Invasive Plants Association of Wisconsin
Board of Directors Meeting
August 12, 2003, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Moore Hall, Room 364
1575 Linden Drive, UW-Madison campus

Board members in attendance: Tom Boos, Nancy Braker, Jaime Corbisier, Lauren Ebbecke, Patrick Goggin, David Hamel, Susan Lehnhardt, Gene Roark, Steve Strachota, Dan Undersander, Rolf Utegaard, Donna Van Buecken

Guests: Kelly Kearns, Lisa Johnson

Board members absent: Jim Reinartz, David Spatcher

I. Administration

·        Approve Minutes of Last Regular Meeting (July 8, 2003) Minutes approved.

Purchase of Notepads for board member use with IPAW address and website approved of 100 pads @ 150.00. Envelopes are now available for board members; contact Braker if you need some.

·        Treasurers Report (Boos) Balance as of August 11, 2003 is $18,985.20. Report approved.

·        Membership Report (Van Buecken/Boos). Membership has increased quite a bit in the last month. Subcommittee met recently and decided on a procedure to deal with renewals. Newsletter will have information with mailing label on expiration date. Tom will take over sending renewals and managing the member database in order to streamline process. To recruit new members at the symposium we will have our brochures added to the registration packets, and IPAW board members will sit at registration table on Saturday morning Dan (7:00), David (8:00) and Steve (9:00) will be at the registration table to try and solicit new members. Dan to coordinate.

II. Committee reports:

1. Science: (Boos) Science committee is currently contacting all the folks doing invasive plant mapping projects across the state. They plan to put together a summary of these projects in time for the symposium. Long term vision is to have an interactive system that people can report information through our web page or someone else’s. Are planning a one-day workshop sometime after the symposium to bring together all the folks working on the mapping projects, agree on software, who will house the data, etc.

2. Communications: (Utegaard) Newsletter, Web site

Newsletter is in the mail. Extra copies have been provided to Braker; please let her know if you need more copies.

Newsletter changes: Jim has decided to step down from being editor of the newsletter due to his schedule. We have a volunteer (Dave Beckmann) that has agreed to handle the layout of the newsletter. We need to recruit an editor and agree on an editorial process. Jamie agreed to take on the responsibility of being the editor which will include receiving articles, nagging the authors, reading for content (or finding someone to do so), editing as needed, and forwarding on to Dave. We will use board meetings to brainstorm on newsletter content and make writing assignments.

Topics for next newsletter: to be mailed in November (October 1 deadline for articles)

·        Summary of Symposium (Dave Hamel)

·        Summary of mid-west EPPC meeting (Kelly Kearns)

·        Selected topics from the conference (?)

·        Report on the annual meeting (Dan Undersander)

·        Chapter formation (Nancy Braker)

·        Upcoming events (submitted by all)

·        Regional group report: SE (Lisa Johnson)

·        Species focus: aquatic species (Patrick Goggin)

·        Terrestrial species focus: new loosestrife species (Susan Lehnhardt)

·        State budget info (Patrick with help from Kelly)

·        Village of Greendale landscaping motion (Bernice Popelka )

·        Mapping effort (Tom Boos)

·        Phragmities reed beds for sludge dewatering – (Jamie with a co-author from Reed Bed Systems)

·        Volunteer thanks (Braker)

Board members and members are encouraged to submit additional articles as they develop topics. Send all newsletter articles (electronic format preferred) to:

Jamie Corbisier
Door County Soil and Water Cons. Dept
P.O. Box 670
Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
JCorbisi@co.door.wi.us

Web site activity counter: Cost approved.

3. Symposium 2003 and Annual Meeting Planning (Kearns)

Many relevant activities are planned during the Natural Areas Conference.

9/24 Thursday

11:30 – 1:00: Meeting of those interested in a mid-west Exotic Plant Pest Council (EPPC) to talk about development of this group. Will be attended by various agency people who are interested in supporting this. We need to consider who from IPAW or Wisconsin will be a representative with the steering committee for this group.

3:30 – 5:00 National EPPC forum. This forum will highlight the work of several EPPC’s around the country. We may need someone to represent IPAW at this forum if we are asked to present, but at the least we need a representative there to find out what other groups are doing. Could Jim Reinartz participate?

Evening: National EPPC annual meeting. Need IPAW represented there. Braker to attend and to write up summary on IPAW activities to be distributed at this meeting

Friday: Field trips and posters

Saturday: Invasive Plant Symposium. Volunteers are being recruited to:

-Staff the registration desk after 3:00 until 5:00 to serve as an information desk

-Staff the Tools room to ensure security – slots during the day

-AV volunteers

-IPAW Exhibit: Rolf to put up and take down, Board members to staff during the breaks and lunch. Lauren and Nancy to take time slots.

