AZTWS Board Meeting
Conference Call Minutes
May 20, 2019
3:05–3:35 p.m
Present: Jessica Moreno (President), Andrew Jones (President Elect), Haley Nelson (Treasurer), Melissa Merrick (Board Member), Kinley Ragan (Historian), Tiffany Sprague (Past President), Kay Nicholson (BFUPA chair), Chris Carrillo (Membership Chair), Brian Blais (Newsletter Editor)
Board members absent: Valerie Horncastle (Recording Secretary), Emily Scobie (Corresponding Secretary), Holly Hicks (Board Member)
Motions
• Approval of April 29, 2019 board meeting minutes – moved by Andrew, seconded by Kinley; passed.
• Meeting adjournment – moved by Andrew, seconded by Melissa; passed at 3:35 p.m.
Proceedings
Old Business/Previous Action Items
• Jessica will follow up with Rachel Harrow on taking over the Opportunities chair position. Done
• Haley will send a check to ASU for travel reimbursement. Ongoing
• Holly will finalize pricing, photos, and inventory of SWAG for the website. Ongoing
• Tiffany will update the operations manual and send to Jessica and Andrew for review. Ongoing
• Jessica will ask the JAM planning committee about setting up a single website for JAM, rather than each chapter hosting its own. Ongoing
• Jessica will discuss website options with Andrew (e.g., pointing our domains to WordPress rather than using GoDaddy). Ongoing
• Jessica, Emily, and Chris will set up MemberPlanet online membership and communication system for our chapter. Ongoing – JM to send Chris and Emily additional information this week. New website payment portal will have to be created to tie it in.
• JAM Manual Edits (Jessica/Tiffany) Ongoing – JM to send draft Manual out to everyone involved in JAM planning last year/this year for revisions. Photo contest section needs updating.
• JAM 2020 Planning – (Tiffany/Jessica) Tiffany and Jessica attend the 5/13 JAM 2020 planning call with AFS. Workshops discussed: law enforcement course and get LE engaged, Wildlife Acoustics, deep dive into AI species ID for camera trapping, DIY field gear workshop, population dynamics. Plenary talks on scientific communications/conservation education. Possibly combining Fisheries and Wildlife student awards. Trying to set a date for a Tucson meeting, might be 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after the usual date – confirmation will go out ASAP.
Current Business
- Treasurer’s Report (Haley)
- Need to follow up with Holly for ASU reimbursement.
- Waste Management bill paid, was about $100 cheaper than expected.
- Newsletter Report (Brian)
- First call for summer issue articles goes out this week. Creating a 1-page flyers for TWS conference, working with Scott to make a 1-2 page BioBlitz ad, and a single page ad for open chair positions.
- Everyone should have the link to the google drive doc for sharing newsletter article ideas and sources.
- Deadline to submit articles for summer issue is June 14th
- Board and Award Nominations (Andrew)
- Andrew is currently working on ideas. Has a possibility for new Conservation Affairs Chairperson.
- Chair positions (Jessica)
Ongoing:- Webmaster (we have someone interested)
- Conservation Affairs (Andrew is following up with someone)
- Opportunities Chair (We have someone interested)
- Social Media Outreach
- Continuing Education – Stan would still like to be involved, but he could use some assistance
- Diversity (Jessica) – Nothing new to report
- Membership Report (Chris) – Nothing new to report
- Webmaster’s Report (Jessica) – Marla Kostuk may be interested in this position.
- Opportunities Report (Valerie not on call) – Rachel Harrow has expressed interest in this position
- BioBlitz (Scott not on call) – No new updates
- Conservation Affairs (Jon not on call)
- The Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act would establish a National Wildlife Corridors System and was reintroduced this year by NM Sen. Udall and others. Jessica will email everyone more information with a request for action, will draft letter of support.
- Borderlands Foundation for Understudied Plants and Animals (Kay)
- They have formed two working groups, one for jackrabbits and one for bobcats. They are conducting midsummer cottontail and jackrabbit surveys and need volunteers. Kay forwarded an email to everyone from David Brown inviting folks to join the Arizona Antelope Foundation’s June 22 Banquet event. It would be great to get more TWS folks involved in AAF and vice versa.
- Techniques workshop (Holly not on call) – No new updates
- Student Liaison Report (Holly not on call) – No new updates
- Operations Manual (Tiffany) – No new updates
- Other new business – None
Next meeting is Monday, June 24, 2019 at 3:00 p.m.
3:35 p.m. adjournment