the River.

The Migratory Bird Count is scheduled for May 13. Counts are calculated using ebird checklists. A reminder email about using ebird will be sent out. If anyone wants to be on a team, contact Lottie.

Nominating Committee

Eric Wood agreed to stay on the Board for a three year term. The membership will vote on this at tonight’s meeting.

Reed Gerdes agreed to be board member at large to replace Kevin Wehner.

 

Old Business

Lori Turner attended a Round table with several Audubon chapters. They want to write a letter to State Senators to support Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA). The group talked about collaborating with other Audubon chapters to facilitate letters of support.

 

New Business

The UU Church has informed CAS that they will need the room we currently use for meetings starting in September. They have offered an alternative site in the basement. Lori Turner presented a suggestion of a meeting room at Boone Electric.  CAS could give Boone Electric $100 to reserve the room in case we choose it and make it a donation if we don’t use it. The Board will continue to pursue possible alternative sites.

The Board discussed Como Gives. It has become a time consuming job to participate in this activity. Suggestions included scaling back the advertising to make it easier. Send out emails to request donations, but forgo the post card mailings. The advantages of having a presence among the not-for-profit organizations that participate and also the opportunity it affords people to support CAS, along with the funds raised were presented as reasons to continue with the program.

Jim Gast moves CAS continue to participate in Como Gives, John Besser seconds the motion. The motion carries.

Next activity is the CAS picnic on May 21st at Kiwanis Park pavilion.

Columbia Audubon Society

General Membership Meeting

April 19, 2023

 Time called to order: 7:00 p.m.

Lori Turner welcomed the members. The members voted in favor of Eric Wood being the Board Member at Large for the next three years.

Judy Lincoln introduced Mark H.X.Glenshaw who is an award-winning naturalist who has closely observed and documented the lives of Great Horned Owls in Forest Park, St. Louis. Mark’s talk, Forest Park Owls:Hiding in Plain Sight, covered basic facts about the species and made use of amazing video that captured the behavior of these birds.

Meeting adjourned: 8:30 p.m.

Members gathered for snacks and socializing following the meeting.