RAINY RIVER VALLEY FIELD NATURALISTS
Meeting # 119 Minutes
Monday, October 29, 2018
Present: Mike Hammond, Henry Miller, Pat Basaraba, Terry Kawulia, Ahlan Johanson, Gaby Emond, John Pohanka, Henry Van Ael, Ilka Milne
Call to Order: Meeting called to order by Co-chair Ilka Milne at 1909 hrs.
Minutes: Gaby made a motion to accept the minutes of Meeting # 118 (September 26, 2018), as written, seconded by Terry.
Carried…
Agenda: Gaby added Item # 4a to Agenda, re: Amalgamation Proposal by Stewardship Council, and Item #4b re: Open Invite to attend next Stewardship Council Meeting. Gaby also added Item # 5 to agenda, re: the Treasurer’s position. Gaby made a motion to accept the agenda as amended, seconded by Terry.
Carried…
Treasurer’s Report:
3) Treasurer’s Financial Report (Ahlan)
Ahlan reported that as of today there was $2948.68 remaining in our account at RBC. This includes the Stewardship Council’s donation of $2000 and the membership dues for the year with a couple of members still outstanding. Henry Miller had some extra copper on his property which he cut up and took in, receiving just over $40 which he then donated back to this club. (Thank you very much for your donation Henry).Terry reported that an amount of approximately $512 for materials purchased for the bogwalk extension still needed to be paid to Timberridge (Trish Neilsen was to give Terry the exact amount tomorrow). That should conclude our expenses for this extension as Henry Van Ael has already been reimbursed for the screws he bought and Terry for the small items he had purchased as well.
Terry made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report as discussed, Henry Miller seconded.
Carried…
Boardwalk Report
Terry reported that the bog boardwalk extension has been completed this time around and looks very good. We had a great group of people that worked very well together and had fun in the process. The signs have also been taken down, gravel has been spread over the wet spots and we are ready for winter. Terry is looking to finalize the Impact Report for the TD Bank Grant. The TD Bank (new contact person- Michelle),told Terry he needed to log in to Dianna McGee’s account as that is where our Grant application was originally sent from. All of our receipts must be included, so Terry will ask Trish Nielsen from Timberridge for the receipts from each of the 3 shipments made. Mike will track down the 2 receipts from Alberton. Terry also stated that the small amount of donation monies earmarked for the boardwalk that we have left over will be utilized when we pursue our future planned extension of another 1000 feet to get us to the ditch. Ilka offered her services to help Terry complete the Impact Report for the TD Bank.
4a) Stewardship Council Amalgamation Proposal
Gaby reports that the Stewardship Council had asked her to ask the Field Naturalist Membership if they were interested at all in some form of amalgamation with the Stewardship Council. An open discussion was then held with the members voicing some concerns such as – wondering about the Stewardships purpose in amalgamation; reasons why; how would the amalgamation work; were they thinking we would be under their umbrella; what would we be then called; what were their interests in our organization etc. Gaby did say that we do have similar interests, and their membership was dwindling and they very much wanted to advertise the bog on their site as something they were associated with. Henry Van Ael did look up both Mission Statements and while their’s was more of ‘encouraging the public to get onboard with being interested in nature and looking after it’, our Mission Statement is more about the ‘conservation of the environment and sharing of knowledge while we experience it together’. We always partake in the Annual Christmas Bird Count, have ran a Dragonfly Symposium, go on Birding Outings, and since 2004 have been involved with the Cranberry Peat Bog Boardwalk. We welcome everyone to our meetings and outings at all times. While the members admire the fact that the Stewardship Council wishes to get the public enthused about our environment, the members would like to mull the concept of amalgamation over some more. In the meantime, we are definitely open to working on projects together if they speak to both our interests. Perhaps they could help on our Christmas Bird count Project this year which would give us the opportunity to get to know each other a bit. Gaby will pass this on to the Stewardship Council as well as an open invitation to our meetings.
4b) Stewardship Council Meeting Invitation
The Stewardship Council has invited us all to their next meeting, Thursday, November 8, 2018 @ 1815 in The LaVallee Municipal Building in Devlin. Ilka and Terry said they were interested and might attend. Gaby and Henry Van Ael are interested also, but have a conflict that day. Gaby will pass this information on to the Stewardship Council.
5) New Treasurer
As per last meeting’s discussion, Gaby reiterated the importance of having 2 signatures on each and every cheque, unlike our current practice. We are in receipt of grant monies and donations, and it is an expected and much safer practice for our members.
Henry Miller made a motion to have 2 signatures on every cheque from here on in. Gaby seconded.
Carried…
Ahlan had previously indicated and reaffirmed today that he would like to step down as Treasurer after having done it for so many years. (Thank you Ahlan for all your time and efforts in the position of Treasurer).
Gaby nominated Henry Van Ael to the position of Treasurer, seconded by Henry Miller. No other nominations received. Henry Van Ael accepted the position of Treasurer with the full membership currently present ‘s approval.
To mitigate the concern that it might be difficult to have 2 signees available to sign the cheques as needed, Gaby suggested we have 3 people with signing authority, and any two people would then fulfil the 2 signatures needed per cheque written.
Gaby made a motion to give 3 members signing authority, the members being our new treasurer Henry Van Ael, our current president Terry Kawulia, and our outgoing Treasurer Ahlan Johanson. Terry seconded it.
Carried…
.
Business: Letter on Neonics
Ilka read to the membership a letter written by member Pat Donahue re Neonics and their timely removal from use in Canada. The members concurred that it was an extremely well written letter and should be forwarded onto the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor accompanied by all of our signatures indicating our support. The members present all signed it and Terry will forward it.
Bill C-69 (New Environmental laws)
Terry brought it to the members attention that a new law does exist regarding the environment and encouraged us all to familiarize ourselves with it.
Christmas Bird Count
Ilka reported that our Club has been taking part in the Annual Christmas Bird Count since 1995, never having missed a year. All records of past Christmas Bird counts are posted on the ‘Ebird website’. Last year we only had 6 people in the field who managed to cover 371 km by vehicle and logged 5 km by foot with temperatures sitting at a low of -19’C and a high of -13’C. A total of 28 different species were documented with a total of 1445 birds counted. 2006 is the year we recorded the largest amount of species observed at 35, with the worst year being 2003 with only 24 different kinds of birds recorded. The fewest number of birds tallied occurred in 1996 with 987 birds and 28 species documented.
Our window this year for the Christmas Bird Count extends from December 14, 2018 to January 5, 2019. It was discussed that we should select an early date so we could still schedule an alternate date should we need to postpone due to inclement weather or something. December 22, 2018 was the agreed upon date with a potluck supper to follow at Ilka and Henry’s house. Ilka also mentioned that we should all try to recruit more volunteers and that we need ‘Bird feeder’ volunteers as well. The bird feeder volunteers are to record the highest number of each species seen at their feeder at any 1 time. Bird feeder counter volunteers still need to be located within our circle of Study (as originally set up by Bill Morgenstern) so that our statistics have value.
Tales From the Wild Side
Several people reported that the Fox Sparrow, Purple Finches, and even robins are still hanging around. The squirrel saga at Terry’s place is still ongoing with the squirrels winning. A cougar has been sighted in Fort Frances around 5th Street this month. It was apparently checking out a deer that someone had hanging in their garage.
Nature Column
Ilka was wondering about the possibility of writing a Nature Column and submitting it to the local papers. She thought we could write about one bird species at a time and perhaps do it monthly. Terry will see if the Fort Frances Times and Westend Weekly might be interested in such a column.
Meeting adjourned @ 2059 hrs.