Attending: Chris Hoess, Anna Hull, Tracy Raymond, David Ross, Henry Whitesel in person; no one via phone 2:30pm at Henry Whitesel’s house.

A) Key Dates

1. Sunday, July 3, 2:00-4:00 at Lincoln University, Room 235 Conference Dial-in number: (716) 748-0224 (potential toll call) Host Access Code: 445962* Participant Access Code: 445962#

2. Hikes, Talks, Work Days and Other Commitments

Saturday, June 25, Lower Chrome Work Day, 9am – Bob leads
July 17, Fame Flower Hike at GH or other site-- Chris
July 23, Strategic Planning Retreat – Henry’s house, 10-2
August 5, Oxford First Friday
August 13 (tentative), Moths and Birds at Dusk

B) Action Items Going Forward

Agenda Items

Tabled to August
NCP Shed Project

Common Action Items
Continue preparation for July 23 strategic planning gathering.
Review and add items to SWOT document.
Work on restating and/or expanding the list of 2014 goals posted to the Planning Dropbox Folder

Molly Anderson
Will complete work day report for Deloitte at Goat Hill.

Mike Bertram:
Point person for our history initiatives

Bob Gray:
Prepare for June 25 Serps Day.
Report whether mowing has occurred.
Point person for strategic planning initiatives.

Chris Hoess:
Workday report for New Texas work day.
Will forward letter of condolence to Kruckeberg descendants for Anna to sign and send.
Will work with Tracy to maintain contact database (add mailing address and phone numbers).
Will lead July 17, 2016 fame flower walk at Goat Hill
Will explore DTC GIS server as time permits.
Will share kiosk Eagle Scout project description with contact from Chester County Scouting Council for feedback

Anna Hull:
Remind Bob about June 25 Lower Chrome work day and ask what supports he might need.
Ask Bob to report on the state of mowing there.
Will monitor evolution of documents for strategic planning retreat.
Will sign and send letter of condolence for Kruckeberg.
Will draft fall work day schedule for us to consider in July
Will review NCP shed notes as time permits.
Point person for science and education initiatives.

Tracy Raymond
Will post to the Dropbox Planning folder a helpful handout on the distinction between goals and objectives.
Hopes to stop by Upper Chrome to remove orange flags from NE corner on June 14 –will notify Board.
Will complete printing of Chrome Brochure;
will check on cost of most print run for Rose Trail Brochure.
Promoting Fame Flower and Creatures of the Night events.
Send flowers to Bill Kent’s wife.
Will drop off donated gas cans for Henry to inspect.
Will continue planning for fall banquet and move forward on Rose Chase plaque.
Lead person for August First Friday tabling.
Point person for membership and outreach initiatives.

David Ross:
Will send thank you note to Jim Herr about Goat Hill mowing.
Follow up with Gary Coutu about GIS progress (July)
Follow up with Lower Chrome stream restoration (August)
Point person for administrative initiatives.

Kent Wagner:
Point person for recreational uses and trail planning initiatives.

Henry Whitesel:
Hopes to stop by Upper Chrome to remove orange flags from NE corner on June 16, if Tracy has not done so – will notify Board.
Will provide Tracy with name and address for Bill Kent’s wife.
Will forward brief description of kiosk Eagle Scout project to Chris
Point person for conservation/maintenance planning

C) Agenda Items Considered

Welcome, Meeting Minutes and Agenda


Strategic Planning Process
July 23, Strategic Planning Retreat – Henry’s house, 10-2
We agreed that with sufficient engagement by each Board member in the process leading up to the 23rd, the process could work with Anna chairing the gathering.
We anticipate going through lots of flip chart post-it sheets to move from goals to actionable objectives.
Potluck lunch and snacks.

SWOT
We have solid set of notes in the Dropbox Planning folder. Members are encouraged to review and continue adding items.

Mission
While the existing mission statement is accurate, it does not correspond to diverse “elevator” version each of us tends to make when asked about FSLSB.
Still, we agreed the statement remains the prime yardstick against which to evaluate our goals and objectives.

Goals vs objectives
Tracy will post to the Dropbox Planning folder a helpful handout on the distinction between goals and objectives.
Each board member will work on restating and/or expanding the list of 2014 goals posted to the Planning Dropbox Folder.
We will explore during July 3 Board meeting how close we are to consensus on those goals.
Between July 3 and July 23, each Board member will work on compiling a set of objectives related to each goal.
Ideally these objectives will be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time specific
Priority setting will reflect importance and urgency.
Crafting objectives should occur in the context of SWOT and have an evaluation component, i.e., how will we assess progress in achieving the objective?

Events and Stewardship Days – past and future
Stream restoration update (Bob, Molly) TNC staff are taking steps to monitor streambank erosion at Lower Chrome.
A restoration project might create an opportunity for removing or utilizing existing debris piles.

