Board Meeting Minutes
January 22, 2004

TN Exotic Pest Plant Council Board of Directors Meeting Agenda January 22, 2004

In Attendance: Kris Johnson, Pat Parr, Anni Self, Richard Clements, Jack Ranney, Terri Hogan, David Lincicome, Carrie Miller, and Dan Brown

Minutes: Minutes were sent out on the 21st of January. Most board members did not have time to review them before the meeting. Everyone will read them, send Terri any changes, and they will be reviewed at the next meeting. Board members have not been able to find contact information for Lookout Mountain Landtrust.

Treasurer’s Report: Anni Self

General Operating Account: $1,278.91

Money Market: $7,095.40

Total Assets: $8,374.31

$400.00 in contributions has come to TN-EPPC through the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, Inc. A thank you note is in order.

We have received more memberships including one institutional membership from Obed Wild Scenic River.

Carrie will remind members by email when their memberships have lapsed; we agreed to remove people from the membership list after their memberships have lapsed.

The credit card is still being charged to our account from the SE-EPPC conference. This issue had supposedly been resolved. Jack will follow up with Brian when they meet on Jan. 23rd.

A motion was made, seconded, and carried to approve the treasurer’s report.

Old Business

TDOT letter and response: Pat passed copies of the letter to board members. The response from Commissioner Nicely was that TDOT will continue current management of roadside plantings.

TN-EPPC’s goals with regard to the roadside plantings:

realign TDOT’s planting to regional plants native to Tennessee (We will provide them with a specific list of what to plant and what not to plant.)

use of perennials to achieve a sustainable landscape: reduce disturbance and invasion by exotics; treat plantings as an ecosystem rather than a landscaped bed

Action items:

David L. will get a list of species that TDOT plants.

Jack will talk to Doug Airhart, Professor of Horticulture at Tennessee Tech, about his experimentation with different kinds of plantings.

Richard will draft a new letter to TDOT on plantings as sustainable landscapes.

TN Ag Noxious Weed list update: Anni prepared the list but Roger Spivey never got it. Anni will get the list to TNLA. Anni informed us that Roger is leaving TNLA at end of month.

Status of website,www.tneppc.org: Richard has made the following additions to the website: member brochure with changes discussed at the last meeting, by-laws, a list of what TN-EPPC endorses and links to the St. Louis declaration and the TVA plant selector.

Action items:

Richard needs information for the calendar of events and suggestions of additions to the website. It is easy to make updates to the website. We can send documents, etc. in any format however MS Word is preferred.

Send Richard pictures for a gallery of exotics. Large pictures are hard to deal with through email.

Getting the word out

Ft Lauderdale meeting- Carrie and Nancy attended. Our insert was the only EPPC related material. Carrie suggests we mark membership brochures so we can track where our memberships are coming from.

SAMAB-Jack took display. He got a lot of questions and gave out a lot of handouts.

Presentation to NC FLEP program training workshop-Kris, Speakers included a very good speaker from Raleigh with NC Division of Forestry and chemical representatives. Thirty Forestry employees who work with landowners attended. They stressed economic impact of exotics as exotics reduce regeneration of desirable species.

Action items:

Jack will contact Wayne Clatterbuck position is Associate Professor of Forestry of the
Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries Department at UT, to discuss a similar presentation for TN Division of Forestry.

Kris will provide agenda of the weeklong training done in NC.

TN EPPC 10th Anniversary Events for 2004

East Tennessee: Citizen Based Monitoring Conference, Knoxville, Fall of 04 - Jack Ranney

working with Isaak Walton League, County Greenways group, American Society of Landscape Architects, local high school; deciding whether to focus on hands-on type activity or research; Isaak Walton League is interested in coordinating exotic species control efforts in the area to reduce duplication of effort. The goal of this event is to create a Knoxville Weed Team.

Action items:

Kris will invite the Knoxville Garden Club. They are interested in hands on activities, may also help with TDOT planting. They have national commitment to deal with escaped exotics.

Middle Tennessee: Invasive Weed and Control Workshop, Dickson County, June 11-Dan Brown

reserved five rooms at Montgomery Bell State Park; prices for tents: 20’ x 30’ covers 60 people and costs $225, 30’ x 30’ covers 100 people and costs $425; will have another planning meeting next month; Andy Sudrock is starting a native plant nursery that will complement Mike Berkley near Fairview. Both are interested in field day.

Action items:

Carrie will send Terri contact information for Kevin Mount of NaturChem

Ask Nancy how TVA can help.

Terri will contact BASF to see if they have seedling identification information.

West Tennessee:Association of Southeastern Biologists Symposium, Memphis, Holiday Inn Convention Center, April 14-16-Pat

symposium is set up for April 15; Jack and Pat have contacted speakers (Johnny Randall, UNC; Cynthia Huebner, USFS and Mid-Atlantic EPPC; Jake Weltzin, UTK; Paula Spaine, USFS Southern Research Station) symposium scheduled for morning following Simberloff’s evening keynote address; symposium will include speakers and discussion time

Action items:

Pat will send us the symposium website.

Articles for "Wildland Weeds"(How to get started, 2 pager-Jack; TN List-NancyFraley): Remains on the agenda

Membership mailing/ flashcards: Carrie will send out postcards with mailing address and website address changes already sent out flashcards; all members are updated now; would like to include other information in next mailing such as the 4 page color plant id insert.

Action items:

Anni will send copies of the 4-page color plant id publication to Jack.

Everyone let Carrie know if you are not receiving Wildland Weeds. She is getting 10 extra copies.

