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Oct 24 th 2007
NATURE BAY SOCIETY
(Salmon Arm Bay Nature Enhancement Society)
Board Meeting
Minutes
Location: Interpretive Centre
Date Wednesday October 24, 2007
Time 7:30 pm
Present:
Ron Wedman (chair) Tom Brighouse (secretary) Mike Saul (treasurer) Debbie Cannon, Gary Carder, Ed Dahl, and Joyce Henderson (future Board Member).
The agenda was adopted with additions.
The Minutes of the last meeting Sept 4 2007 were adopted as circulated. 1).Gay 2). Mike
Correspondence.
Tom had contacted Fred Bird thanking him for his offer of the photograph of Christmas Island to be used however we felt it would be most useful.
Treasurer’s Report
(attached) showed $5452.00 in the bank account and over $10,000.00 plus accrued interest in the Certificates (building fund). Tom pointed out that we need someone to take over the task of seeking sources of funds and applying for grants if we are to keep the Interpretive Centre open next summer. Mike volunteered to look into Lottery sources and Tom will continue to ensure the City grant is applied for in time.
Memberships.
Some discussion took place on methods of a) reminding individual members it is time to renew, b) of contacting businesses and professional groups asking for corporate memberships which are more useful in swelling our budget and c) casting the net wider than just the past supporters. No firm plan was decided upon other than accompanying the newsletter with reminders.
AGM.
Mike will arrange advertising when he receives the biographical notes of Rick Howie, who has agreed to speak on "restoring mine sites and the return of species to those sites". The Naturalist Club should be aware of this date, place and speaker. Salmon Arm Art Gallery, at 7:30 pm on Friday November 16, 2007.
Maintenance.
The board considered how much maintenance has been done particularly on the Interpretive Centre (relocated the door, built deck, installed new roof and repaired underpinning). Remaining work discussed included removing the toilet fittings, the sink and taking out interior wall and improving the lighting system. Tentative schedule for November and December . The work should be finished in time to open the Centre in May. It was felt that some ideas were needed in making the Centre more visible. The examining and possible fixing of damage to buoys will be best tackled when the mud flats are frozen.
Web site.
D’Arcy and Gary will combine with a botanist to place on the web the photographs of flora with the common and botanical names.
Web camera.
The picture was said to be passable and we are now ready to get marketing of advertising in place.
Tom showed a prototype fixture for signs made by John McVicar. John and Tom will contact the City operations department for approval of the design and Ed volunteered to create the final version using marine plywood in his brand new workshop.
Gate.
Ron will continue to work on the gate.12. Important Bird Area Designation. Joyce led a discussion on her filling out an up to date application asking for the Bay to be redesignated an IBA. Tom added that while we had been listed some years ago and that the fence at the Raven end of the trail had been paid for through an IBA grant, when he new criteria were adopted, it was found that we did not qualify. The IBA committee has now been revived and our application will include new information on our bird tallies, particularly the shorebird data grace a Don Cecile (near record numbers of Killdeer and 23 shorebird species in one day, for example)
Environmental Management.
Ed brought a letter to the Environmental Management Committee for board support. The amendment omitting the last two sentences was agreed to and the main motion was supported:
Motion to advise Salmon Arm City Council that the Environmental Management Advisory Committee is strongly opposed to the proposed developments, namely marina and housing etc in the Eagle River Estuary, ie the Sicamous Bay of the Shuswap Lake.
The committee requests that the city’s representative(s) convey our concerns to the CSRD and the Sicamous District Council and urge then to deny approval to the developments. We regard these developments at this location to be unacceptable due to the unfavorable impacts that will occur in this environmentally sensitive area.
Donation Boxes.
Ron needed the keys to the Raven end donation boxes. Tom will arrange with Barry games to find the appropriate keys.
CPR.
Discussion covered future trails and private and public pedestrian crossings of the tracks.
Winterizing.
Tom will contact the city re winterizing the Centre and shutting down the water supply.
Date of Next Meeting AGM
Friday November 16 at 7:30 with Rick Howie as speaker.