Attending: Chris Hoess, Anna Hull, Tracy Raymond, David Ross

A) Key Dates

1. Our next board meeting is scheduled for

Sunday, September 18, 2:00-6:00 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

Friday, September 16, Goat Hill – Chris and Kent
Thursday, September 22, Senior Expo tabling -- Tracy
Saturday, October 1, NCP – David
October 7, Oxford First Friday
October 9, Fall Migrations Hike NCP
Sunday, October 23, New Texas – Henry
November 12, PPFF Retreat
Sunday, November 13, Chrome – Molly
Sunday, December 4, Goat Hill -- Anna

B) Action Items Going Forward

Molly Anderson

Workday leader for Sunday, November 13, Chrome
Likely focus on stumps and painting invasives in Upper’s NE clearing

Mike Bertram:

Point person for our history initiatives and web master

Bob Gray:

Post June 25 Lower Chrome workday report

Point person for strategic planning initiatives.

Chris Hoess:

Workday leader (with Kent) for Friday, September 16, Goat Hill
Need to develop a plan

Will email moth list to Alyssa

Will work with Bill to evaluate back-end functionality of proposed web site hosting services. Will plan on one minute progress report for September, full report in October

Will work with Anna to propose specific Goal 2 action items/time line for review in September or October

Will work with Tracy to propose specific Goal 3 action items/time line for review in September or October

Will share kiosk Eagle Scout project description with contact from Chester County Scouting Council for feedback on what would be a feasible

Will work with Tracy to maintain contact database.

Will continue gathering information related to a potential bid for international serpentine conference, including reaching out to Wayne Tyndall and Roger Latham.

Anna Hull:

Will work with Chris to propose specific Goal 2 action items/time line for review in September or October

Will email Marci and Molly for suggestions about how we might best tap into PPFF and TNC wisdom in area of sustaining volunteer, supporter and Board communities.

Keep PPFF retreat Nov. 12, French Creek State Park on our agenda

Will monitor potential PPFF sawyer training certification requirement.

Will keep NCP shed project on her to do list

Workday leader for Sunday, December 4, Goat Hill Need to develop a plan

Point person for science and education initiatives.

Tracy Raymond

Will email website information to Chris.

Will check with Carey Bresler about scheduling a lecture by John Coberly – in lieu of a hike

Will confirm our participation in John Lawrence Senior Expo, September 22, 10:00-1:00

October 1, NCP – Country Fair tabling to raise visibility, encouraging visitors to see our worksite (coordinating with David)

October fall migration hike shifted to NCP on October 9th

November event on constructing and interpreting mandala sometime in November (not 12th)

Will write up and post to Dropbox event reports in reverse order starting with the August 13 event.

Will work with Chris to propose specific Goal 3 action items/time line for review in September or October

Will circulate her ideas for how to reorganize the draft objectives for Goals 4 and 5.

Point person for membership and outreach initiatives.

David Ross:

Workday leader for Saturday, October 1, NCP – David
Will confirm feasible location with Jay
In conjunction with West Nottingham Country Fair Day; tabling to raise visibility, encouraging visitors to see our worksite

Follow up with Lower Chrome stream restoration

Follow up with Gary Coutu about GIS progress

Point person for administrative initiatives.

Kent Wagner:

Workday leader (with Chris) for Friday, September 16, Goat Hill

Point person for recreational uses and trail planning initiatives.

Henry Whitesel:

Workday leader for Sunday, October 23, New Texas

Point person for conservation/maintenance planning

C) Agenda Items Considered

Welcome, Meeting Minutes and Agenda

Anna hosted; Chris chaired.

Approved minutes of July Board meeting.

Approved agenda as distributed.

Next Meeting Date

Sunday, September 18, 2:00-4:00 at Lincoln University, Room TBD

Strategic Planning

• Goals

Thanks to all who completed the objectives/prioritization spreadsheets and to Anna for tabulating. The exercise yielded a ranking of broad objectives meriting attention of green (high), yellow (moderate), low (red).

We reviewed the tabulations a) to see if we wanted to move any objectives to the green category meriting current attention

Goal 1:
Moved Mapping to green. Bob and David have added specific action items/time line to the Strategic Planning Matrix file stored under Planning in Dropbox.

