| The Board of Directors of the New York State Ornithological
Association, Inc. met at Nuthatch Hollow in Vestal on November 18, 2006. The
meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m.
Present were Tim Baird, Jane Graves, Phyllis Jones, Berna
Lincoln, Andy Mason, Bob Mauceli, Kevin McGowan, Bill
Ostrander, Carena Pooth, Bill Reeves and Kathy Schneider. Matt
Medler from NYSDEC was present as a guest speaker.
Summary of Action Items:
- Approved minutes with changes of previous board meeting. (Item
1)
- Initiated time-tracking for 2007 (Item 4a)
- Approved the 2007 budget (Item 4e)
- Approved sponsorship of Whip-poor-will Monitoring Project (New Business)
1. Minutes
In Brenda Best’s absence, Bob Mauceli was appointed acting secretary
for this meeting. Jane Graves moved that the minutes of the July
15, 2006 board meeting be accepted as presented; seconded by Carena Pooth. Motion
passed unanimously.
2. President’s Report – Andy
Mason
Andy Mason welcomed new board members and advised he had no specific
President’s Report for this meeting.
3. Treasurer’s Report – Bill
Reeves
Bill Reeves advised that income was $4,000 lower year-to-date than budgeted
due to a significant decline in individual memberships. General
operations spending is $2,800 under budget because there have been only
two issues of The Kingbird published so far this year. Publication
of a third issue is planned for this year and will use up the surplus. Three
Lillian Stoner awards and the John J. Elliott award have been made, and
one half of the balance of Atlas publication expenses has been committed.
4. Committee Reports
a. Website – Carena Pooth – All changes to
the website suggested at the Annual Meeting have been made. Information
has been added for traveling birders; Annual Meeting minutes with pictures
have been posted; a listing of 2006 Christmas Bird Counts across the
state has been added; the eBird page has been updated; and the Atlas
report and links have been posted. Carena reports that the NYSARC
area of the site is the most active with 325 page hits since September
12, 2006 and that the overall website workload is increasing significantly
with NYSARC activity, more use of photos, eBird interface, etc. Discussion
of the amount of time spent on NYSOA business by volunteers led to the
decision that officers, committee chairs, and other key people would
track their time starting January 1 and report monthly to the Finance
Committee.
b. Archive – Phyllis Jones – Still collecting
and indexing past records and documents.
c. Membership – Andy for Brenda
Best – Membership numbers for the year as of November show a declining
trend:
|
2005 |
2006 |
Individual members |
623 |
578 |
Life members |
54 |
54 |
Member Clubs |
52 |
48 |
Given these numbers, NYSOA needs to find ways to promote individual
membership. A membership committee exists and needs to become active.
d. NYSARC– Andy for Shai Mitra – NYSARC
is moving ahead on developing an electronic archive of records, but funding
for developing an electronic archive will be substantial. A suggestion
was to consider applying for a grant to fund the scanning, conversion
and indexing. Kathy will look into a Biodiversity Research Institute
grant to see if we have projects that might qualify.
Shai Mitra’s term on NYSARC ends on 12/31/06. Neither his
continuation nor replacement has been finalized. A question was
raised as to whether Dominic Sherony’s membership also ends this
year and Andy will double-check that.
There was continued discussion on guideline revisions. Guidelines
will start with a list of the relevant sections of the NYSOA By-laws
and then approved guidelines.
NYSARC will be asked to accelerate any pending new species to be added
to the checklist. Manny has volunteered to work on the new printed
checklist and the board authorized him to go ahead.
e. Finance – Berna Lincoln – Berna
presented the proposed operating fund budget for 2007 showing a deficit
of $2,020. Income was subsequently amended due to having the correct
number of life members, making the deficit $1,960. The Kingbird is
budgeted for four issues per year at $3,750 per issue, but five issues
may be needed in 2007 to catch up, as there will be only three issues
in 2006. New York Birders is budgeted for four issues
at $765 per issue. Discussion of a possible dues increase resulted
in no decision at this time. Motion to approve the 2007 budget
as amended was made by Bob Mauceli and seconded by Jane Graves. Motion
passed unanimously.
f. Atlas – Valerie Freer – Not
much has changed since the Annual Meeting:
- 203 species accounts edited out of 250 total; missing 30 species
accounts
- Most artwork underway or completed
- Statistical analysis of blocks vs. species seen
- Introductory chapters need work, but are coming together
- Volume should go to the printer by the end of March 2007
g. Awards – Bill Ostrander – Nothing
since Annual Meeting except Certificate of Appreciation will be sent
to Len DeFrancisco for his work regarding wind power at Ripley Hawkwatch.
h. Conservation – Gail Kirch – Windpower
ad hoc committee has been formed consisting of John Confer, Bill Reeves,
Andy Mason, and Gerry Smith. Others may be added.
5. DEC – no report.
OLD BUSINESS
New York eBird – Bob Spahn is still the contact with Cornell
Lab of Ornithology. NYSOA Kingbird regional set-up is in the works
and may be available in early 2007. Site looks good. Audubon
New York still wants to use eBird for Important Bird Areas. We
should provide an article on New York eBird to member clubs for them
to publish in their newsletters.
Muckrace – NYSOA has provided sponsorship for the same
team (Real White-rumps) and will continue annual sponsorship.
NEW BUSINESS
Whip-poor-will Monitoring – Proposal was presented by
Matt Medler, NYSDEC. Whip-poor-will populations are declining. Monitoring
has been done in New Hampshire in 2004 and 2005, and that program was
expanded to the entire Maine-to-Maryland region in 2006. There
has been some Whip-poor-will monitoring in New York State through volunteer
efforts during 2006. There have been recommendations the program
be continued for a total of at least ten years. Matt would serve
as volunteer coordinator for New York State to provide long-term consistency. Matt
requested NYSOA sponsorship, which would involve:
- Use of the NYSOA name
- Publicity from newsletter, website
- Access to clubs
- Mailings to clubs
- Funding for support at approximately $100 per year
NYSOA sponsorship should be placed under the research committee. A
motion made by Tim Baird and seconded by Carena Pooth directing that
NYSOA should partner with the Northeast Partners in Flight Nightjar Working
Group to conduct Whip-poor-will monitoring in New York State was passed
unanimously.
Organizational Membership – A proposal to include organizations
other than bird clubs as organizational members was discussed. This
would require changing the name of that class of membership from “club” to “organizational” and
development of clearer ideas of how such organizations can join and whether
or not they should have a vote. On the website only, it should
read “member clubs and other organizations.” Jane will
look at wording changes required and get them to Carena.
The Kingbird Online – Kevin suggested that
NYSOA put back issues of The Kingbird online, perhaps using the same
company we choose to do NYSARC records scanning and indexing. We
could develop a rolling schedule to put issues on the Internet so that
member benefit of the content of the printed copy would not be diminished. This
might be a candidate for a grant request.
2007 Board Meeting Schedule – All at Nuthatch Hollow:
March 3
June 2
August 4
November
3
Future Annual Meetings:
2007 – Batavia
2008 – Rochester
Respectfully submitted by Bob Mauceli
Board-recommended amendments made by Brenda Best |
