Chairman Gary Schneider opened meeting at 8:10 CST. 25 members were in attendance.
Summer Meeting Report: Larry Doyle reported that 40 individuals registered for the meeting, and 47 attended the field tour including 3 students. MeadWestvaco provided a tour of their intensive hardwood plantations on their fiber farm in Scott County, Missouri and on their Island 3 property in Kentucky, and their Fine Papers Mill in Wickliffe, Kentucky. John Wood, Pat Elliot, Greg Dale, and all the MeadWestvaco personnel involved in the meeting were thanked for their efforts.
Minutes
for the Winter 2002 Business Meeting in Pineville, Kentucky were distributed
for review. Dick Wengert made a motion
to accept the minutes. Glen Smalley
seconded the motion. The motion was
carried without further discussion.
The
2002 mid-year financial report was distributed and reviewed by Treasurer Jerry
Crow. John Wood made the motion to
accept the report. Mike Stanford
seconded. The motion was carried
without further discussion.
Gary
Schneider led the discussion of the Executive Committee meeting. The following items were highlighted:
1.
National
Membership continues to decrease. Membership on 6-30-00 was 16,241; on 6-30-01 it was 15,770; and on
6-30-02 it was 15,660. KT membership
dropped from 436 in 2001 to 382 in 2002.
KT’s membership goal is to gain 51 members by December 31, 2002. The Executive Committee discussed the reasons
for membership loss. Gary will contact
each chapter chair to personally call the purged members from their chapters to
discuss membership.
2.
Further
discussion on membership included a suggestion from Henry Bullock to have both
KTSAF and National meetings in a resort setting and gear it towards family
vacations. The point was made that only
10-15% of members attend the annual National Convention due to distance and
cost. Glen Smalley mentioned that the
time of year affects the ability of families with school-age children to
attend. George Hopper cited a past
study that indicated that student SAF members often drop their membership after
graduation if they don’t find a forestry job.
Rudean Reynolds added that the East KY Chapter has lost members due to
policy changes and personnel cuts from Kentucky Division of Forestry,
University of Kentucky, and forest industry.
3.
Gary
mentioned the House of Society Delegates’ suggestion at the Denver National
Convention of considering a membership dues structure that is correlated with
an individual’s annual salary. No
action was taken.
4.
Dick
Wengert mentioned that there has been a rumor that the US Forest Service
discourages membership by its employees in SAF. Bill Lisowsky from LBL agreed that the USFS National office has
not encouraged membership. It was
further mentioned that no one from the Daniel Boone National Forest was at this
meeting due to USFS travel restrictions.
John
Rennie led the discussion on Member Information.
1.
Thus
far in 2002, two newsletters have been produced. The first was mailed to all members as usual. The second done in May was distributed via
e-mail to those members who had a record of an e-mail address, and mailed to
those members without e-mail. This will
be the standard for newsletter delivery from now on. In May, 450 copies went out, 300 of which were done by
e-mail. This should cut future
newsletter costs in half. The next
newsletter is scheduled to go out the first week of August.
2.
Mark
Young, our Webmaster, had back surgery earlier in the summer and should be back
to work on August 1st. Mark
could use help with the website. He
also needs to receive pertinent newspaper articles relative to forestry issues
in Kentucky and Tennessee.
3.
John
Rennie’s e-mail address is: jrennie@utk.edu
4.
Mark
Young’s e-mail address is: jmyoung@utk.edu
Gary
mentioned SAF’s Professional Field Forester of the Year Award. For 2002, District IX’s recipient was Jack
Muncy. Jack will be recognized for his
accomplishments at the SAF National Convention in Winston-Salem, NC.
Gary
discussed the Forester’s Fund. The East
Kentucky Chapter is submitting an application requesting $500. Rudean described the project is to buy
T-shirts to give to teachers who complete Project Learning Tree training. The T-shirts feature an “I teach trees.”
slogan. This proposal was approved by
the Executive Committee.
Wayne
Clatterbuck discussed the Memorial Scholarship Fund.
1.
It
is an account that is entirely separate from KTSAF general funds. The goal is to maintain the account at a
level where there is enough interest to fund three $200 annual student
scholarships.
2.
Wayne
has consolidated several separate accounts into one.
3.
Currently
Wayne and Roger Bollinger are the committee.
They are looking for two additional committee members, hopefully from
Kentucky SAF chapters. The Fund seeks
additional funds to increase its assets.
John
Perry of the Nominating Committee will have a note in the Newsletter seeking
nominations for Chair-Elect and Secretary.
Nominations for both will need to be members from Kentucky.
