BIRD CONSERVATION NETWORK

January 2004 Meeting Minutes

January 24, 2004

Garfield Park Conservatory - Chicago

Attendees:

President Bob Fisher called the meeting to order at 1:25pm. A quorum was present. The minutes of the October 2003 meeting were accepted without changes.

ADMINISTRATIVE

2004 Officer Nominations

Walter Marcisz presented the following as candidates for officers for 2004:

President – Donald Dann

Vice President - Lee Ramsey

Secretary – Randi Doeker

Treasurer – Glenn Gabanski

No nominations were offered from the floor.  The slate was accepted by unanimous vote.  The officers take over immediately.

Incoming President Donald Dann offered a special thanks to those members who are leaving office.

2004 Meeting Dates

April 17^th – Camp Sagawau

July 17^th –  Site TBD in DuPage County

Nov. 6^th – Lake County (Dann residence – 60 Ravinoaks Lane, Highland Park)

All meetings will start at 1pm.

Treasurer’s Report

Outgoing Treasurer Mary Anne Harrison distributed the 2003 P/L statement.  The available cash is inadequate to cover the commitments because of outstanding funds overdue from the City of Chicago ($4900) and Chicago Wilderness ($4500).

Memberships

The application for membership by the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors was accepted by unanimous vote.

Bob Fisher advised that DuPage Audubon Society appears to no longer exist.

By-Laws Changes

Changes to Article II – Meeting were previous distributed.

The proposed change to Section 1 to reduce the number of meetings to three per year was voted down.

All other proposed revisions were deferred for further consideration by committee.

Club Communications

Donald Dann requested that Judy Pollock bring ideas to the April meeting on ways to better promote BCN activities through the member organizations.

CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES

Dog Friendly Areas in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County

The group discussed the situation at length; opinions and concerns vary greatly.  Donald Dann appointed a volunteer committee to develop a position for consideration at the April Excom meeting:

Jane Balaban – committee leader

Judy Pollock

Bob Fisher

Jeff Sanders

A final position will be proposed at the April meeting of the membership. 

President Dann requested that Judy Pollock update Bill Koenig, a key contact within FPDCC, of our actions.

Shooting Range in DuPage FP – Bob Fisher

Bob reported that this is no longer an issue requiring action.

Lights Out – Judy Pollock

Judy explained that the officials at Soldier Field have said they will cooperate fully with Lights Out.  She will be scheduling a meeting with them in February. Attendees will include the Field Museum ornithologists who will be monitoring the bird collisions and representatives of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

45^th-51^st Street Shoreline Project - Randi Doeker & Scott Carpenter

Randi and Scott distributed draft designs for the shoreline area.  All choices now feature wetlands and other birding habitat.  The BCN reps on the design team are supporting the proposal with the largest beach since it will provide the best shorebird habitat.

PROJECTS / INITIATIVES

Bird Monitoring – Lee Ramsey

The website is now stable.  Cornell is still entering the historical data from the Field Museum. The focus is now on promoting the program.  The regularly scheduled workshops have been dropped in favor of custom events for individual clubs.

Bird monitors (and local casual birders who want to enter their site lists) should be encouraged to access the BCN database via the link from the BCN website. This is less confusing than accessing the website via Cornell’s ebird. This confusion has led to data being entered on ebird instead of the BCN database website.

BCN Website – Eric Secker

Eric will setup the email system for each officer (ie, president@bcnbirds.org).   The President will review any submissions before being posted on the Issues page.

Chicago Wilderness Grassland Bird Habitat Sites – Judy Pollock

Judy distributed the draft recommendations that CW will be making to the FPDCC for sites to be managed for grassland birds.  It was suggested that other counties could use the same advice.

Important Bird Areas – Judy Pollock

The technical committee has reviewed the “easier” nominations and will soon be announcing IBAs, including some in the Chicago Region.  Clubs and organizations will be encouraged to “adopt” one or more areas.

The committee now realizes it needs to provide more detailed guidelines for the migratory areas. They will be using the Partners In Flight priority list for birds in the metro area.

2004 Birding Blitz – Judy Pollok

Judy distributed the preliminary list from Jun 2003. The group discussed the focus for 2004:  grassland again, shrublands, woodlands?

OTHER BUSINESS

Re-introduction of Wild Turkeys in Cook County Forest Preserves

Marianne Hahn offered a list of reasons why the reintroduction would not be a good. Others agreed.  Since this runs contrary to the birder responses Randi Doeker received via IBET and BCNnet, Randi asked that BCN not take a formal stand until Marianne Harrison presents her report on the ecological issues.  BCN Excom will discuss the issue at the next Excom meeting.

New FPDCC General Superintendent

The new General Superintendent Steve Bylina is seeking support for an active program to cull deer.  Both Bob Fisher and Donald Dann offered to be public spokesmen as required. (Both have testified previously in support of culling programs.)

The Hennepin & Hopper Lakes Restoration Project

Judy Pollock reported that the project managers are seeking BCN support for a process using the wetlands to remove nitrogen from Illinois River water to help restore the river’s natural flood pulse, including alleviating flooding upstream.  Said support was granted.

Habitat Herald

Lee Ramsey reported they will be doing more articles about monitoring and monitors.

Chicago Wilderness Volunteers Conference

Judy Pollock advised that a conference will be held next winter.

The meeting adjourned at 4pm.  The next meeting is April 17^th at Camp Sagawau.

Respectfully submitted,

Randi Doeker

Secretary