Membership form reprinting: David checked on price from Pip; they still have the brochure in electronic form; David will give them the corrections; get a %15 discount; 4000 costs $1,237; we agreed to order more

Flashcards reprinting: Jack had more flashcards printed; girl scouts volunteered to collate them; got 300 unlamented sets printed for $918 through the TVA printing office; working on adding more species: Nora Murdock and Jack are working on three new species each

Action items:

Jack will send a list of species that have already been covered to board members.

Board members will be assigned species to work on for new flashcards.

Tell Jack how many sets of cards we want and he will send them.

TN EPPC Tee shirt design: Pat worked on some designs. The board chose the format for the back of the shirt: line drawings of leaves and flowers with Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council written out below.

Action items:

Pat will work on design.

By-laws-Bob will take the lead on reviewing by-laws. Jack will help.

Action items:

All board members will read the by-laws and pass revision suggestions on to Bob.

Nominating committee: The committee has asked Pat and Anni to remain in their current positions. Both have agreed.

TN EPPC Poster design -Carrie

Jack can get posters printed quickly.

Board members agreed to send Carrie pictures of the following species:

Paulownia tomentosa flowers (Richard), Prueria montana flowers (Jack), oriental bittersweet ripe fruit (Richard), Microstegium vimineum (David), Dioscorea opposittifolia bulbils (Carrie will ask Dr. Mueller of UT), Autumn olive with fruit and undersurface of leaves (Jack), Alliaria petiolata (Kris, Terri), Ligustrum spp. flowers and/or fruit (Jack, Richard), Ailanthus altissimus (Richard), Euonymus fortunei (Kris, Jack, Richard), bush honeysuckle (Kris, Richard, Carrie will ask Steve Manning), Eurasian water millfoil (Ask Nancy), Rosa multiflora (Kris, Jack, Richard), Japanese Spirea (Kris), spotted knapweed (Kris, may consider taking it off the list), Miscanthus sinensis (Jack), Sorghum halepense

Back of poster: photo credits, write-up for each photo, TN-EPPC logo, contact information, sponsor information,

Size: put it on website in pdf 11"x17" and 5"x8" so it can be downloaded and printed, 17"x22" with border and 22"x35".

Action items:

Everyone send photos on cd to Carrie. See list above.

Find good pictures of Sorghum halepense.

We will set up an Adopt-a-weed program. Carrie will send a description format for the write-up on each of the exotic invasives pictured in the poster. She will assign board each member exotics for which they will be responsible.

New Business

Alerts- Cogon grass in TN: Cogon grass has been spotted along the interstate heading north toward Chattanooga. Richard will set up an alert section on the website for newly introduced species with links to species information.

High School Teacher information on website: Kris suggested that we have curriculum on the website. She may be able to find a student who can compile curricula or websites with curricula. Richard will set up an education link. Board members need to send Richard any information that we come across.

TVA Native Plant Selector: Take note of the new website. http://www.tva.com/river/landandshore/stabilization/plantsearch.htm

Nashville Zoo Site: Terri will write letter about our concern, offer assistance in plant identification, send information on species likely to occur there, send management information including our manual and "Nonnative invasive plants of southern forests."

Letter to UT regarding potential loss of herbarium and Botany staff: Kris and Richard will prepare a letter to send to UT voicing TN-EPPC’s concern about the fate of the herbarium and herbarium staff. We rely on both to accurately document the range of exotics and help verify the identity of collected specimens.

Invasive Plant Situation Statements

Jack brought up the need for better information on the distribution of exotics and their ecological impact. For now, we will establish a link to TNC website that has discussion and updates on exotics.

We agree that we need better ways to reach out to members electronically.

Action items:

Richard will create link to TNC site.

Carrie will draft ideas on reaching members electronically.

UT Herbarium Collection, part of 10th Event: Richard reminded members to work on their lists of exotics that need to be collected from their area. Collect those plants, press and dry them, create labels, and keep a list of plants collected.

Action items:

David will send an example of a herbarium label and collection guidelines.

All board members will make a list of plants that need to be collected for the herbarium and begin collecting.

Upcoming events for TN EPPC presence and Calendar items for web: Contact Richard about events to include on website calendar

Weed Awareness Week, Washington, DC, Feb 23-27

TN-EPPC agreed to honor Brian’s request for a $50 donation to be listed as part of North American EPPC as a sponsor of Weeds Awareness Week. Jack will talk to Brian about status of North American EPPC.

Standing Stone Nature Rally, Saturday, April 17

David suggested TN-EPPC be involved in this event. He will get more information then contact Kris or Carrie about representing TN-EPPC there.

SE-EPPC meeting in Pensacola April 27 - 30; still looking for presenters outside of FL.

April 22-24-Wildflower Pilgrimage in Smokies

Week of March 28th Natural Areas week, David said there will be a press release in March

ASB meeting, Memphis, TN, April 14-16

Middle TN workshop, June 11

East TN workshop, Fall ‘04

Reflection Riding workshop, TNC, and Lookout Mountain Landtrust plant sale

Tennessee pest plant list: Anni suggested we recommend adding kudzu to the state regulatory list. The board agreed.

Composition of the board: We will discuss the composition of the board as part of the by-laws discussion at the next meeting: what stake-holders should be represented, how many board members are needed.

Spring meeting: April 8, TWRA Region III meeting room

A motion was made, seconded, and carried to adjourn

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ About TN-EPPC ] [ Membership ] [ New on the Site ] [ Useful Links ] [ Calendar of Events ] [ Native Plants Page ] [ Invasive Exotic Plants ] [ Exotic Plant Ordinances ]