Board Meeting Minutes

Board Minutes – Winter 2019
By Daly Edmunds, Secretary

Since our last newsletter, the Board and members met in-person in Laramie in advance of the annual meeting on November 5 and via phone on February 1, and through email communications. Board meetings are open to the membership, so participation is always welcome! For future call participation info, please contact Daly Edmunds at dedmunds@audubon.org.

Below is a list of some of the topics discussed and decisions made on these Board member calls and via communications.

Engaging with sister TWS Chapters:

  • Colleen Olfenbuttel, President of the North Carolina Chapter of TWS, was an invited guest to the November board meeting. This resulted in ongoing self-evaluations of how WY-TWS engages with members and manages leadership positions.
  • Good discussion about the different approaches taken in structuring and organizing annual conferences, membership fees, board member and committee chair duties, and increasing board diversity.
  • Discussed the idea of a summer workshop retreat, much less formal and more hands-on training potential. Lack of capacity for 2019 but consider sending survey out to members to determine level of interest.
  • Discussed the pros and cons of increasing the number of Board Members-at-large. Board decided to present this idea to members, of increasing board composition to include two additional Board Member-at-large positions. A formal vote by members will be needed to change by-laws.

2018 Annual Meeting Summary:

  • 199 registrants (212 participants if including workshop attendees)
  • Co-hosting with Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative was really successful

Future Annual Meetings:

  • Recognized the need to have a formal policy of how to approach complementary registration, to avoid annual confusion. Board decided to have board members receive complementary registration as recognition of the services provided to the chapter and that committee chairs will be eligible to apply for travel/registration fee assistance to annual conferences.
  • Goal is to increase engagement of committee chairs in future meetings. Board to work with committee chairs to develop annual goals and improve communication with those that volunteer to be on committees.

Preparing for 2019 Annual Meeting:

  • November 19-21 in Sheridan.
  • Discussions on-going re: keynote speaker, workshops, and logistics related to poster session and catering.

Sponsorships:

  • Board voted to support sponsoring 6 Wild Migration books for Wyoming public libraries.
  • Each year the Wyoming Game and Fish Department monitors the distribution of brucellosis within the state’s elk populations by requesting hunters to collect blood samples from their harvested animal. Board reached out to Maven to work alongside them to help incentivize public participation and raise awareness of brucellosis. WY-TWS provided compensation to Maven for the binoculars, at cost.

Daly Edmunds is the Director of Policy and Outreach for Audubon Rockies, covering both Wyoming and Colorado. Prior to joining Audubon, she worked for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the National Wildlife Federation/Wyoming Wildlife Federation.