Columbia Audubon Society

Board of Directors Meeting

February 21, 2023

Meeting conducted via zoom

Present: Lori Turner, Judy Lincoln, Eric Seaman, Louise Flenner, Kevin Wehner, Lottie Bushmann, Jim Gast, Allison Vaughn, Greg Leonard, John Besser, Bill Mees

Treasurer’s Report

Eric Seaman reports ComoGives sent the check for $11,600 last week. The full treasurer’s report was sent to Board Members via email.

Nature Areas

  • Bill Mees reports the prescribed burn at Bonnie View went well and only took 1 ½ hours. John Timmerman supervised the burn. Bill will call him in September to arrange for a burn at CANS. The fire at Bonnie View did not get hot enough to kill all the sprouts. Treekeepers will have a training meeting at Bonnie View to clip and paint (herbicide). Allison recommended they wait until the growing season.
  • Bill reports they have broken ground for the Council House at the Nature School.
  • Bill reports the Astronomy group who meets near Wild Haven will donate a telescope and dome top building to the Nature School.
  • Bill reports he has received a bid on the pollinator sign proposed for a trail side interpretive sign near the CAS parking lot along Scotts Branch Trail. The bid is $1150. In Sept. the Board approved up to $1400 for the sign so this is well within budget. Allison and Donna will collaborate on reviewing the photos. Bill will order the hardware and oversee the graphic design.
  • John Besser reports on the parking area at Wild Haven. He purchased a new gate from Home Depot for $158. The gate was installed on 2/20/23. This allows for easily accessible parking off the road available during daylight hours.
  • John reports the next project at Wild Haven will be to get a new outhouse built.
  • The Self-Guided Moss Trail at Wild Haven is now complete. The Board discussed how to present it to the public. Doug will put a live link on the website and also the FB page. The Board suggested QR codes be posted at the three kiosks to provide a direct link to mobile devices. There was discussion of having a print option for those who want to download and print a copy. This is not available at this time. Louise will consult with Joanna Reuter regarding this.

 

Communication

Allison reports The Missourian newspaper requested CAS weigh in on wind farms proposed in Missouri and the potential for bird deaths. Allison referred them to Steve Heying who has studied how to mitigate bird deaths. MDC is also doing a study of bald eagle deaths. Allison referred the reporter to Steve as CAS has no stance on this at this time.

 

Field Trips

      There is a proposed Snow Goose/Waterfowl trip for late Feb. or early March. No details yet.

Lottie Bushmann will lead the First Friday birding trip on March 1.

John Besser will lead a trip at Bradford Farm.

Louise Flenner will lead a trip to the Heron Rookery in GCRA on March 15.

Young Birders club plan to join the Timberdoodle Hike

CAS will join with Hawthorn Chapter of MONPS for a trip to 100 Acre Woods.

Prairie Garden Trust will have a trip planned for May 6. CAS will join with this trip unless someone offers to lead a specific CAS trip to PGT.

 

Conservation

John Besser wrote a letter of support to USFWS for the Preferred Alternative for the

proposed boundary expansion of the Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife

Refuge between St. Louis, MO and Cairo, Il. This letter was signed by Lori Turner as

representative of CAS and sent to Ashley Kraetsch of USFWS. The letter was sent

on Feb. 8, 2023.

 

Nominating Committee

Judy Lincoln and Roxie Campbell will make up the nominating committee to seek an at-large board member for a term of 3 years. Eric Wood’s term is concluded and the position is now open. This opening will be put into The Chat.

 

Old Business

The Alspaugh family have donated land to be used by the city of Columbia as park land set up similar to the Nature Sanctuary that CAS manages. Bruce Alspaugh will meet with several CAS members onsite to share information about what we have done at CANS to develop a nature sanctuary. John Besser, Bill Mees, Allison Vaughn, and Lori Turner will meet with Bruce prior to the public meeting with Parks and Rec scheduled for March 16. Bill Mees will attend that meeting. Lori will put something in The Chat and say something at the March members meeting to encourage members to attend the Parks and Rec meeting.

 

New Business

Roxie Campbell sent an email to Bill Mees about a proposed Tornado siren in the Hillview Acres subdivision adjacent to CANS. After discussion, CAS does not think it needs to comment on the siren.

 

Missouri Conservation Corp has scheduled a native plant seeding day for Sunday, Feb. 26. They are seeking volunteers to help with this project at Kiwanis Park. Kevin has posted it on the FB page. Allison will send out an email to CAS members regarding participation in the event.

Next Meeting

The next board meeting is scheduled for March 15 at 6:00 pm. Meeting will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Adjournment

Jim Gast moves that we adjourn the board meeting. Judy Lincoln seconds the motion. The motion carries. The meeting is adjourned at 7:23 p.m.