Goal 2:
Moved to green:
Facilitate permitting
Find Partners that can do research
Anna and Chris will propose specific action items/time line for review in September or October

Goal 3:
Moved to green:
Critical pieces of the branding objective
Documenting SOP for education events
Tracy and Chris will propose specific action items/time line for review in September or October

Goal 4:
We agreed that this is a huge, existential issue facing the organization and that the relatively low tabulated ranking reflects confusion over how to build the critical mass needed to sustain volunteer, supporter, leadership communities.
Agreed that Tracy will circulate her ideas for how to reorganize the draft objectives.

Anna will email Marci and Molly for suggests about how we might best tap into PPFF and TNC wisdom in this area.

Goal 5:
Moved prioritizing recurring expenses, drafting a budget to green.
Will ask work day leaders and event planners to include expenses and in kind donations in workday/event reports
We lacked consensus on what ranking to give the other funding objectives and agreed to resume discussion at a subsequent meeting.
Tracy will circulate her ideas for how to reorganize the draft objectives.

• Next Steps
We will allocate time at each Board meeting to continue the strategic planning process as breakout
teams circulate specific action items/time line to the draft Strategic Planning Matrix.

Fall Schedule
• Workday Schedule and Volunteers (All)

Fall work dates and leaders were assigned at the July Board meeting. Each leader(s) is
responsible for planning and executing each day.

In addition to tracking number of volunteers and hours worked, work day reports will include to the extent possible crucial steps we want to include in our outline of standard operating procedures we need to maintain during this transition period while we struggle to minimize loss of serpentine habitat while awaiting the development of long-term plans.

Evening/Night event, GH - August 13th

While attendance was light because of the exceptional heat and humidity, the event was a success in terms of learning to attract and observe moths and establishing connections with Delaware Nature Society and Alyssa Molin-Graves

Chris will email moth list to Alyssa

Other past and future events

Tracy will write up the event reports (crucial for our annual report responsibilities to PPFF) in reverse order starting with the August 13 event. For PPFF it is crucial that we how many people attended and total hours spent by FSLSB volunteers. For our strategic planning, we also want to note elements that should be included in event standard operating procedures as well as actual or in kind expenses that may requiring future budgeting.

Flower hike, GH/NCP – (Chris leads, date TBD – 8/20?) has been cancelled. Will try again in 2017

No September First Friday (car event)

Instead of September hike, Tracy will check with Carey Bresler about scheduling a lecture by John Coberly – in lieu of a hike

Senior Expo, September 22, 10:00-1:00 – Tracy will confirm our participation

October fall migration hike shifted to NCP on October 9th November event on constructing and interpreting mandala sometime in November (not 12th)

• Annual Banquet update – date, speakers, food, award (Tracy)

We have a date for our fall banquet - Friday October 21 at the Presbyterian Church in Oxford.

We also have two speakers - Kelly Sitch with the DCNR will give a short presentation on invasives and Jodie Shivery, owner of Ecologically Sound Landscapes will follow with ideas on the use of native alternatives for homeowners.

• PPFF retreat Nov. 12, French Creek State Park (Anna)

We continue to protect this date in hopes of having Board members attend.

Education and Outreach

• Website

Tracy has collected information on 3 potential hosting sites; will forward to Chris, who will consult with Bill to evaluate back end functionality with eye toward immediate and longer term goals.

Once we’ve agreed on site, Tracy will move us forward with a discussion of front-end template and content.

• Database update (Chris, Tracy)
Tabled

Past Action Items to be covered as time allows

• NCP shed (Anna)
• West Chester (David)
• Eagle Scout partners

Other Business

• International Serpentine Conference

Chris reported on the basics of what would be involved in FSLSB putting in a bid to host. The next round of bidding would begin after next June’s conference. We are unlikely to win a bid for 2019, but would likely learn from the process with hopes of succeeding for 2021.

Conference generally runs a bit over a week – 2 days of workshops, then local field trips, additional workshops, ending with a follow up trip to a more distant serpentine site in or near the host country.

Bid needs confirmation of support from host institution (Lincoln? WCU?) – ability to provide food, lodging, lecture hall hosting 250, transportation to field sites, liaison with travel agent.

Chris will continue gathering information of related to a potential bid, including reaching out to Wayne Tyndall and Roger Latham.

Adjournment

Adjourned at 6:50 with thanks to Anna for hosting