Rolf will get ribbons to add to the board member name tags.

4. Legislative (Roark)

Gene is ready to draft the letters to Secretaries, with help from Kelly.

Legislative field day: Braker provided a draft of the plan for that day. Roark suggests that Fred Clark be included as a co-host to address forestry issues. Other potential co-hosts or participants could include the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, or Woodland Owners Association. Cherokee Park or Lake Kegonsa State Park might be potential sites. We should be sure to invite the media as well. Could we incorporate something about DOT roadside mowing policies? Roark will continue to work on this.

5. Education (Ebbecke) Will be sending out the species that she thinks should be on the web site list of Wisconsin’s Worst.

6. Plant Industry Relations (Lehnhardt) The group has not been active through the summer. The committee has a long list of topics that could be worked on. Steve Stachota agreed to take on the chairmanship of this committee. Need to check on the on the website to see if the minutes from the committee have been posted. Lisa Johnson of UW Extension also agreed to assist with this effort.

III. Old Business

Chapter Proposal and Bylaw revisions (Braker and Roark): Braker provided a written summary of the chapter proposal.

Discussion of proposal. Changes will be made as suggested and the comments from the attorney incorporated. This will be brought back to the board at a future date.

Issue of insurance was discussed. We should likely get this soon regardless of the chapter issue (errors and omissions for board members)

Executive committee: agreed in concept, need changes to language as suggested by Dave Hamel to provide some limits to the authority of the proposed executive committee.

Items from previous meetings for follow-up:

·        Coordination with the Wisconsin Nurseryman’s Association to address Wisconsin Nurseries selling plants of concern. (June 2003) Steve Strachota agreed to work on this issue with Susan Lehnhardt as lead. Dan will contact Susan about this. (July 2003) See mention above on this issue in the plant industry relations committee report.

·        Providing March 2003 newsletter to wider audience (Braker, April 2003) No action.

·        Gather suggestions from the education committee for ways that the March 2003 newsletter issue might be utilized. (Ebbecke, April 2003) No action.

·        How to define which species would be on the web page under “Wisconsin’s Worst” (February 2003) . Lauren will draw up a list of proposed species to use for the board to approve. (July 2003) See education committee report.

·        Ask Education Committee what groups we want to focus our attention on so we know what conferences to have our booth at (January 2003) Lauren to put on her committee agenda and to include Rolf in the discussion. (July 2003) No action.

·        Tom Boos, Nancy Braker and Donna will strategize about a plan for membership renewals. (July 2003) See membership report.

·        Braker will get a summary of fundraising for the symposium to date to board. (July 2003) No action.

·        IPAW board to send letters to DNR and DATCP secretaries to remind them of the importance of invasive species issues and to urge them to work on this issue when the budget issues are resolved. Gene will draft letter with Kelly’s help, Dan will print and sign. (July 2003) See legislative report.

·        Legislative Field day in September? Roark, Braker, Ebbecke (July 2003) See legislative report.

·        A PowerPoint presentation on invasive plants is available on the website, board members need to review it and provide comments, make sure they are comfortable with the content. (July 2003). No action.

·        IPAW will send letter to DOT head thanking them on the parsnip poster. Dan will send once Kelly gets information to him. (July 2003) No action.

·        Future idea for Science Committee. It seems like IPAW could have a role in cataloging the various mapping projects in Wisconsin. We could consider establishing an invasive species mapping tool on our web site, an interactive tool. Suggestion made that this idea go to the science committee as a potential project for them to work on. Tom Boos will take this to the committee. (July 2003) See science committee report.

·        UWEX Plant Fact Sheets issues. Future agenda item. (July 2003) No action.

·        How can we work with State/County/Township Highway departments. Future agenda item. (July 2003) No action.

IV. New Business

·        Planning membership meeting to be held during lunch of Invasive Plant Symposium

·        National EPPC meeting at Natural Areas Conference. Who to attend and present on IPAW? Who to assist with organizing the meeting if the National EPPC folks need help? Need to assign a contact person. See symposium report.

·        Set Fall schedule for board meetings: stay with second Tuesday if possible, NB to check with Lauren and Jim on their schedule. Next meeting on September 9, time to be determined.

Meeting adjourned at 3:02

Respectfully submitted by Nancy Braker