Policy
Committee: Chair Jeff Stringer was
absent but two position papers from the East Kentucky Chapter were
presented. Rudean updated the group on
the papers by reading the highlights (1) Effective forest stewardship
in Kentucky is an already existing statement that is being updated., (2) Promoting
multiple-use forest management with Kentucky State Park viewsheds
received favorable review from the Executive Committee. It will be revised and then submitted for
national SAF approval.
1.
East
Kentucky – Rudean Reynolds. The Spring
2002 meeting addressed the two position papers. The upcoming Fall 2002 meeting will visit a cable logging
operation near Cumberland. They will be
proposing a change in their By-Laws to put a two-year limit on the Policy Chair
position in order to encourage interest in filling it.
2.
East
Tennessee – Kerry Schell. Gary gave
their report. East TN meets the first
Wednesday of every month at a different local restaurant. The September meeting will review GPS
systems. They are also looking at
developing better communications with the media, and in more participation in
Project Learning Tree.
3.
West
Tennessee – David Mercker. Gary gave
their report. West TN held a forestry
field day for deaf children with 9 children in attendance. West TN recruited six new members through a
cost-share grant from National SAF.
4.
Southeast
Tennessee – Joe Burkle. Southeast has
had quarterly meetings. The spring
meeting visited a Bowater thinning operation.
The summer meeting dealt with SFI on MeadWestvaco property in TN. The fall meeting will be held at French
Cooper with TN Wildlife Resources Agency
representatives.
Southeast TN will be hosting the Winter 2003 KTSAF
meeting at Fall Creek Falls State Park in TN.
The subject will be “Forest Regulations”. The meeting will be the last three days in January 2003.
5.
Student
Chapter at Univ. of Tennessee – Dave Buckley and Don Hodges. George Hopper gave the report. Nine students were scheduled to go to the
National Convention last year. The UT
Student Chapter has 29 undergraduate members including 7 seniors and 12
juniors. The Student Chapter
participated in the Student Conclave this year at Texas A & M. Twenty UT students participated and placed
in several events. They did receive the
Traveling Sportsmen of the Year trophy at Conclave. Student projects this year included distributing tree seedlings
on Arbor Day, having an SAF booth at Open House on the Ag Campus, and having
guest speakers for several student SAF meetings.
6.
Student
Chapter at University of the South – Joe Burkle. Three students attended the summer KTSAF meeting in Paducah. Forestry enrollment at U. of the South is
down for the last two years. Karen
Kuers has a watershed-monitoring project getting started. Southern Pine Beetle problems continue on
the school domain. The student SAF
chapter has an active program of events planned.
1.
Cherokee
National Forest – Red Anderson. Red is
the planner on the Cherokee Revised Forest Plan. The Draft Plan is currently available for viewing on their
website:
HTTP://www.southernregion.fs.fed.us/cherokee
The Draft Plan is 99% finished. Two Public Meetings regarding the plan will
be held on August 22,
2002 at the Church of Christ in
Maryville, TN. Regarding personnel,
there is one new Ranger on the
Ocoee District, and there are several
anticipated retirements forthcoming at the end of the year.
2.
Land
Between the Lakes National Recreation Area – Bill Lisowsky. Bill has been on the job for 2 years at
LBL. This is his fourth assignment in a
25-year career with the USFS. Bill
reports that the abrupt transition of LBL from TVA to the USFS is progressing. They are ready to begin the planning
process, and will issue a Notice of Intent to begin the plan in 2003. Other business will be to issue notices for
future timber sales, probably 2 to 3 sales per year. LBL’s primary mission is as a public demonstration area for environmental
education. One current demonstration
project is the reintroduction of the American Chestnut. Planting began this spring.
3.
Tennesse
Division of Forestry. Steve Scott, the
new Tennessee State Forester, began his duties on July 2nd. Steve is a Kentucky native, received his
B.S. and M.S. from Clemson University,
and came to TDF from the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
Gary
led a discussion regarding KTSAF reponses to the Draft Plans of the Cherokee
and Daniel Boone National Forests. In
January 2003, the Final Draft for the Cherokee plan will be out. There will be a 90-day comment period
following that time. He reported that
two task forces have been formed. Wayne
Clatterbuck will chair the task force for the Cherokee, and Jeff Stringer will
chair the task force for the Daniel Boone.
They will be putting out the call seeking expert members to join each
task force. Gary encouraged all those
asked to participate. Wayne adds that
the goal of the Cherokee Task Force is to have a draft response ready to
present to the KTSAF members at the Winter Meeting in January. The comment period for the Daniel Boone’s
Draft Plan is thought to be scheduled for October 1 to December 31, 2002, but
that could not be confirmed.
