Draft Minutes

Virginia Audubon Council Quarterly Meeting

January 24, 2004

Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, VA

Present:

Cape Henry Audubon: Andy Tate

Fairfax Audubon: Manny Barrera, Walt Simonson

National Audubon: Desirée Sorenson-Groves (Regional Grassroots Coordinator)

Northern Shenandoah Valley Audubon: Julie Simpson

Richmond Audubon: Ellen Ackerman, Brian Moores, Margaret O’Bryan

Virginia Beach Audubon: E. L. and Sue Carlyle

The meeting was hosted by Richmond Audubon, and was convened by President Manny Barrera at 9:45 A.M.

The draft minutes of the meeting of October 25, 2003 were approved unanimously as received.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Julie Simpson presented her report for discussion, and it was approved as presented. She mentioned that, since the Council’s assets now exceed $25,000, it may be necessary for us to file a federal 990 tax form for 2003. She will check on this. She then asked for Council approval to move the Council bank accounts to a new bank, since the customer service at the Bank of Clarke County was no longer satisfactory. Ellen Ackerman made a motion to do so, and her motion was seconded and approved unanimously. It was pointed out that donations toward a new state office have been made which are not reflected in the treasurer’s report. Desirée will look into an accounting of the money received for this purpose at the national office.

Important Bird Areas: Andy Tate, interim Virginia Important Bird Area (IBA) coordinator, described the financial picture for Virginia’s IBA effort. Principal IBA funding to date has come from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), which, in turn, receives federal funds appropriated under the CARA (Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 2000). These funds are obtained on a cost share basis; VAC can share the costs through cash or in-kind contributions. Mike Wilson of VDGIF will be coordinating the second year of the VAC IBA project; the first year (extended) runs over the period June 24, 2002 to March 31, 2004. Andy solicited chapter donations toward the second year of operation. Andy then presented a slide show about IBA’s, produced by Eileen Rowan in 2001. (These slides will be updated.) National Audubon is the principal organization managing IBA’s in the United States. In Virginia, IBA stakeholder organizations are VAC, VDGIF, and the Virginia Society of Ornithology. Andy handed out a draft nomination form for IBA’s, and discussed the IBA designation process. He stressed that after a site is designated, effective management of the site is important.

Manny Barrera discussed further the implementation of IBA’s in Virginia. Planning is in progress for the next year of the Virginia IBA; the budget for Year II will be $110,000, of which VAC needs to raise (through cost sharing) about $27,000. He asked chapter delegates to report to their chapters on the IBA effort, and to recruit one or more members to coordinate chapter IBA efforts with VAC through Andy. He also requested fund-raising efforts by chapters to raise IBA money through such methods as Birdathons or bird seed sales. Even $1 per member would raise thousands of dollars for the IBA’s!

National Audubon: Desirée asked those present to monitor actions in the US Congress on environmental issues, and mentioned a few of these: energy, endangered species, DOD environmental exemptions, clean water, clean air, and, most important at the moment, reauthorization of CARA. She recommended that VAC look toward continued CARA funding for the IBA project. She asked chapters to send members to a CARA lobby day in DC on February 24-25, 2004; activities will be centered at the Capitol Hill Suites, and lodging will be covered by NAS. Anyone interested should contact Desirée at dgroves@audubon.org or 202-861-2242.

Virginia Conservation Network: Brian Moores discussed important issues in the 2004 Virginia General Assembly session, as designated by the Virginia Conservation Network (VCN). He encouraged those present to visit the VCN Web site (www.vcnva.org) and register for action alerts.

Audubon License Plates: Manny discussed information gathered by Devlin Flack on the procedures for authorizing an Audubon state license plate. After discussion, those present agreed that the trouble involved in applying for such a plate would outweigh any potential benefits, and Ellen Ackerman moved to drop VAC consideration of a license plate. The motion passes unanimously.

Old Business: E. L. Carlyle reiterated that money has been donated for the new Audubon VA state office which has not been accounted for by NAS. Manny said that he would follow up with Desiree to find out how much money is there for a state office.

E. L. mentioned that Rappahannock Audubon Society is still alive, even though Preston Poore (former Rappahannock president) told him that the chapter had been officially disbanded and its assets appropriately disbursed. Manny and E. L. will follow up with Lynn Tennefoss to find out where Rappahannock stands.

Margaret O’Bryan and Ellen discussed the followup of the fundraising gathering held to tap significant donors for a state office. Lynn Tennefoss and Glenn Olson are presumably following up on the initial efforts of Thomas Urquhart, who is no longer with National Audubon. Manny will contact Lynn and Glenn to find out where we stand on fundraising for a state office.

Constitution and Bylaws: Manny mentioned that a committee headed by Brian Moores will be looking into amending the VAC Constitution and Bylaws, but discussion of this issue will be deferred until the April meeting.

Next meeting: The next meeting will be hosted by Northern Neck Audubon in Kilmarnock, and will probably be held on April 17, 2004. Manny will let everyone know if this date is convenient for NNAS.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:15 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Brian W. Moores, Secretary