Colorado Native Plant Society
Board Meeting Minutes

Location: Denver, CO
Regis University Library, Tracy Center
3333 Regis Blvd. (corner Regis Blvd. & Lowell Blvd.)
December 5, 2015
Scheduled 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.

Present: Charlie & Jan Turner, Erica Cooper, Mo Ewing, Linda Smith, Jim Tolstrup, Jen Bousselot, Cindy Mui, Steve Olson, Sara Copp, Jessica Smith, Denise Wilson, Amy Yager, Samantha Clark, and guests, Sam Bartlett (special awards coordinator at CO Science & Engineering Fair). Attended by phone: Bob Powell and Nannette Kuich.

Called to Order – by Charlie Turner at 9:40am

Announcements

1. There is a new Southwest Chapter! Bob Powell is their representative to the CoNPS Board. Other officers are John Bregar (Acting President), Peggy Lyon (Treasurer), and Priscilla Sherman (Field Trips).
2. The MemberFindMe plug-in for the CoNPS website has gone live.
3. Steve Olson update on Brown’s Canyon meeting Mon, Dec 8; will still be June 1-3, 2016, and public day on Saturday, June 4^th. Because of remoteness, we may be using the mule train to get in. Rafts may be used in August. He will send updated announcement when details are clear.

Business Requiring a Vote

1. Awards for Science & Engineering Fair (VOTE) (Sam Bartlett, Jen Bousselot) with Attachment. Culmination of Science fair competitions throughout Colorado held April 7, 2016, at CSU in the Lowry Center. Opportunity to educate students and interact on a professional level; we do the judging; student must do and present the project. Judging & Special award requested from CoNPS of $50 value, or greater. There are two candidates presently and CSU Landscape & Architecture, & Colorado Mycological Society; there can be as many as 400 candidates, which are submitted prior on-line. Go to website to pick, and someone would need to represent CoNPS at the Fair. Booth available at a cost, CoNPS would be mentioned on the website and we could give a seminar on Friday morning, April 6^th. Motion by Jan Turner to sponsor two awards (one in each age category); seconded by Mo Ewing, with amount to be determined later. Motion passed. Sam will send next step to Jan Turner.
2. Approve Minutes from last meeting (VOTE) (Denise Wilson). Denise will send out Final to all. Minor edits will be accepted. Denise moved, Jan seconded. Motion passed.
3. Charging Non-Members for Field Trips (VOTE) (Charlie & Jan Turner). Jan has done some research and this will mainly not be a problem, except for USFS Service land; their policy states we must get permission and share revenue. Presently at $15 fieldtrip for non-members (already voted). Bob Powell made a motion that charge be optional at each chapter; received no second. On the website, when you click on the event, you will be required to register and sign waiver. Discussion included having flexibility for each event as to the charge, and whether non-members will be accepted. Need less responsibility for each field trip leader at the parking lot, and that we don’t want to turn away people at the event. Mo confirmed that each could be set-up with requirements.

Business Not Requiring a Vote

1. Charlie brought up that if an issue at a Board meeting is in conflict with your personal values or your work ethics please abstain on voting.
2. Discounted Prices (workshops, annual meeting) for those with financial needs (Cecily Mui) Attachments. Discussion included flexibility in pricing for students or seniors, and whether to run a workshop with low attendance. Amy Yager suggested scholarships and volunteering in lieu of registration fee with an application for a year. Cecily provided a guiding document with questions, and we answered these as a group. A question could be added for a person to donate and sponsor a registration. Suggestion for scholarships for membership or Annual Meeting for the first year. Mo suggested structuring a waiting list mechanism. Jim suggested we set-up scholarships, and those funds go into the workshop as a paying attendee so that we are not negatively impacting Ronda’s commissions.
3. Virtual Plant Sale (Jim Tolstrup) Attachments. The biggest unknown is how many plants will be ordered and that affects the delivery costs, which must be distributed across each plant (the more plants, the less the delivery cost). At 50 miles to/from, this cost is around $400; that’s our risk. Consensus is that we will proceed, as our goal is to have members use native plants.
4. Finance Report (Mo Ewing) Our membership dues are up 40%, most is new members, and this is result of Jen’s efforts and the different levels of membership. We have a surplus of operating expenses on the order of $38000, and can cover Jen’s salary of $18000/year for 3 years at break-even operating. Mo calculates that we need 125 new members and we have Jen’s salary covered.
5. Workshop Prices and Workshop Refund Policy (Charlie & Jan Turner) We only charge an additional $5 per workshop registration fee for a non-member and Charlie thinks this can be raised to make it an incentive to become a member. Charlie motion to raise fee for non-members $15 above the workshop fee. Nanette seconded. Motion passed. Ronda needs to be consulted regarding the refund policy.
6. Summer Field Seminars (Jan Turner)

Survey participants are in favor of these, in which we would offer in-depth 1-2 day field classes on specific topics. Look into continuing education credit for these and charge for them. The instructors would get a percentage of the profit – perhaps 50% or more. David Inouye, Jessica Smith (grasses), Cath Kleier (ecological methods), Steve O’Kane (teaching floristic inventories with fieldwork), Gwen Kittell (willows), Denise Culver & Pam Smith, Carol Kearns (bumblebee identification) have been contacted.

7. Fund-raising for Erin Tripp’s Lichens of White Rocks book (Jan Turner) Attachments. In color, this publication will be significantly more expensive than expected. Jan suggested that we have an advertisement and link on the website for people to contribute to CoNPS, and we can make a gift to Erin Tripp.
8. Report on CAST Conference (Sara Copp, Jack Carter, Jen Bousselot) Jen reported that Jack Carter autographed and gave away books (more than 50) with a request for proposal for which he will contribute 20 books to educators. Professional level connections were made with DBG, Butterfly Pavilion, BSCS, CO Foundation for Agriculture.
9. Report on Weed Conference (Cecily Mui) CO Weed Conference – 2 presentations about rare plants, and we had a booth. It was very busy and rec’d invitation for always a free booth in the future at all future conferences. She emphasized the educational advantage for professionals.
10. State Legislature (Cecily Mui) Jen has been working on a “Native Plants Week” proclamation at the state level, and Cecily made a contact within the legislature who will champion this for us. Jen & Cecily will supply this person with a one-page about it.
11. Native Plant Tattoos (Jan Turner) New Mexico Chapter gave her information about beautiful, non-permanent native plant tattoos, and sent her the illustrations.
12. MemberFindMe Plug-in for WordPress web (Charlie Turner) Charlie demonstrated the beautiful, streamlined, professional management of our membership though this program. This is done in WordPress; do not need to know code.

Charlie moved to adjourn at 12:03, Cindy seconded, and motion passed.

Items, which we were not able to cover because of time constraints:

13. Update on Annual Conference (Jan Turner, Lenore Mitchell)
14. Native Plant Reader Proposal from the Colorado Foundation for Agriculture (Jen Bousselot) Attachment
15. Report on Southern Rockies Seed Network Conference (Sara Copp, Jen Bousselot)
16. Update on Membership & Marketing (Jen Bousselot)
17. National Plant Conservation Campaign Conference Call Summary (Jan Turner) Attachment
18. Any Important Updates from Chapter Presidents or Committee Chairs?
19. Report on MeetUp (Lenore Mitchell, Jen Bousselot, Samantha Smith)
20. Survey Results so far – (Charlie Turner)
21. CoNPS and Collaboration with Environmental Organizations (Charlie Turner)

OTHER BUSINESS

Next Board Meetings: Doodle poll

Absent: Jenny Neale (Mo Ewing, proxy), Cath Kleier, Ronda Koski