Mowing update (Molly, Henry)
Molly was unsure whether Lower Chrome has been mowed.
Goat Hill – areas look amazing where Jim mowed – David will send thank you.
Upper Chrome mowing did not occur.
We need to pull flags from NE corner to ensure integrity of Rachel Spigler’s research.
Tracy may try to stop by on June 14 and notify Board; if she can’t do it, Henry will try for the 16th (also notifying the Board).
We will schedule an Upper Chome work day for early next spring -- prep work for NE corner mowing in March.

Stewardship Days Update (New Texas and Deloitte)
Goat Hill:
We had perfect weather for Deloitte Day at Goat Hill. Saplings cleared from 2nd scraped area (99);
first cleared area (1) is all-but ready for mowing, excepting some Russian olive that needs clearing;
good progress made along hillside above Rose trail (86).
Molly very pleased; plans to focus Deloitte Day on GH over next couple of years.
Mike and Henry completed stump removal from areas to right of entrance from Becky’s farm (89 and 100).
Anna and Chris marked stumps along Rose trails extension (96, 48 and 47).
We should tackle 102 in the fall.

New Texas:
Chris will complete workday report for May 28.
Tracy will post results of nearly complete survey of New Texas sites.
It would be desirable to set up a meeting with the Hannums to encourage their taking responsibility for maintaining trails.
June 25 is our last scheduled work day for the summer.
Weather permitting, we are open to any Board member organizing a short “meet-up” work day to tackle particular sites.
Need minimum of three people, signed waivers and work day reports.

Fall schedule (Anna)
Anna will draft schedule for us to consider in July following pattern of work days every three weeks, starting mid September. Sundays to avoid hunting, except try to schedule Friday (before hunting season at Goat Hill) at GH and NCP to engage rangers.

Photography Hike, NCP – tomorrow!!
10-12 – two photographers – sign in table at head of Chrome trail.

June 25 Stewardship day in Chrome (Bob leads)
Anna will remind Bob and ask him if he needs any support.

Fame flower hike, GH – July (Chris leads)
Now scheduled for July 17;
Chris has option of shifting to another site if more likely to find blooming flower.
Tracy’s promotional material is highlighting the fact that this is a bit of a scavenger hunt.

Evening/Night event, GH - August 13th
Creatures of the Night at 8pm
Suggested contacting National Penn Bank (acquired by BB&T in April) as potential sponsor to raise visibility.
We authorized Tracy to charge modest fee ($5 to $8 to adults) as an experiment.
Anna will invite Marci and Joe and confirm that there is no problem to our collecting cash at GH parking lot.

Annual Banquet – see information on page 2
Identified Friday October 21 and 28 as our preferred dates.
Comfortable with tentative budget and speakers.

Plaque for Rose Chase
We approved inscription and $25-30 for base.

Education and Outreach

Letter to Kruckeberg descendants Chris will forward letter of condolence for Anna to sign and mail.

July and August First Fridays (Tracy)

Community day, Warwick Park, Pottstown, date?, cost? (Tracy)
Tray has added outreach calendar to Dropbox. Location of Warwick community day seems a bit far afield.
Bill and Tracy may check it out.

West Chester (David) Gary is in Costa Rica. David will follow up in July. Chris has access to GIS server at DTC. Will explore as time permits. 

Newsletter
Will return to topic after strategic planning exercise. We see less need for a newsletter than to compile a packet of FSLSB informational material to pass out, for example, at events like Deloitte Day.

Eagle Scout partners
We are likely to develop an expanded list of potential projects after strategic planning exercise. For now, we are dropping GH campsite project, since fire ring is not feasible. Henry will forward brief description of kiosk project to Chris who will share with contact from Chester County Scouting Council for feedback on what constitutes a good Eagle Scout project.

Strategic Planning

• Process
Anna will ask PPFF about possible supports (e.g., finding a moderator?)

• Date and Venue for Strategic Planning Meeting/Retreat
Saturday, July 23 from 10-2 at Henry Whitesel’s house.

• Major Goals brainstorming
Devoted the last 10 minutes to sharing our sense of what we hope the retreat will accomplish

Action Items from Last Month (not covered elsewhere)

Database update (Chris, Tracy) In progress.

Chrome brochure (Tracy) Tracy will get the tax id from Elk Township We are authorized to print more copies of Rose Trail map at our expense.

Other Business, Adjournment
Authorized Tracy to spend $25 to send flowers Bill Kent’s wife; Henry will provide Tracy with name and address. Thanking Bill for repairing Bush Hog.

Dissemination of Workday Reports Leader writes it up; circulates to the people participating and Board members; posts a copy in Dropbox. Use past reports as a guide. Crucial (for PPFF annual report) to include number of people attending and start and ending time. Highlight key accomplishments and include notes on tasks to include for future work days.