Gary
led the discussion on National SAF’s desire to have identifiable “Core
Values”. Gary read the values as they
are currently stated. National is
asking for state society and individual member comments. Gary asked for input from the KTSAF members
one final time before a KTSAF response is made. Glen Smalley made a motion that KTSAF endorse the Core Values as
currently written, and that the KTSAF Chair send in a letter supporting them as
written. George Hopper seconded the
motion. The motion carried without
further discussion.
Tim
French, our Council Representative attended the Field Tour on Thursday, but was
unable to attend the Business Meeting.
He did, however, give Gary some comments, which were shared and are as
follows:
1.
“Dues”
is a four-letter word. There is a dues
increase coming, but instead of a one-time large increase as has happened in
the past, the increase will be in smaller, annual amounts tied to the Consumer
Price Index. The increases will begin
in October 2003.
2.
“Membership”
is a 10-letter word. Membership was
discussed earlier in the meeting.
3.
Policy: Michael Guergen of the National office is
extremely busy on Capitol Hill. SAF’s
successes there are directly lined to individual SAF members contacting their
representatives and senators.
4.
The
Journal of Forestry is looking for authors and articles for the “Focus”
section.
Tim
further added a Congratulations! to Jack Muncy for being chosen as Field
Forester of the Year from District IX, and encouraged everyone to attend the
National Convention in North Carolina Oct. 5 – 9.
Red
Anderson attended the 2002 SAF Leadership Academy in Nebraska and gave a high
endorsement of the Academy. He reported
that National is questioning the continuance of the Academy due to the cost of
operation coupled with declining SAF membership. Red is encouraging KTSAF to boost their support of the Academy by
raising the annual allowance to $750 from the current $500 budgeted for the
Chair-Elect to attend. He also points
out the Academy is not limited to Chair-Elects, but is open to any SAF member.
George
Hopper pointed out that the Academy is important to the future of KTSAF. George encouraged the group to support Red’s
suggestion of increasing the financial commitment. He further suggested that Gary send a letter of endorsement to
Bill Banzhaf giving the supporting testimony of the KTSAF attendees.
Ken
Negray discussed the Forester’s Fund Grant and the FFA Convention in Louisville
Oct. 31 – Nov. 1.
The
Future Farmers of American National Convention has been held annually in
Louisville, KY and KTSAF has had a booth there for the last 3 years with
Forester’s Fund monies with the purpose of introducing forestry as a career
choice to the 50,000 high school FFA students who attend each year. National policy excludes a state society
from receiving grant funds for more than 3 consecutive years for the same
project. Through Tim French’s
assistance, the grant was approved by having Missouri SAF being the applicant,
and in turn routing the funds to KTSAF.
Ken is directing the project and is asking for volunteers to help run
the booth.
The
future plans of the FFA Convention are to stay in Louisville through 2005 or
2006, then move to Indianapolis. Gary
mentioned that National will be asked to fund this project in the future since
students from all 50 states attend the convention, and it should be a National
project rather than being relegated to one or two state societies.
Ken
Arney, former Tennessee State Forester, has been nominated as a Fellow from
District IX. His nomination will be on
the fall ballot.
Gary
reported that National SAF has issued “Fellow” pins to all Fellows, and that
anniversary pins will be issued to all members in 10-year increments (10-year
pin; 20-year; 30-year; 40-year). Gary
will be contacting Chapter Chairs for the number of pins needed.
The
goal of the Silent Auction to be held at the National Convention is to raise
$25,000. Gary will contact the chapters
for donations with a chapter goal of $500 each.
The
Washington State SAF has requested the donation of a state tree from each state
to be planted in an arboretum. To-date,
they have received trees from 35 states.
The remaining 15 states include Kentucky and Tennessee. The Executive Committee has made plans to
fulfill the request, with Richard Evans taking the lead to respond.
John
Rennie announced that nominees are needed for the following awards for the
Winter 2003 meeting: the Herman Bagenstoss Award (nominee to come from TN), the
Outstanding Forester less than 35 years old, and the Outstanding Forester
greater than 35 years old.
Red
Anderson mentioned SAF’s Certified Forester program. He encouraged all that were interested to become certified before
December 30, 2002. After that date, a
written test will be required.
Everyone
was encouraged to attend the SAF National Convention in Winston-Salem, NC,
October 5-9, 2002.
The
Summer Meeting in Paducah provided 8.0 hours of CFE credits.
Gary
adjourned the meeting at 10:07 am, CST.