RAINY RIVER VALLEY FIELD NATURALISTS
Henry Miller’s House
Organizational Meeting
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Present: Mike Hammond, Henry Miller, Ahlan Johanson, Gaby Emond, Ilka Milne, Henry Van Ael, Bob Saunders
Regrets: Terry Kawulia
Call to Order: Meeting called to order by Interim Chair Henry Miller at 2020 hrs.
Bird Identification Workshop: It went very well with approximately 30 people in attendance. Thank you very much for all your efforts Ilka, especially weathering all the technical glitches! We did sign up several people for the Feeder Count this Saturday, and many people expressed interest in our club, and attending any future outings and educational sessions.
Agenda: Henry introduced a new “Agenda” template that he would like us to use in our future meetings. (copy attached). It was reviewed and discussed. When we review and accept the ‘Minutes’, we are accepting them based only on what occurred in the meeting and any spelling/grammatical errors. Anything needing to be discussed arising from these old minutes will then be discussed under ‘Old Business’ later on. The first ‘New Business’ section will allow members the opportunity to introduce a topic not yet on the agenda. Committee Reports will come after ‘Correspondence’, and a second opportunity to bring forth ‘New Business’ will arise prior to the actual ‘Discussion’ period. Not all committees need to report at every meeting. Everybody agreed to try the ‘Agenda’ as brought forth by Henry.
Constitution: It was discussed whether or not we needed to have actual ‘Executive’ meetings. We currently have 3 positions (reduced from 5″ 3 in a meeting in 2006, as per Bob). They are: president, treasurer, and secretary. It was agreed by all present that Executive meetings were not needed, however, this change must actually be voted on during an AGM (the Annual General Meeting scheduled for early 2020). We need to adhere to what’s stated in the current Constitution, last amended in 2006, and should use it as a guide until the time we review it and make changes. Another item that needs clarifying is what constitutes a pass, would that be 50 + 1 of all voting members, or 50 + 1 of all voting members present? Several copies of the Constitution in effect September 2006 were circulated, please have a look. The possibility of having a new ‘Mission Statement’ was also discussed. However the current one “The Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists promote appreciation, conservation and wise use of our natural environment in the Rainy River Valley” is a good start. Perhaps it should include include the promotion of education in it also? A question was brought up with respect to how much advocacy the club wished to do in the future. The general consensus was that certain issues definitely did warrant support from our club, and we would address these as they come up.
Possible Committees:
Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists Blog/Website: Ilka, Bob
Events Committee: Ilka, Bob
Publicity: Henry Miller, Ilka & Ahlan will help
Bog Committee: Ahlan, Bob, Mike, but all members offered to help with projects
Stewardship Liaison: Gaby
Education: It was suggested by Henry Miller that Bob do a recap of an article he has recently read in Nature Canada to which he has recently subscribed
Possible Events:
Tree Plant: Tony Elders (Stewardship Council) is getting an extra 1000 Red Pine that we could facilitate the planting of-
Purple Loosestrife: should be destroyed in our area, as should European Buckthorn
Possible Night Walk @ Bob’s: to do some stargazing, possibly cross country skiing
Possible trip to Voyageur’s National Park: their ‘Birder’s Rendezvous’ takes place early June
Ely Wolf Centre Field Trip: had one in the past
Possible Ice Fishing Excursion: late February might be ideal
Possible field trip to the Oak Grove: June would be a good time
Next Meeting: Due to prior conflicts for some members on Wednesdays, our next meeting will be Monday January 20th 2020 @ 6:30 pm. Henry Van Ael will book the Alberton Municipal Building. This meeting will not be the AGM, as we are not ready to vote on any changes to the Constitution, nor have we advertised it to the general public.
Meeting adjourned @ 2115 hrs
.