Approved Minutes

Virginia Audubon Council Meeting

July 26, 2003

Kilmarnock, Virginia

 

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 am.  Paul Servis, President of Northern Neck Audubon Society, welcomed the VAC to Kilmarnock.

 

Present were:

 

Cape Henry Audubon: Andy Tate, Farimae Tate

Fairfax Audubon: Manny Barrera, Jim Waggener

Northern Neck Audubon: Rick Skelton, Audrey Brainard, Paul Servis, Evey Thorndike

Richmond Audubon: Caroline Coe, Jeanne Menuet, Ellen Ackerman

Virginia Beach Audubon: E.L. Carlyle

National Audubon: Catherine Grant, Dave Pardoe

 

The minutes of the April 26 meeting were read and approved. The Treasurer’s report was accepted.

 

Jan Becket of Northern Neck Heritage Tours spoke briefly about the heritage tours available through her firm, intended to share the history, culture, and ecological resources of the Northern Neck with inbound tour groups. More information can be found on the web at http://www.nnht.com/.

 

Ellen Ackerman, interim coordinator, reported on progress in the Important Bird Area (IBA) program. She provided a detailed report on the status of the IBA and mentioned that although restarting the program had been somewhat difficult it was moving forward.  The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) had extended the grant until December 31, 2003, and had given verbal assurance of a continuation of funding through 2004. A schedule of payments was being worked out. The oversight committee for the IBA is composed of Caroline Coe, Andy Tate and Manny Barrera. 

 

So far a Steering Committee and a Technical Committee had been formed.  The Steering Committee, with representation from VAC, VSO and DGIF, had met twice, chaired by Bob Ake of Cape Henry Audubon.  The aim of the Steering Committee is to define a set of principles for the IBA and to identify and invite the members of the Technical Committee.  The latter will be selected based on geographic diversity and technical skills.  Dan Niven, of National Audubon (NAS), trained the Steering Committee members and will return to train the technical committee members.

 

The Council is negotiating with NAS to make the IBA coordinator an NAS employee.  Ellen attended the VSO annual meeting in Charlottesville, VA, to lobby for help in the scientific aspects of the IBA.  Teta Kain, the President of the VSO, is on the Steering Committee.  Ellen also plans to distribute IBA information at the Eastern Shore Birding Festival in early October. IBA site nominations will be available soon. 

 

Catherine Grant from the NAS office in Washington presented a Congressional update.  Ms. Grant is Director of the Grass Roots Office in the Public Policy Office of the Washington office.  She mentioned a number of key pieces of legislation still pending:

  1. the rollback of clean air provisions under the New Source Review provisions;
  2. DoD exemptions from the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act;
  3. Coastal Protection Bill provisions on urban storm waters;
  4. Roadless rule.

 

On the positive side, State wildlife grants have been increased by $15 million with Senator Warner leading the charge in the Senate.  And funding for the National Wildlife Refuge system is up by $30 million for maintenance. 

 

Ms. Grant urged VAC and Audubon members to visit the Take Action sections of the NAS web site.

 

Dave Pardoe reported on NAS activities. The NAS national board met in June and set the budget for the coming year. Carol Browner will be the next Board Chairperson, starting in January 2004. The operating budget of $70 million is double what it was 6 years ago and reflects growth in field operations, State offices, and IBAs.  The New York office is smaller than it was in 1995.

 

But the financial situation is difficult. Foundation giving is still down as it has been over the last three years. Nonetheless, there are now 26 State offices and almost all States have important bird areas.  There are now 100 Audubon Centers. Dave is working with 2 in Maryland, one in an urban part of Baltimore.  Other NAS intiatives include a Healthy Habitat Program, part of the Audubon at Home program.  Funding for this program will be from a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Congressman Moran was instrumental in obtaining the funds for the NRCS.

 

E.L. Carlyle reported on his efforts on the Nominating Committee.  The slate was not complete and E.L. will inform Caroline of a potential slate before the October meeting. 

 

Next meeting will on Saturday, October 25, at Huntley Meadows in Northern Virginia.  Fairfax Audubon will host the meeting. 

 

A discussion ensued on a vanity license plate for Audubon in Virginia.  The plate could appeal to Chapter members as well as to VAC participants.  We would need 350 paid subscribers to get the plate approved by the Department of Transportation.  The discussion was not conclusive pending further input from Chapters.

 

A short discussion on the Constitution and By-laws took place and VAC members were invited to study the two documents for possible changes.

 

Chapter Sharing took place during lunch: Northern Neck noted completion of a boardwalk at Hickory Hollow and and interpretive walks at Dameron Marsh.  The Chapter is also involved in water festivals, a Department of Environmental Quality program.   Other Chapter members reported on their activities.

 

The meeting adjourned at 1:30 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Manny Barrera

Secretary